ISV Partners' Guide
This chapter provides details about the following topics:
This section includes the following topics, which describe the contents and terms of an ISV redistribution license, and how to install the license:
The WebLogic Server package available from BEA normally includes a license that prohibits the buyer from redistributing the software. However, for partners—Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in the business of redistributing WebLogic Server—BEA provides a mechanism for creating a redistribution license. Although the purpose of all ISV redistribution licenses is the same (to give an ISV's customers the right to run the WebLogic Server software that has been redistributed by the ISV), each ISV redistribution license is unique, linked specifically to a particular partner.
If you intend to redistribute WebLogic Server, you need to sign a BEA standard Channel License Agreement (CLA), available from your BEA partner account representative. The terms of the CLA define how and when the ISV redistribution license will be distributed. After you sign the CLA, BEA sends you an isv.jar
file, which enables you to create two things:
weblogic.jar
file, which links the WebLogic Server software to the ISV redistribution licenseTo run the ISV's value-added solution with the redistributed WebLogic Server software, ISV customers must have both the ISV redistribution license and the weblogic.jar
file properly installed on their systems.
To learn how to create this license and the weblogic.jar
file, see Creating an ISV Redistribution License and Linking It to the WebLogic Server Files.
The ISV redistribution licenses that you create and distribute enable your customers to use WebLogic Server functionality as follows:
Note that while you are constrained to use your WebLogic Server software on only the specific set of machines for which you are licensed, the ISV redistribution license does not similarly constrain your customers to use the WebLogic Server software on specific machines. In this sense, the ISV redistribution license may be somewhat less restrictive for your customers when compared to a license that is tied to one or more IP addresses.
The ISV redistribution license is intended to restrict the usage of WebLogic Server to the usage required by the ISV's software, in accordance with the terms of the ISV's redistribution agreement with BEA. An ISV redistribution license is not intended to grant the ISV's customer unlimited rights to use WebLogic Server software independently of the ISV's application.
To create an ISV redistribution license and link it to the WebLogic Server files, complete the following two-step procedure:
Before you create an ISV redistribution license file, complete the following steps:
license.bea
, which is updated during subsequent steps in this procedure. For more information about the BEA Home directory and the license.bea
file, see "Selecting Directories for Your Installation" in Preparing for Your Installation in BEA Products Installation Guide.isv.jar
file you received from BEA into the BEA Home directory associated with this installation.
prompt
> cdBEA_HOME
/weblogic90/server/bin
To extract the ISV redistribution license data and associate it with your WebLogic Server files, complete the following steps:
Caution: Do not interrupt this process once it starts!
Only the weblogic.jar
file in the BEA Home directory tree for which you ran this command can use the ISV redistribution license data extracted to the license_isv.bea
file. The linkage and association between those two files is unique.
Note: On some operating systems and JDKs, you might encounter an "Out of Memory Error" message. To address this error, increase the value for the -Xmx
argument, which sets the maximum heap size in megabytes, and run the command again. For example, if you specify -Xmx150m
on the command line, the default heap size is increased to 150 MB.
To validate that the updated weblogic.jar
file works with the newly generated license_isv.bea
file, which you created in Step 2: Extract the License Data and Link the WebLogic Server Files, complete the following steps:
c:\bea
. license.bea
file. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command: c:\bea> RENAME license.bea license.bea.backup
license_isv.bea
, as license.bea
. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command: c:\bea> RENAME license_isv.bea license.bea
After you have validated that your value-added solution operates properly with the WebLogic Server software that you plan to redistribute, you need to create a process for ensuring that your customers install the following items in the proper locations on their systems:
You have a variety of choices for ensuring that the preceding two files are installed properly by your customers. For example, you can create a custom installer, or a silent-installation script that can be used by the installation program. However, note that there may be circumstances in which your customers might need to replace a pre-existing BEA license file with the ISV redistribution license. In these cases, make certain that your customers use the proper installation method, or follow instructions that you provide, to ensure that all necessary files are installed properly.
If your installation process does not result in both files being installed correctly, your customer will not be able to start your embedded WebLogic Server software.
Note: You can use the same two files for all customer installations.
The license.bea
file that you generate and distribute, as described in Using an ISV Redistribution License, will continue to be valid for any customers who later use the Upgrade Installer to upgrade their installations with service packs for WebLogic Server. As a result, customers who install your distribution of the initial release of WebLogic Server 9.0 can later use the Upgrade Installer to install a service pack without obtaining a new license.
If, however, you provide an upgrade to your existing customers by supplying a whole new version of WebLogic Server that includes a service pack, then you must generate a new license.bea
file and include it in your distribution.