Active SLM Server

All separate SLM servers or SLM servers that are part of a cluster must be completely administered and validated with a valid activation key. This validation is listed in the slmserver.xml file

An SLM server is identified by a host-identifier and the TCP/IP port that is assigned to the service.

There are two methods used by SLM to identify a host:

  • Through a hardware identifier
  • Through a Full Qualified Host Name (FQHN)

The identification method depends on the customer scenario. The identification that is based on FQHN is used.

Hardware identifier

SLM uses a unique CPU or networkcard identifier which generates an SLM host-id. This id is used to register the SLM Server in the license file.

SLM Servers that are identified by a hardware identifier cannot be deployed in virtual environments.

FQHN identifier

The full qualified host name (FQHN) of the host where the SLM Server is deployed is used to identify the system. Based on the FQHN, SLM generates an SLM host-id for the identification. This id is used to register the SLM Server in the license file.

The full qualified host name consists of a host name and a domain name part. SLM Servers that are deployed on a VM handles license requests from only SLM clients that are deployed on systems in the same domain. In a SLM cluster with multiple SLM Servers you can deploy the SLM servers on VM systems that belong to different domains. In that case the SLM cluster handles requests for all the domains where an SLM Server is deployed.

SLM uses these rules to identify a hostname as a FQHN:

  • Must be 2 labels or more.
  • Labels cannot contain more than 63 characters.
  • Labels cannot contain special characters.
  • Hostname must be reverse resolvable, the hostfile, DNS, etc must be correctly configured for this.
Note: Deploy the SLM Servers belonging to the same SLM Cluster on the same host type. So all on a Windows systems or all on a UNIX system and all in a virtual environment or in a physical environment.

For SLM to work in a VM environment all, servers and clients, must follow the VM rules. To use FQHN licensing on a Non-VM these rules only apply for the server(s) where SLM is running on. Do not run VM and non-VM in the same SLM cluster setup. If this cannot be avoided ensure that all, servers and client, follow the VM rules.