license has terminated problem

[Larry J. Griswold]

Poor system management, I didn't apply the CSLGJAN05 paks on our systems last week. Our Openvms-alpha-user,decnet,tcpip licenses all expired, and I can not get into the system using the console, set host, telnet.

Is there anyway of getting into the system without rebooting into the startup=opa0 mode?

[Karl Rohwedder]

You should be able to log in on OPA0 at least with the SYSTEM account.

regards Kalle

[Larry J. Griswold]

I can't we get the message logging in using a pc serial connection to the ALPHA. The message displays

Welcome to OpenVMS (TM) Alpha Operating System, Version V7.3-1

Username: system
Password:
License has terminated

[Robert Brooks_1]

The previous response is correct; you can *always* log into the system via the console if a license is expired. Perhaps what you think is the console is not actually OPA0:?

What type of hardware is this, and how are you connecting to the "console"?

[Uwe Zessin]

Sounds like you're working from a system with graphics. In that case the serial port is not OPA0. I would do a minimum boot to bypass the graphics startup. On most systems this is:
>>> boot -flags 0,1

Else, you should check the boot root and replace 0 accordingly.

[Larry J. Griswold]

We do have a KVM attached to all our consoles, which are set to graphics.

[Uwe Zessin]

Yes, but when you do a minimum boot, the Motif environment is not started and you are left with a simple display.

Other possibility:
>>> set console serial
>>> init
- see if the serial port can now be used as OPA0, else use 'the other serial port' of one is there (you don't mention what system hardware you have, so I can only guess).

[Larry J. Griswold]

We have a es40 box. I have used the deconnect port on the back of the es40.

I'll try the db9 connector.

[Uwe Zessin]

The MMJ port is used as the system console when you set is to 'serial' as shown above and then boot.

[Haim Godovnik]

Boot from a CD.
Mount your system disk.
Apply any licenses you want.
Boot from your System disk.

Haim

[John Travell]

You just might be lucky. Remember that Control_F2 will give you access to OPA0, but it seems to be read-only if motif is running.
Certainly I cannot get a login response on my As1000.

[Larry J. Griswold]

Thanks for all the responses. We were able to get into a privledged account after the one user logged out, using a telnet session.

We were then able to bring the system down to a point the database administrator was happy, without shutting down the whole system. We applied the licenses and started up the databases and all is well.

It appears there is always the ablitiy for one interactive login from anywhere, not just the console.

[David Jones_21]

Here's something I just discovered. With VMS 8.2, at least, login sessions with pseudo-terminals aren't charged against your openvms-alpha units so you have unlimited logins via the SSH server.

[John Gillings]

David,

>With VMS 8.2, at least, login
>sessions with pseudo-terminals
>aren't charged against your
>openvms-alpha units

Correct, and has always been the case. That's because in most cases pseudo terminals are DECterms. It's an attempt to make licensing count "warm bodies" rather than terminal sessions. You can legally have as many DECterm sessions on your screen as resources will allow.

>so you have unlimited logins via the
>SSH server.

Sorry, NOT correct! The overriding limit is the license agreement, not what LMF enforces. The onus is on the system manager to ensure that license limits are not exceeded. So, if the SSH server is allowing a loophole through LMF, the system manager needs to use something like SET LOGIN/INTERACTIVE to limit logins. Although LMF might allow you to exceed your license limits, that doesn't make it legal.

Of course this is all moot for OpenVMS I64 because the OE (Operating Environment) license gives unlimited users anyway.

[David Jones_21]

>>so you have unlimited logins via the
>>SSH server.

>Sorry, NOT correct! The overriding limit is >the license agreement, not what LMF >enforces.

I was mocking the inconsistency in OS enforcement of user limits in licensing. Counting 'warm bodies' is complicated business. Why should a DECwindows session with 3 DECterms, opening 3 SSH sessions from a PC, or opening 3 telnet sessions from that PC be counted as 1, 0, or 3 users? With IA64 they just gave up.

[comarow]

Congratulations. You have found a bug.
It shouldn't work.