bea.com | products | dev2dev | support | askBEA

Download Docs | Site Map | Glossary
Search

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 the WebLogic Platform License

- Updating Your license.bea File

- Enabling 128-Bit Encryption

- Upgrading Licenses from Pre-7.0 Releases of WebLogic Platform Products

About the WebLogic Platform License

WebLogic Platform 7.0 uses an XML-format license called license.bea. This license file, stored in the BEA Home directory, is used for the BEA WebLogic Platform products installed on the target system and is checked at run time to determine which components of WebLogic Platform you can use.

For information about the licenses available for WebLogic Platform, see the Licensing page on the e-docs Web site at the following URL:

>     http://e-docs.bea.com/platform/docs70/interm/license.html

Evaluation Licenses

The first time you install a BEA WebLogic product, the installation program installs a license.bea file in the BEA Home directory, and populates the file with a one-year evaluation license so that you can start using the product immediately. Subsequently, when you install additional BEA products that contain a license.bea file as part of the distribution, the installation program automatically adds the new evaluation product licenses to the license.bea file.

The evaluation license for WebLogic Platform is a full license, enabling all of the component features of WebLogic Platform. For information about purchasing licenses, contact BEA Sales at http://www.bea.com.

All WebLogic Platform evaluation products are licensed for use on a single server machine and allow up to twenty connections to the server.

Developer and Production Licenses

You can purchase licenses for the entire WebLogic Platform product, or for individual components. For information about the licenses available for WebLogic Platform, see the Licensing page on the e-docs Web site at the following URL:

>     http://e-docs.bea.com/platform/docs70/interm/license.html

If you purchased WebLogic Platform on CD-ROM, you will receive a developer or production license for the components that you licensed via e-mail, to the account specified on the purchase order. After installing the WebLogic Platform software and receiving the product license, you must update the existing license.bea file with the license file you received. For instructions, see Updating Your license.bea File.

Updating Your license.bea File

You must update your license.bea file if at least one of the following is true:

- You applied for and received an extension to the evaluation period of WebLogic Platform.

- You purchased additional BEA WebLogic software.

- You obtained a new distribution that includes new products.

- You possess a non-expiring license file for an earlier release of a WebLogic Platform component product, and you want to upgrade to a WebLogic Platform 7.0 license after downloading WebLogic Platform 7.0 from the BEA Web site. You must convert the license to a WebLogic Platform 7.0 license. To do so, see Upgrading Licenses from Pre-7.0 Releases of WebLogic Platform Products.

- You possess either a WebLogicLicense.XML file or a WebLogicLicense.class file, which are license files used in pre-6.0 versions (5.1 or earlier) of WebLogic Server. You must convert these license files to a license.bea file. Instructions for converting these license files are provided in the BEA WebLogic Server 7.0 Upgrade Guide at the following URL:

>     http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs70/upgrade/index.html

In each case, you receive a license update file in an e-mail attachment. You then update your license.bea file by performing the following procedure.

Note: Enabling 128-bit encryption requires that the 128-bit encryption license be present in the license.bea file before you install the WebLogic Platform software. For details, see Enabling 128-Bit Encryption.

1. 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 platform_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.

2. 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.

3. 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 is the directory name of the Java 2 SDK being used for this installation, for example, jdk131_08 or jrockit70sp4_131_08.

4. 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.

5. Save a copy of your updated license.bea file in a safe place outside the WebLogic Integration 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.

Enabling 128-Bit Encryption

Two levels of secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption are available for WebLogic Platform: 56-bit and 128-bit. An evaluation license comes only with 56-bit encryption enabled, whereas a developer or production license may be purchased with either 56-bit or 128-bit encryption enabled.

The installer program must find the 128-bit encryption license in the license.bea file before the installer enables 128-bit encryption for the WebLogic Platform installation. If the installation program does not find a 128-bit encryption license for WebLogic Platform in the license.bea file, or finds only a 56-bit encryption license, the installer includes 56-bit SSL plug-ins in the WebLogic Platform installation. If the installation program finds a 128-bit encryption license for WebLogic Platform in the license.bea file, the installer includes both 56-bit and 128-bit SSL plug-ins in the WebLogic Platform installation.

Note: If you already installed WebLogic Platform without the 128-bit encryption license and you want 128-bit encryption, you need to uninstall the software, place the 128-bit encryption license for WebLogic Platform in the BEA Home directory, and then reinstall WebLogic Platform.

When creating a new BEA Home directory for a WebLogic Platform installation intended for 128-bit encryption, proceed as follows:

1. Acquire a 128-bit encryption license for WebLogic Platform.

   For details, contact BEA Sales at http://www.bea.com.

2. Create a new directory that you want to use as a BEA Home directory and place the 128-bit encryption license in the new directory. The license file must be named license.bea.

3. Install the WebLogic Platform software.

   For instructions, see one of the following installation procedures:

   - Installing WebLogic Platform Using Graphical-Mode Installation

   - Installing WebLogic Platform Using Console-Mode Installation

   - Installing WebLogic Platform Using Silent-Mode Installation

Upgrading Licenses from Pre-7.0 Releases of WebLogic Platform Products

The format of the license.bea file has changed in WebLogic Platform 7.0. To convert a license.bea file from a previous release of a WebLogic Platform component product to a WebLogic Platform 7.0 license.bea file, complete the following steps. Be sure the license.bea license file from the previous release is available on the machine on which you perform this procedure.

1. Log in to the BEA eLicense Web site at http://elicense.bea.com.

   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.

2. 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.

3. You will receive an upgraded license file through e-mail. To update the license.bea file on your system, see Updating Your license.bea File.