IBM License Use Management: Passwords
A Product Password (License Password or License Key) is an encrypted character string that specifies the characteristics of the license. This information, determined by the vendor, includes the specific number and type of license units contained in the password, the date when these become active, and the date when they expires.
Vendors can create two types of passwords: simple and compound.
A simple password, once enrolled on a license server, represents one or more license units that can be granted to a requesting application.
A compound password, once enrolled on a license server, is a single password from which multiple simple passwords can be extracted. Each extracted simple password represents one or more license units. The compound password is a means of:
- Efficiently distributing multiple licenses from the vendor to the customer.
- Distributing licenses to different license servers, when required. The compound password must be installed on a specific license server, but extracted passwords can be distributed as required to other license servers not specified in the compound password.
- Providing a sales representative with a set of licenses that can be distributed to different customers.
A compound password contains an expiration date set by the vendor. The duration of extracted licenses cannot be longer than the time remaining before the compound password expires.
The vendor includes the password, along with other information about the application, in the Enrollment Certificate File (ECF)
The figure below summarizes the relationship among the license, the license password, the compound password, and the enrollment certificate file.
One or more license units (the "keys") are requested by LUM enabled program. The license server checks for the availability of the requested number of units within the specific product password.
The product password has been added to the license server database by enrolling the certificate (ECF)[an error occurred while processing this directive]
