Managing licenses

You must obtain a license key before you can install and use BigFix. Your license is composed of two files:

  • Your public key file: license.crt
  • Your private key file: license.pvk protected by a password

The following table lists the tasks that are required to purchase, generate, and manage your license keys.

Task Description
Check the product license requirements It is important to understand the license requirements of the system you want to protect. A license lets you install the BigFix client on a specified number of computers.
Purchase a license You must purchase a license in the following situations:
  • You want to purchase BigFix.
  • Your trialware license expired.
  • Your paid license expired.
  • Your license is over-deployed and an updated license.crt is required for the increased license count purchase.
  • Your upgrade license expired.
Within a few hours of your purchase you receive two emails. One email is sent from IBM as confirmation of your purchase. Another email contains instructions about how to access the IBM BigFix License Key Center. These emails are sent to the technical contact associated with the IBM Customer Number for the account.
Get the license authorization file To get your product license you must have an authorization file from the IBM BigFix License Key Center site. See Creating the License Authorization File.
Generate your license files during installation:
  • Create the private key file
  • Request and get the license certificate
  • Generate the masthead file
 During the installation of the Server, after you specify the license authorization file, you generate the license.pvk file, which is your private key file. You also request and get the license.crt file, which is your public key file. These two files together complete your license.

See Requesting the license files on Windows and Step 2 - Installing the Server.
Back up your license files Store your license.crt (public key) file with your existing license.pvk (private key) file. Keep these two keys together and create a backup copy in a secure location. Only in this way are you in complete control of your license keys. Backing up your license files preserves the license files in case the database or the computer hard disk is damaged.

In particular the license.pvk file is the part of your key files that needs to stay private. The license.crt file is your public key file and must be combined with your private key file to complete your license. You can open the license files in a text editor to review their contents.
Check license status and distribute the new license and masthead files You can see the notifications about expired license and other license issues for the license that you imported into the console.

See Distributing the Updated License and Masthead.
This is a summary of the steps to perform to get your license key files:
  1. Purchase a license.
  2. Get an authorization file from the IBM BigFix License Key Center site.
  3. Start the BigFix installation and enter the authorization file when requested to get the license.crt file. At the end of the process both the public key and private key license files are generated together with the masthead file. This file contains configuration, license, and security information, including URLs that point to where trusted Fixlet content is available. It is used for installing DSA servers and is distributed to all the clients using that server.