Installing WebLogic Platform

Installing and Updating WebLogic Platform License Files

Your WebLogic Platform distribution requires a valid product license to run. The following sections explain how to acquire, install, and update a WebLogic Platform license:

About WebLogic Platform Licenses

WebLogic Platform uses an XML-format license file called license.bea. This license file, stored in the BEA Home directory, is used for the BEA WebLogic Platform products installed in that BEA Home directory. WebLogic Platform checks this file at run time to determine which software components you are authorized to use.

Note: If you have multiple BEA Home directories on your system, each BEA Home must have a license.bea file that authorizes use of the products associated with that directory.

Licenses are release specific. To use WebLogic Platform 8.1, you must have an 8.1 license file. To convert a pre-8.1 license.bea file to a WebLogic Platform 8.1 license.bea file, see Upgrading Licenses from Previous WebLogic Platform Releases.

The types of license files that can be used as the license.bea file and the technical restrictions that they impose are described in the following table.

Note: See the BEA Software License Agreement for specific license terms and conditions.

Table 6-1 WebLogic Platform 8.1 License File Types

License Type	Description
Development	Used in a development environment where a developer is preparing an application to run on top of WebLogic Platform; a scale-limited or production license is required for deployment. Enables all WebLogic Platform component products. Enables you to run WebLogic Platform on a single machine, including machines running multiple instances of WebLogic Server Permits client connections from a maximum of five IP addresses. IP addresses are tracked from the time the server is started. When you restart the server, the count is reset. Installed with WebLogic Platform in the BEA Home directory as `license.bea`. Is not tied to the IP address of a machine.
Scale-limited	Used in limited-scale production environments. Enables all WebLogic Platform component products. Enables you to run a single WebLogic Server instance with a server capacity limited to approximately 3 percent of the full capacity of a production server with a production license. Restricts server capacity by limiting concurrent socket connections to a maximum of three connections. Requests for a fourth socket connection are blocked until a socket becomes free. Permits client connections from an unlimited number of IP addresses. Installed, with WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP3 and higher, in the BEA Home directory as `license_scale_limited.bea`. Supported only with BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP2 and higher. Is not tied to the IP address of a machine. Note: If you wish to deploy applications in scale-limited mode, it is recommended that you develop with the development license file described above, then replace the scale-limited license file prior to scale-limited testing and deployment.
Production	Used in full-scale production environments. May restrict functionality to the software components that you have purchased. Enables you to run WebLogic Platform on a single machine, including machines running multiple instances of WebLogic Server Permits client connections from an unlimited number of IP addresses. Must be purchased separately. For information about purchasing a production license, contact your sales representative or visit the BEA corporate Web site at `http://www.bea.com`. Is tied to the IP address of the machine. A production license can be used only on a machine with the same IP address that is specified in the license file.
Workgroup Note: This is a special type of production license available only for the WebLogic Server Workgroup Edition product.	Restricts software functionality to that provided in WebLogic Server Workgroup Edition, as described in the WebLogic Platform Licensing page at `http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/interm/license.html`. Permits client connections from an unlimited number of IP addresses, but is limited to 20 concurrent users. Enforces user limitation by restricting the number of concurrent HTTP sessions with associated data to 20 sessions. Must be purchased separately. For information about purchasing a Workgroup license, contact your sales representative or visit the BEA corporate Web site at `http://www.bea.com`. Is tied to the IP address of the machine.

When you install WebLogic Platform 8.1 Service Pack 3 or later, two non-expiring license files are installed on your system: a development license (license.bea) and a scale-limited license (license_scale_limited.bea).

Note: The scale-limited license can also be downloaded for use with 8.1 SP2. For details on downloading and installing the scale-limited license for SP2, see "Downloading and Installing the Scale-Limited Licenses in SP2" at the following URL:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/sp_notes/sp_notes.html#scale_limited_license.

You can start using the product immediately after installing it for the first time because, by default, WebLogic Platform uses the development license that is installed in BEA Home directory.

Note: The license.bea file delivered with your software conforms with the XML grammar definition. The XML definition (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>) must be at the very beginning of the license.bea file. There cannot be any spaces or line breaks before the XML definition.

For a description of the product offerings supported by the WebLogic Platform license files, see the WebLogic Platform Licensing page at the following URL:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/interm/license.html

Updating Your license.bea File

When you install WebLogic Platform, the installation program generates a development license.bea file for use with the WebLogic Platform software and installs it in the BEA Home directory.

Note: If you are installing into an existing BEA Home that contains a previous release of WebLogic Platform, the installation program automatically adds the WebLogic Platform 8.1 development license to the existing license.bea file. However, if you are adding WebLogic Platform 8.1 product components into a BEA Home that already contains a WebLogic Platform 8.1 production or ISV license for existing components, the development license for the additional components is not added to the license.bea file. To use the additional components, you must merge a production or ISV license for those components into the existing license.bea file, or install the components into a separate BEA Home directory.

You must update the license.bea file separately, independent of the installation process if at least one of the following is true:

You want to use a scale-limited license.
You purchase a product for production use and you receive a production license to replace your development license.
You want to upgrade production systems to a new release of the software. After installing the current release of the software, you must upgrade your license to the current version. To do so, see Upgrading Licenses from Previous WebLogic Platform Releases.
You purchase a new release of a product you are already using in production and you want to use both the old and the new releases in production on the same system. For example, you are currently using WebLogic Platform 7.0, you purchase WebLogic Platform 8.1, and you want to use both releases on the same system.
You purchase additional BEA WebLogic software with production licenses, and you want to add the production licenses for the new software to the production licenses for software already in production use on your system.
You want to consolidate existing production licenses for different component products onto a single machine.
You want to transfer existing production licenses from one machine to another machine with a different IP address.

In each of these cases, you will receive a new license file from BEA, the contents of which must be included in the license.bea file in the target BEA Home directory. To facilitate the license update process, BEA provides an UpdateLicense utility that merges the new license into the existing license in the BEA Home directory, and deletes any expired or duplicate entries.

Important Considerations for Updating Your license.bea File

When determining how to update your license.bea file, you should consider the following:

BEA recommends that you use the UpdateLicense utility unless you want to use the scale-limited license or an ISV redistribution license. In general, you should install these licenses by replacing your existing license.bea file. Scale-limited licenses for WebLogic Platform 8.1 should not be merged with other WebLogic Platform 8.1 development or production licenses. For instructions on installing the scale-limited license and ISV redistribution license, see Replacing Your license.bea File.
If you merge any WebLogic Platform 8.1 production or ISV license with an existing license.bea file that contains WebLogic Platform 8.1 development license entries, all development entries are removed. For example, if you merge a WebLogic Server 8.1 production license with a WebLogic Platform 8.1 development license, all development entries for the remaining WebLogic Platform 8.1 component products will be removed.
If you merge a WebLogic Server 7.0 production license with a WebLogic Server 8.1 development license, the development and production rights associated with the different WebLogic Server license versions are retained. The merge process creates a single license file which can be used for both WebLogic Server 7.0 production and WebLogic Server 8.1 development. The merge process does not change the development and production rights associated with either the WebLogic Server 7.0 or WebLogic Server 8.1 entries. If you want to upgrade the WebLogic Server 7.0 production license to WebLogic Server 8.1, see Upgrading Licenses from Previous WebLogic Platform Releases.
If you merge a WebLogic Server 7.0 license for IP address A with a WebLogic Server 8.1 license for IP address B, the IP addresses for both WebLogic Server license versions are retained. The merge process creates a single license file that can be used to run WebLogic Server 7.0 on IP address A and WebLogic Server 8.1 on IP address B. The merge process does not change the IP address associated with either the WebLogic Server 7.0 or WebLogic Server 8.1 entries. If you want to change the IP address for a given license file, you must use the BEA eLicense system at http://elicense.bea.com.
You may choose to replace an existing license.bea file with a new license.bea file, but if you do so, you run the risk of losing the product usage rights enabled by your existing license file.

Note: Do not edit license.bea file manually. Doing so may cause operating problems for the currently installed BEA products, or result in problems later when BEA products are installed for maintenance upgrades.

Updating license.bea Using the UpdateLicense Utility

To update your license.bea file, perform the following procedure.

Save the license update file that you received through e-mail, with a name other than license.bea, in the target BEA Home directory. For example, save the file as new_license.bea. Use this file as the license_update_file in step 4 of this procedure.

Warning: Do not overwrite or change the name of the existing license.bea file.

Perform the step appropriate for your platform:

On a Windows system, open an MS-DOS command window and go to the target BEA Home directory.
On a UNIX system, go to the target BEA Home directory.

If it is not already included, add the Java 2 SDK to your PATH variable by entering the following commands:

On a Windows system:

set PATH=BEA_HOME\SDK\bin;%PATH%

On a UNIX system:

PATH=BEA_HOME/SDK/bin:$PATH export PATH
In these commands, SDK represents the directory name of the Java 2 SDK being used for this installation, for example, jdk142_08 or jrockit81sp5_142_08.

Merge the license update file into your existing license by entering one of the following commands:

On a Windows system:

UpdateLicense license_update_file

On a UNIX system:

sh UpdateLicense.sh license_update_file

license_update_file is the name to which you saved the license update file in step 1.

Save a copy of your updated license.bea file in a safe place outside the WebLogic Platform and application installation directories.

Although no one else can use your license file, you should save it in a place that is protected from both malicious and innocent tampering.

Replacing Your license.bea File

In certain instances, you may need to replace your existing license.bea file with a new license file, such as a scale-limited or an ISV redistribution license. To do so, complete the following steps:

Open Windows Explorer or a command shell and navigate to the BEA Home directory associated with your installation, typically c:\bea.

Make a backup copy of your license.bea file. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command:

c:\bea> RENAME license.bea license.bea.backup

Rename the scale-limited license file to license.bea. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command:

c:\bea> RENAME license_scale_limited.bea license.bea

Note: The scale-limited license is non-expiring and will continue to be valid for update releases of WebLogic Platform 8.1 that are issued after SP2 and that are installed in the same BEA Home directory.

Upgrading Licenses from Previous WebLogic Platform Releases

The format of the license.bea file changes with each release of WebLogic Platform. To upgrade a license.bea file from a previous release of WebLogic Platform to a license for the current version, complete the following steps:

Note: You need a BEA eLicense account to log in to this Web site. If you do not have a BEA eLicense account, click the Register link on the Customer Support site to register for one.

In the left navigation area of the Web page, click Upgrade/Downgrade and follow the instructions on the page. If the license you want to upgrade is not listed, click the Add a Missing License link. The BEA Licensing team will research the missing license for you.

You will receive an upgraded license file through e-mail. To update the license.bea file on your system, see Updating license.bea Using the UpdateLicense Utility.

Installing Licenses for Use with Promotional CD Distributions

In some cases, BEA distributes software for promotional purposes on CD. These CDs include installers that do not automatically generate a development license key. Instead, the CD folio directs you to a BEA web site, where you can obtain a development license file after you supply a code from the CD folio. The license file you obtain allows you to begin using the software immediately, and entitles you to the same usage rights as described for the development license in Table 6-1.

When you receive this license file from BEA, complete the following steps:

Save the license file using the name license.bea. Make sure that the file name does not include a suffix, such as .txt.

Copy the license.bea file into the BEA Home directory in which WebLogic Platform was installed. For example, c:\bea.