Citrix Licensing | Citrix Access Suite 4 for Windows Server 2003: The Official Guide, Third Edition

The next section provides detailed information and instructions on MetaFrame XP and MetaFrame for UNIX licensing, as well as the new mlicense utility.

MetaFrame XP FR-3 Licensing

Software licensing, just like software, continues to evolve. Both Microsoft and Citrix licensing is required for all Citrix MetaFrame XP environments. As discussed in Chapter 2, Microsoft licensing with Windows 2003 offers both a per-user and per-seat (per computer) implementation. Citrix licensing is offered on a concurrent user basis. With both Microsoft and Citrix licensing, the license is not only an agreement describing the cost to the user and revenue to the vendor, it is also a technical implementation in which licenses are managed by the servers, and user access is disallowed if insufficient licenses are available. Although most companies today look at software licensing as purely an ethical and legal concern, for many applications, including Citrix and Microsoft, it is also a technical concern. On more than one occasion we have received calls from customers in a panic because users couldn't get logged in as a result of too few licenses, or a configuration mistake with the licensing.

The technical implementation of Citrix MetaFrame XP licensing requires that one license be available for each concurrent user ICA connection to a MetaFrame XP server farm. The ICA Client software is essentially free, as it can be installed on any device at no cost. Of course, when it is used to connect to a server, it will use up a concurrent license on the server farm. The MetaFrame XP licensing is sufficiently intelligent enough to recognize when a single user is running more than one session into the farm, and thus only take one license for that user. Because MetaFrame XP connection licenses are version specific (that is, they understand the difference between an XPs server and an XPe server), we highly recommend that all server farms use the same MetaFrame XP version. This will avoid the problem of MetaFrame checking out two licenses to a single user because that user is connecting to both a MetaFrame XPs server and secondly to a MetaFrame XPe server.

Once the first MetaFrame XP starter pack is purchased, the server software and license can be installed on as many servers as desired. The license code provides for concurrent connections, regardless of how many servers those connections are spread across, as long as all the servers are in the same farm. Obviously, each additional server does require a new license of Windows 2003 Server, but from a Citrix standpoint, the number of servers has little bearing on the number of concurrent licenses. This provides a great deal of flexibility for SBC administrators, allowing them to add servers as more power or flexibility is needed within the farm, without having to purchase more Citrix licensing.

Tip

Possibly the most significant gain from this new licensing paradigm is that it allows an administrator to build non-production test servers within his farm without having to purchase additional Citrix licenses.

How Citrix MetaFrame XP Licenses Are Purchased

Citrix sells its software licenses through a worldwide group of resellers who purchase the licenses through several large distributors or, in the case of the Global 2000 program, the resellers purchase the Flex licenses from Citrix directly. Chapter 3 covers the various licensing program options. It is important to note from a technical standpoint that the program the licenses are purchased under will affect the technical implementation of how they are input and activated.

Citrix Retail and Flex Software Licensing Any standard purchase of less than 375 licenses will be provided through resellers in the form of standard retail license packs or Easy Licensing electronic licensing packs. There are two main differences between Easy Licensing and standard retail licensing:

With Easy Licensing, all ordering and delivery is done from http://www.MyCitrix.com, in conjunction with a reseller. Since no physical paper is shipped, the time between order and install is dramatically reduced.
Easy Licensing does not require activation—simply key in the license codes and you are ready to go. In contrast, standard retail license packs require a two-step procedure of keying in the licensing, and then going to the Citrix site to activate the licenses.

Retail and Easy License packs of Citrix XPs, XPa, or XPe come in two varieties:

A 20-user starter pack
A concurrent license pack (in increments of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 concurrent user licenses)

The main difference between the starter pack and the concurrent license pack is that the starter pack comes with media and documentation (an obvious requirement for first-time Citrix buyers). It is important to note, however, that a starter pack also comes with a starter license, which must be installed prior to installing any connection packs.

Corporate and Educational License Agreement Purchases Corporations purchasing more than 375 concurrent user licenses at a time may choose to buy licenses under Citrix's Corporate License Program (CLP) through the reseller channel. CLP licenses (referred to as open licenses) require a purchase up-front, but offer a significant discount. Open licenses come in the same 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 concurrent license packs, but rather than requiring a starter pack, the open licenses come with a product code and a media kit (purchased separately). The media kit and product codes again can be installed on as many servers in the farm as desired. The license codes are installed and activated in the same way as all other Citrix codes. Since most open licenses involve a large number of installations, administrators will benefit from the new mlicense tool detailed next. This tool provides an automated method to install and activate a large number of licenses.

Technical Aspects of How MetaFrame XP Licensing Works

MetaFrame XP licensing is all stored and managed at the server level. There is never any licensing installed, managed, gathered, or stored on any client device. The MetaFrame XP license keys are installed and activated through the Citrix Management Console or by using the mlicense utility (see the mlicense section that follows). Once the license keys are installed, Citrix then stores the license keys in the Citrix farm's IMA Data Store. Each server in the farm contains a local host cache database of the IMA licensing data to ensure users are not denied access to the farm if one server is down. If a server loses connectivity to the farm for more than 96 hours, the licensing component of the IMA service stops, and users are no longer able to log on to that particular server.

The zone data collectors for the IMA Data Store track the license usage within the server farm. The IMA communication within the farm keeps all of the servers constantly up-to-date regarding total number of licenses available and in use.

When a user initiates an ICA connection with a MetaFrame XP server, a license is checked out from the IMA Data Store pool. When the user logs off, the connection license is checked back in to the pool of available licenses in the Data Store.

Adding, Activating, and Backing Up Licenses with the mlicense Utility The following processes do not work if the licenses have already been manually added to the Citrix Management Console.

Use the mlicense utility to add multiple licenses, activate multiple licenses, and back up licenses in a MetaFrame XP server farm. mlicense can be used in a MetaFrame XP server farm with servers running MetaFrame XP Feature Release 1, 2, or 3. MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3 includes the mlicense utility. For the purposes of this utility, the term serial number refers to license numbers before they are added to the farm and the term license number is synonymous with license string and license key.

Perform the following tasks before running mlicense:

Create a filename.txt file and input all of the license serial numbers to be added to the MetaFrame XP server farm. You can add other text to the filename.txt file, such as section headings. The mlicense utility reads the license serial numbers in the file and then adds them to the Data Store.

Note
Use all uppercase letters when adding license serial numbers to the filename.txt file.
For MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2 server farms, download and install Hotfix XE102W064 on each of the servers. This hotfix must be present on the MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2 servers before running mlicense in the farm.
For MetaFrame XP Feature Release 1 and 2 server farms, download the mlicense utility from ftp://ftp.citrix.com/etaXP/Utils/mlicense.exe and copy Mlicense.exe to the %system Root%\System32 directory on one of the servers in the farm.

Directions for Using mlicense Full administrative rights or delegated administrative rights are required to execute this command.

From a command prompt, run the command parameters listed in Table 12-5. For example: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>mlicense add /I C:\Temp\filename.txt /O C:\Temp\filename.xml.

Table 12-5: mlicense Command-Line Utility Syntax and Parameters
Command Syntax	Parameters	Parameter Options
mlicense /?	/? — Displays the syntax for the utility and information about the utility's options.
mlicense [activate /I filename_processed.xml]	filename_processed .xml — The filename of the license number and activation codes output file from the CAS Multiple License Activation CAS web site to be used.	/activate filename_ processed.xml — Activates the filename_processed.xml licenses in the MetaFrame farm. When this command is successfully completed, mlicense displays the message, "Successfully activated all the licenses." /I — Input command.
mLicense [/L number] [/Q]	number — The maximum number of license numbers that each filename.XML file will contain. The maximum number that can be specified is 2000.	/L — Allows you to list the number of licenses to be put in the filename.xml file by mlicense. This is optional. /Q — This command runs after mlicense /L.
mlicense [backup /O backupfilename.txt]	backupfilename.txt — The filename containing a backup of the license serial numbers.	/Backup — Saves the serial number strings from the MetaFrame farm in the backupfilename.txt file for backup and disaster recovery purposes. /O — Output
mlicense [add /I filename.txt] [/O filename.xml]	filename.txt — The name of the text file listing all of the license serial numbers to be added. filename.xml — The name of the output .XML file specified when using the <mlicense add /I filename.txt /O filename.xml> syntax. This file is uploaded to the CAS Multiple License Activation web site.	/add filename.txt — Adds the license serial numbers from the filename.txt file to the mlicense tool. When this command is successfully completed, mlicense displays the message, "Successfully added all the serial numbers." mlicense does not add autoactivated licenses to the filename.xml file. When creating the filename.txt file, be sure to use all uppercase letters.

Note

You can save the filename.xml file to a directory of your choice by specifying the directory path. mlicense outputs the filename.xml file, which includes the license numbers to be used for activation.

Open the web browser and navigate to the Multiple Activation page on the Citrix Activation (CAS) web site. Upload the filename.xml file. The web site processes the filename.xml file and returns a filename_processed.xml file. Save the filename_processed.xml file on the server.

Note
Detailed directions for using the CAS web site are on the CAS Multiple License Activation web page.
Run the mlicense activate command, using the filename_processed.xml file. Use the command parameters listed next as an example:

C:\Program Files\Citrix\System32>mlicense activate /I filename_processed.xml

The licenses are now activated in the MetaFrame farm.
After activating the licenses, use the backup feature of mlicense to create a backup file of the licenses; for example:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>mlicense backup /O

C:\Temp\backupfilename.txtMLicense
Use this command-line utility to add groups of licenses to a MetaFrame XP Feature Release 1 or Feature Release 2 farm. Executing mlicense with no parameters displays help for the utility.

Table 12-5 lists the syntax and parameters for the mlicense command line utility.

Use this command-line utility with the parameters and syntax listed in Table 12-5 to add groups of licenses

Example: mlicense add /I C:\Temp\filename.txt /O C:\Temp\filename.xml /L 10

The preceding example puts ten license numbers in each of the filename.xml files. The first file is named filename.xml, the second file is named filename_1.xml, then filename_2.xml, and so on. If you do not use the /L option and the filename.txt file has more than 2000 license numbers, mlicense creates filename.xml with the initial 2000 license numbers and filename_1.xml with any license numbers over and above the initial 2000.

For example, if filename.txt contains 2100 license numbers, mlicense creates filename.xml that contains 2000 license numbers and filename_1.xml that contains the additional 100 license numbers.

Example: <mlicense add /I C:\Temp\filename.txt /O C:\Temp\filename.xml /L 10 /Q>

This allows the output file naming convention to restart. In this example, it overwrites the existing files such as filename.xml, filename_1.xml, and filename._2.xml in the directory. If you do not use the /Q option, the files are created using the next number available in the naming convention, such as filename_3.xml, filename_4.xml, and filename_5.xml.

Citrix MetaFrame for UNIX Version 1.2 Licensing

Citrix MetaFrame for UNIX licensing is different from Citrix MetaFrame XP licensing in four significant ways:

MetaFrame for UNIX is licensed per server and per concurrent user. For instance, a 15-user license can only be put on one server—if additional server power is required, even though the first server is only supporting five users, a second 15-user license is required. Although server licenses can be pooled as the farm grows (using Citrix load balancing), more thought and planning need to go into determining how many servers will be needed to support the number of expected concurrent users.

Note

Citrix sells MetaFrame for UNIX in base packs as small as three users to alleviate the pain of having to buy MetaFrame for UNIX for 20 users for a small server that may only be capable of supporting three users.

MetaFrame for UNIX is sold in a base license (as opposed to a Starter Kit like MetaFrame XP) of 3 or 15 users, and additional bump packs of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 concurrent connection licenses. The bump packs are not interchangeable with MetaFrame XP bump packs (and the pricing is different as well).
MetaFrame for UNIX does not have different versions like MetaFrame XPs, XPa, or XPe. Instead, the additional features of Citrix Load balancing are sold and licensed as separate products.
Microsoft licensing is not required.

Because of these differences, as of version 1.2, licensing cannot be shared between MetaFrame XP server farms and MetaFrame for UNIX server farms unless the MetaFrame XP servers are in mixed mode. Additionally, mlicense will not work with MetaFrame for UNIX. Citrix is currently considering using the same licensing management for both MetaFrame for UNIX and MetaFrame XP, so common management and more seamless license pooling between products may be available with future releases.

Although the MetaFrame for UNIX licensing is not as consumer friendly, it is cheaper per concurrent connection license. Additionally, MetaFrame for UNIX deals with multiple concurrent licensing similarly to MetaFrame XP in that it generally is efficient enough to use only one license for one user, even if they have multiple sessions open to multiple MetaFrame for UNIX servers. MetaFrame for UNIX's client device licensing allows users to start multiple sessions on the same server or on different servers, while using only a single Citrix user count, assuming the following conditions exist:

All connections must be from the same client device.
When a user starts a second session on the same Citrix server as the first session, the new session does not consume a second user count. When a user starts a second session on a different Citrix server, the new session does not consume a second user count if all the following conditions are true:
- The first session consumed a pooled user count.
- The user makes all connections from the same client device.
- All servers are on the same subnet (using the same master ICA Browser).

Citrix servers exhaust all local (unpooled) user counts before consuming pooled user counts. Therefore, a user assigned a local user count uses a second user count when starting a second session on a different Citrix server.

Installing MetaFrame for UNIX Licenses To install the licenses on a Citrix for MetaFrame server, install the software, enter the serial numbers, and activate the licenses through the activation tool using the following steps:

Add the supplied serial number using the ctxlicense command. At the command prompt, type ctxlicense -add serial-number. Type the serial number exactly as it appears (it is case sensitive). A message will state that the Citrix license has been successfully added. MetaFrame generates and displays a unique 35-character license number, based on the serial number entered. The serial number is the 25-character number that can be found in three places:
- On the sticker on the back of the CD-ROM booklet, in version 1.1
- On the sealed inside flap of the CD-ROM pack, in Feature Release 1
- On a web site, if you have been given a URL through an electronic licensing program
Get an activation code from Citrix for the license from the Citrix product activation web site http://www.citrix.com/activate/ and follow the instructions on the screen. You will need to supply the 35-character license number generated in Step 1.
Activate the Citrix license using ctxlicense. At the command prompt, type ctxlicense -activate license-number activation-code. Paste in the license number from the Clipboard, or type it in, and type in the activation code supplied by Citrix. A message stating that the Citrix license has been successfully activated appears. The software is now ready for use.

MetaFrame for UNIX License Pooling By default, all user licenses are pooled across Citrix servers. You can reserve licenses for use only on a local Citrix server by lowering the number of pooled licenses. Unpooled local licenses are not available to other Citrix servers and cannot be used for client device licensing.

To change the pooled user count, the 35-character license number must be supplied. To display all Citrix licensing information for a specific server or server pool, use ctxlicense -list from a command prompt (logged in as a Citrix administrator). A description of each license, the license number, user count and pooled user count, and an indication of whether it is activated or not, is provided.

To change the pooled user count across MetaFrame for UNIX servers:

Log on to the MetaFrame server as a Citrix server administrator.
At the command prompt, type ctxlicense -pool license-number pooled-count

The pooled count must be between zero and the total number of user counts installed with this license number. Any remaining user counts become local to this server only.

Since MetaFrame for UNIX does not have an IMA Data Store like MetaFrame XP, the licenses are all stored on the first installed server, and a backup copy is stored on the second installed server. If the license server should fail, the backup server will continue to license users for 48 hours, after which all licensing will be lost.

Note

The default settings for pooled licenses will generally reduce the number of licenses a company needs, and as such, the pooled count shouldn't be changed without a lot of thought about how it may change the license count available.