US 6,959,291 B1 · Management of a concurrent use license in a logically-partitioned computer

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method track concurrent uses of a computer program across a plurality of logical partitions in a logically partitioned computer, such that a decision as to whether to grant or deny a request to use the computer program in a particular logical partition may be made based upon whether the requested use, coupled with other uses in other logical partitions in the computer, would violate a concurrent use software license associated with the computer program. As such, the license restrictions of a concurrent use software license can be enforced on a logically partitioned computer regardless of the particular logical partitions within which a computer program executes.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method of managing a concurrent use software license in a logically partitioned computer, the method comprising:

(a) tracking concurrent uses of a computer program across a plurality of logical partitions in the logically partitioned computer using a partition manager accessible by the plurality of logical partitions, wherein each logical partition includes an operating system resident therein, and wherein the partition manager is configured to allocate hardware resources in the logically partitioned computer, to each of the plurality of logical partitions;
and
(b) with a license manager resident in a first logical partition among the plurality of logical partitions, accessing the partition manager in response to a request to use the computer program in the first logical partition and selectively denying the request to use the computer program in the first logical partition if permitting the requested use would violate a concurrent use software license associated with the computer program.

An apparatus, comprising:

(a) a logically partitioned computer including a plurality of logical partitions;
(b) a plurality of operating systems, each resident in a different logical partition among the plurality of logical partitions;
and
(c) a first program resident in the computer, the first program configured to manage a concurrent use software license for a second program in the computer by tracking concurrent uses of the second program across the plurality of logical partitions, and selectively denying a request to use the second program in a first logical partition if permitting the requested use would violate the concurrent use software license, wherein the first program includes:
(i) a partition manager accessible by the plurality of logical partitions and configured to track the concurrent uses of the second program across the plurality of logical partitions, and to allocate hardware resources to each of the plurality of logical partitions;
and
(ii) a license manager resident in the first logical partition and configured to access the partition manager in response to the request to use the second program in the first logical partition.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Management of a concurrent use license in a logically-partitioned computer

Life of this patent

Management of a concurrent use license in a logically-partitioned computer

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18