RH6 licensing

[sjderrick]

Now that RH6 enables command-line generating, we are incorporating the help generation into our nightly product build. Our build machine is a virtual machine that occasionally gets moved from one host server to another. This movement often causes a new IP and MAC address on the build machine.

In the past I have had RH warn me that a license I was using for the install was already in use on my network, so I know it has tougher license checking than most products. My concern is that the movement of the build machine is going to require deactivating the license and possibly reinstalling RH.

Can someone explain how the license check works? Is it one license tied to a single IP or MAC address, or does the installer simply record the license somewhere and then check the list during each install?

Thank you.

[Linux Rules]

Good question! I hope someone with RH6 server installation experience has an answer (I'm curious, too).

The older versions WRITE TO THE MASTER BOOT RECORD of the hard drive on the installation workstation (not something most Sys Admins are very happy with). That is why a crash or hard drive change required calling for a new installation license as a Ghost image WITHOUT THE PROPER COMMAND LINE SWITCH doesn't save/restore the full MBR...a pain considering how often Windows trashes and requires a complete wipe/reinstall of everything.

Ghost does backup the first *absolute sector 0* which has the MBR code (Master Boot Record) and the Partition Table--but the rest of the master boot area (which is *absolute sector 1 thru 62*) is NOT backed up in Ghost's default mode--unless you use the Ghost command line switch *-ib* (image boot) which will then backup the whole Master Boot region of sectors 0 thru 62.

Regards,
GEWB