KB7989: Licensing and product packaging in MicroStrategy

SUMMARY:
This technical note discusses how the licensing schemes for software capacity and product packaging will be enforced at installation and run time for the Strategy 9.4 and newer.
Note: The information in this document adds to the existing information presented in the following technical note:

• KB7496 - How does the CPU/Clock Speed licensing scheme work in Strategy Intelligence Server 9.x - 10.x?

 
The main licensing schemes for software capacity and product packaging are:

1. Notifying administrators if the number of licensed CPUs of Strategy Intelligence Server(s) has been exceeded.
2. Notifying administrators if named users for any of the installed components are exceeded.
3. Checking the CPU numbers and CPU clock speed when installing Strategy Intelligence Server, Strategy Web and Strategy Narrowcast Server.
4. Disabling any component or feature that has not been purchased. Installation will not be possible without the proper licences.

 
NOTE:
Customers may purchase additional products from Strategy at any time so License Keys may not reflect the status of the current contractual licensing obligations that the customer has with Strategy. 
 
The governance and notifications of the above licensing schemes are handled as follows: 
1. Out-of-compliance notification for number of CPUs used by the Strategy Intelligence Server(s):
This will notify administrators about non-compliance if the number of Central Processing Units (CPU) used by the existing Strategy Intelligence Server(s) at run time exceeds the number of CPUs for which the user is licensed. The number of CPUs licensed is encrypted into the License Key. This requires the system administrators to update the License Key for all existing Strategy Intelligence Servers included in that licensing scheme. This should be done using Strategy License Manager, each time additional capacity is added or whenever the Strategy Intelligence Server is upgraded.
 
NOTE:

• On Windows OS, License Manager can be accessed through Start > Programs > Strategy Tools > License Manager.
• On UNIX/Linux, it can be accessed from the bin folder found the Strategy home folder. The name of the utility is: mstrlicmgr

 
2. Out-of-compliance notification for Named Users:
In the Strategy 9.x product family, the metadata used by the Strategy Intelligence Server(s) will be periodically scanned for the total number of named users assigned for each Strategy component based upon the user privileges assigned in the metadata repository. The number of users assigned will be compared against the number of named users licensed for each component, encrypted into the License Key. In case of an out-of-compliance situation, any user who tries to access the administration capabilities will see a notification indicating the out-of-compliance situation. This message will also be displayed if a user connects using Strategy Administrator - Command Manager or Strategy License Manager.
 
Should an out-of-compliance notification with respect to named users be generated, run Strategy License Manager to identify the users that resulted in exceeding licensed capacity and determine the privileges that result in the non-compliance.
 
NOTES:

• By default, periodic scanning of the metadata for the number of named users is done once a day at 23:59. This setting may be changed to any desired time in the following ways:
   
  
• In Strategy Developer, go to the 3-tier mode project source > Configure Strategy Intelligence Server > Server definition > Advanced > Time to run license check (24-hour format). This is shown in the following screenshot:
  

• Using Strategy Command Manager, using the following command:
  

  
  ALTER SERVER CONFIGURATION LICENSECHECKTIME 23:00;

  
   
  This example command changes the periodic scanning time to 23:00. The user may employ the following command to verify that the setting has been changed:
  

  
  LIST ALL PROPERTIES FOR SERVER CONFIGURATION;   

  
   
  
  
• This setting is read at Strategy Intelligence Server start-up. So Strategy Intelligence Server has to be re-started for this setting change to take effect.
• The license check takes place anytime within the next half hour of the time specified in the setting.

 
3. Governance of CPU clock speed when installing Strategy Intelligence Server, Strategy Web and Strategy Narrowcast Server.
In Strategy 9.4.x and newer, it is not possible to install Strategy products on machines that are faster than the CPU/clock speed that has been licensed. In order to perform a successful installation, the System Administrator will need to limit the resources to the licensed resources by configuring the processor affinity. For additional information on this installation behavior, refer to Strategy Knowledge Base document KB7496.
 
4. Disabling any component or feature that has not been purchased. Installation will not be possible without the proper licenses.
 
Users need to purchase the specific Strategy component/feature in order to get the functionality. This behavior is enforced through the license key. If an installation has more components than the ones supported by a license, that specific license will not be allowed to be updated unless the non-licensed components are removed. In the other hand, it is not possible to install any component which is not included in the License Key.
 
 
Auditing using Strategy License Manager:
Strategy License Manager should be used to audit the Strategy products installed on any machine and to determine the number of named users by inspecting the local Strategy Intelligence Server(s) connected to the metadata repository. This can be done in the Audit Tab and it allows to see the audit information directly on the License Manager screen or to generate an HTML file with all the details of the audit. 
 
 
Upgrading Licenses using Strategy License Manager:
The License Key may be upgraded using License Manager as follows:

1. Go to Start > Programs > Strategy Tools > License Manager
2. Select the 'Upgrade' tab
3. Type in or copy the new CD key in the New License Key box. The license key is case sensitive.
4. Click Upgrade. The licenses are upgraded accordingly and the results are displayed in the Upgrade Results box.

 
 
For more details on upgrading license key using License Manager, please consult the Administrator, Intelligence Server and Web Administrator guide.
  
Note: The licensing information may also be obtained by Strategy Command Manager 9.x using the following command:

LIST PROPERTIES FOR SERVER 'SERVERNAME';