Article ID: 8099
Reviewed: 18/12/2020

Product Version:
AhsayOBM / AhsayACB: 8.1 or above
OS: All platforms

The following is an overview of Ahsay License Management Portal.

1. Concept
2. Case Study
3. How-to
4. Frequently Asked Questions
       4.1 What is a Poolable License?
       4.2 Can a meter OEM or Standard AhsayCBS license be registered as a Poolable License?
       4.3 What is a Pooled License?
       4.4 What happen if a Pooled License is used on the AhsayCBS server?
       4.5 After converting a Poolable License to a Pooled License, how long can the existing AhsayCBS server run before it is stopped?
       4.6 I have accidentally convert a Poolable License into a Pooled License, is there any method to reverse the action?
       4.7 What is a Pool Key?
       4.8 What version of AhsayCBS is supported by the Pool Key generated from the License Management Portal?
       4.9 What is the general flow for Pool Key generation?
       4.10 Is there any limitation on the number of License Pools that can be created?
       4.11 When creating License Pool, why do I need to select license type? Can't license type be mixed into a single License Pool?
       4.12 Is there any limitation on the number of Pool Keys that can be created in each License Pool?
       4.13 How to delete an 'in-use' Pool Key?
       4.14 Can a Pool Key be used on AhsayCBS without Internet connection?
       4.15 Is there any limitation on the licensee name of a Pool Key?
       4.16 Where does the expiry date of all Pool Key come from?
       4.17 Where does the 'Free upgrade until' date of all Pool Key come from?
   

1. Concept

The main purposes of the Ahsay License Management Portal are for partners to:

• Consolidate purchased AhsayCBS licenses into License Pool (s).
• Flexibly generate and update AhsayCBS license(s) as requirement change.
• Improve efficiency on use of AhsayCBS licenses by sharing CALs (Client Access License) in license pool among multiple AhsayCBS instances.

With the License Management Portal, partners can place purchased AhsayCBS licenses (Poolable License) into a pool to be shared among multiple AhsayCBS instances. This process is called converting Poolable License into Pooled License.

These Pooled License(s) will then be placed into two main categories, 'OEM' and 'Standard', where:

• The total number of CALs available for 'OEM' type is the cumulative total of all 'OEM' license(s) converted into Pooled License.
• The total number of CALs available for 'Standard' type is the cumulative total of all 'Standard' license(s) converted into Pooled License.

Note that only licenses of the same type can be pooled together.  From the Pooled License(s), License Pool(s) can be created as required for different situation such as, different location, company, user group … etc.

After creating a License Pool, Pool Key(s) can be generated to share CALs designated for the corresponding License Pool. These newly created Pool Keys can be applied to the AhsayCBS server afterward.



As all Pool Key(s) share the same 'Free upgrade until' date inherited from the account Pooled License, you need to ensure that the Poolable License to be converted has not expired. Failure to do so will result in all Pool Key(s) of the same license type to expire. The generated Pool Key(s) will continue to work with valid maintenance. In addition, you will not be able to login to the License Manage Portal if ANY of your Pooled License(s) 'Free upgrade until' date has expired.

With the ability to consolidate purchased license, and create License Pool according to your need, user can easily generate the Pool Key for specific requirement as needed, and flexibly modify the key's quota as the requirement change.

2. Case Study

ServiceProviderCompany is a backup service provider providing backup solution to multiple companies across the world. For each company supported by ServiceProviderCompany, AhsayCBS server(s) will be deployed as on-site backup server. The server(s)' Client access license (CALs) can be dynamically changed upon requirement change.

ServiceProviderCompany has acquired 3 new partners:



NewCompany1 has 2 local offices, with each office hosting its own AhsayCBS server. They have requested for 2 licenses with 10 AhsayOBM and 10 AhsayACB each.

NewCompany2 and NewCompany3 have both requested for a single license with 20 AhsayOBM and 20 AhsayACB each.

ServiceProviderCompany currently have 100 AhsayACB and 100 AhsayOBM in stock (a 'not-in-use' OEM license 'Ahsay-CSV-LMP-OEM').

In the past, to generate the requested AhsayCBS keys, ServiceProviderCompany will have to contact Ahsay's representatives, for splitting the stock license into a new key(s) to meet their customer's ever changing requirement. However, with the new License Management Portal, ServiceProviderCompany can simply allocate all stock license(s) (or even 'in-use' license) into a single or multiple License Pool (s), where they can then generate the required AhsayCBS licenses ( Pool Key ).

To begin, administrator of ServiceProviderCompany can login to the Ahsay License Management Portal (https://lmp.ahsay.com/)



Poolable Licenses are the current purchased AhsayCBS licenses under the ServiceProviderCompany account.

First, convert the stock license ( Poolable License ) into a Pooled License. After the conversion, the Pooled License can no longer be applied to any AhsayCBS server. However, in this case, the original license was not used on any AhsayCBS server, so there is no further action required.

With the license converted, License Pool can be created. For better organization and manageability in the future, 3 License Pools will be created for the three new partners (e.g. NewCompany1-Pool, NewCompany2-Pool and NewCompany3-Pool).

When creating a License Pool, the term 'Pool Quota' refers to the maximum number of CALs available to the particular License Pool created. Assign the corresponding 'Pool Quota' to the respective License Pool, in this case:



Next, create the Pool Keys for the 3 new partners in their respective License Pool. When creating a Pool Key, the term 'Key Quota' refers to the maximum number of CALs available to the Pool Key to be generated. Assign the corresponding 'Key Quota' to the respective Pool Key, in this case:



These keys can then be applied directly to the respective AhsayCBS server. For further details to perform each step, please refer to the following 'How-To' section.

3. How-To

To convert the stock 'Ahsay-CSV-LMP-OEM' license into a Pooled License, select the 'Add to Pool' button at the corresponding license row and you will be prompted to confirm the change.



It is very important to note that the conversion from Poolable to Pooled is 'irreversible', therefore, please ensure that you are aware of consequence before pressing 'OK' to continue.

After the conversion, the Pooled License can no longer be applied to any AhsayCBS server. If there is any existing AhsayCBS server with the original Poolable License applied, user will have to create a Pool Key for the existing AhsayCBS usage. However, in the case study above, the original license was not-in-use on any AhsayCBS server, so there is no need for any further action.

With the license converted, a License Pool can be created by pressing the 'Manage License Pools' button on the top menu bar of the License Management Portal.



Press the '+ Create New License Pool' button, enter the pool name and corresponding license type information. In the case study above, we will create an 'OEM' type License Pool called NewCompany1-Pool. Press 'Create' when ready to proceed.



With the License Pool created, assign the number of CALs available to the pool by entering the corresponding values in the Pool Quota fields. Press the 'Update' button when complete.



Repeat the same steps to create License Pool NewCompany2-Pool and NewCompany3-Pool.



Next, create the 2 Pool Keys for NewCompany1's offices by pressing 'Edit' at the corresponding License Pool, and then the '+ Create New Pool Key' button.

Enter the new Pool Key name in the licensee name field, and the corresponding 'Key Quota' in the quota fields. Note that the 'Ahsay-CSV-PoolKey' shown in this case is the 'pre-fix' name for ServiceProviderCompany, any Pool Key (s) created by this account will have the same 'pre-fix' name.



Enter the new Pool Key name in the licensee name field, and then press 'Create'. Note that the 'Ahsay-CSV-PoolKey' shown in this case is the 'pre-fix' name for ServiceProviderCompany, any Pool Key (s) created by this account will have the same 'pre-fix' name.

Repeat the same steps to create the second Pool Key for NewCompany1, and the Pool Keys for NewCompany2 and NewCompany3.



It is important to note that, AhsayCBS server with Pool Key applied must have access to the Ahsay License Server (e.g. access to the Internet). The 'Expiry Date' date of all Pool Key will always be 14 days after the current date, and the 'Free Upgrade Until' date of all Pool Key inherit its value from the earliest 'Free upgrade until' date among all 'OEM' type Pooled License (s). In this case, from the 'Ahsay-CSV-LMP-OEM' license which was the only 'OEM' type Pooled License.

The status 'Not in-use' will be switched to 'In-use' when the Pool Key has been applied on the AhsayCBS server.

Also note that the 'Key Quota' of any Pool Key can be modified at anytime by selecting the 'Manage License Pools' from the top menu bar, then 'Edit' at the corresponding License Pool row, and then 'Details' at the corresponding Pool Key row.

The quota change will be reflected on the corresponding AhsayCBS server when the daily license check is ran (at 8:01 AM everyday), or by pressing the 'Update' button at the AhsayCBS management console (at the 'Software License' page).

4. Frequently Asked Questions

OBM, Update, Update, Patch, Hotfix, Hot-fix, Patching