WebLogic Platform ISV Partners' Guide

Distributing WebLogic Platform

This chapter provides details about the following topics:

Using an ISV Redistribution License

This section includes the following topics, which describe the contents and terms of an ISV redistribution license, and how to install the license:

About the ISV Redistribution License

The WebLogic Platform package available from BEA normally includes a license that prohibits the buyer from redistributing the software. However, for partners—Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in the business of redistributing WebLogic Platform—BEA provides a mechanism that enables you to create a redistribution license. Although the purpose of all ISV redistribution licenses is the same (to give an ISV's customers the right to run the WebLogic Platform software that has been redistributed by the ISV), each ISV redistribution license is unique, linked specifically to each partner.

If you will be redistributing one or more components of WebLogic Platform, you need to sign a BEA standard Channel License Agreement (CLA), available from your BEA partner account representative. The terms of the CLA define how and when the ISV redistribution license will be distributed. After you sign the CLA, BEA delivers you an isv.jar file, which enables you to create two things:

An ISV redistribution license, which is the ISV customer's run-time license to use the redistributed WebLogic Platform software
A customized weblogic.jar file, which specifically links the WebLogic Platform software to the ISV redistribution license

To run the ISV's value-added solution with the redistributed WebLogic Platform software, the ISV customer must have both the ISV redistribution license and the weblogic.jar file properly installed on their systems.

To learn how to create this license and the weblogic.jar file, see Creating an ISV Redistribution License and Linking It to the WebLogic Platform Files.

ISV Redistribution License Technical Enforcement

The ISV redistribution licenses that you create and distribute enable your customers to use WebLogic Platform functionality as follows:

The specific set of WebLogic Platform components to which your customers can have access—for example, WebLogic Server, or WebLogic Platform ISV Edition—is specified in your license distribution agreement with BEA and is enforced by the ISV redistribution license. This mechanism ensures that run-time support is restricted to the WebLogic Platform components specified in that agreement.
If your license distribution agreement is for WebLogic Platform ISV Edition only, the ISV redistribution license prevents the run-time use of WebLogic Platform components that are excluded from ISV Edition, such as the WebLogic Administration Portal tools and the WebLogic Integration Message Broker.

For a list of the components included, and not included, in WebLogic Platform ISV Edition, see WebLogic Platform Components Included in ISV Edition.
For details about developing applications for WebLogic Platform ISV Edition, and ensuring that those applications do not use functionality that is made unavailable at run time by the ISV redistribution license, see Building Process Edition Applications for Use with ISV Edition.

There is no enforced limit on the number of IP or databases connections that can be made by an installation of the WebLogic Platform software distributed by the ISV.
There is no expiration date on the use of the WebLogic Platform software distributed by the ISV.
The ISV redistribution license is not tied to any specific IP address. Therefore, the WebLogic Platform software that you distribute with an ISV redistribution license can be used on any machine.

The technical enforcements described in the preceding list may in some ways be less restrictive for your customer than the terms of your license agreement with BEA. For example, you are constrained to use your WebLogic Platform software only on the specific machines with which you are licensed with BEA. However, there is no technical enforcement in the ISV redistribution license that constrains the specific machines on which your customers may run the redistributed software they receive from you.

The ISV redistribution license is intended to restrict the usage of the WebLogic Platform components to the usage required by the ISV's software, in accordance with the terms of the ISV's redistribution agreement with BEA. An ISV redistribution license is not intended to grant the ISV's customer unlimited rights to use WebLogic Platform software independently from the usage of the ISV's application.

Creating an ISV Redistribution License and Linking It to the WebLogic Platform Files

To create an ISV redistribution license and link it to the WebLogic Platform files, complete the following two-step procedure:

Step 1: Prepare to Create an ISV Redistribution License

Before you create an ISV redistribution license file, complete the following steps:

If you have not already done so, install your WebLogic Platform software as described in Installing BEA WebLogic Platform at the following URL:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/index.html

Note the location of the BEA Home directory on your system. This directory contains the file license.bea, which is updated during subsequent steps in this procedure. For more information about the BEA Home directory and the license.bea file, see "Selecting Directories for the WebLogic Platform Installation" in Preparing to Install WebLogic Platform in Installing BEA WebLogic Platform.

Copy the isv.jar file you received from BEA into the BEA Home directory associated with this installation.

Open a command shell and go to the server/bin directory for WebLogic Platform; for example:

prompt> cd BEA_HOME/weblogic81/server/bin

Here, BEA_HOME is the environment variable representing the BEA Home directory on your system.

Run the following script:

Windows: setWLSEnv.cmd
UNIX: setWLSEnv.sh

Add isv.jar to your system CLASSPATH by entering the appropriate command:

Windows: set CLASSPATH=.\isv.jar;%CLASSPATH%
UNIX: export CLASSPATH=./isv.jar:$CLASSPATH

Step 2: Extract the License Data and Link the WebLogic Platform Files

To extract the ISV redistribution license data and associate it with your WebLogic Platform files, complete the following steps:

Go to the BEA Home directory on your system:

prompt> cd BEA_HOME

Enter the following command:

Windows:

java -Xmx128m -Dbea.home=%BEA_HOME% -Dbea.jar=%BEA_HOME%\weblogic81\server\lib\weblogic.jar install

UNIX:

java -Xmx128m -Dbea.home=$BEA_HOME -Dbea.jar=$BEA_HOME/weblogic81/server/lib/weblogic.jar install

Caution: Do not interrupt this process once it starts!

This command does two things:

Generates a file named license_isv.bea in the BEA Home directory. The license_isv.bea file contains the ISV redistribution license data.

Modifies the weblogic.jar file in your WebLogic Platform installation to create a specific linkage between that file and the ISV redistribution license data in the license_isv.bea file.

Only the weblogic.jar file in the BEA Home directory tree that you processed with this command can use the ISV redistribution license data extracted to the license_isv.bea file. The linkage and association between those two files is unique.

Note: On some operating systems and JDKs, you might encounter an "Out of Memory Error" message. To address this error, increase the value for the -Xmx argument, which sets the maximum heap size in megabytes, and run the command again. For example, if you specify -Xmx150m on the command line, the default heap size is increased to 150 MB.

Validating the ISV Redistribution License File

To validate that the updated weblogic.jar file works with the newly generated license_isv.bea file, which you created in Step 2: Extract the License Data and Link the WebLogic Platform Files, complete the following steps:

Open Windows Explorer or a command shell and navigate to the BEA Home directory from which you generated the ISV redistribution license, typically c:\bea.

Make a backup copy of your license.bea file. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command:

c:\bea> RENAME license.bea license.bea.backup

Rename the ISV redistribution license file license_isv.bea to license.bea. For example, at the command prompt, enter the following command:

c:\bea> RENAME license_isv.bea license.bea

Test your value-added solution in this BEA Home directory to ensure that no error conditions associated with license usage are generated.

Distributing Files

After you have validated that your value-added solution operates properly with the WebLogic Platform software that you will be redistributing, you need to create a process for ensuring that your customers install the following into the proper locations on their system:

The ISV redistribution license
The weblogic.jar file associated with the ISV redistribution license

You have a variety of choices for ensuring that the preceding two files are installed properly by your customers. For example, you can create a custom installer, or a silent-installation script that can be used by the WebLogic Platform installation program. However, note that there may be circumstances in which your customers might need to replace a pre-existing BEA license file with the ISV redistribution license. In these cases, make certain that your customers use the proper installation method, or follow documentation that you provide, to ensure that all necessary files are installed properly.

If your installation process does not result in both files being installed correctly, your customer will not be able to start your embedded WebLogic Platform software.

Note: You can use the same two files for all customer installations.

Service Packs and License Files

As of WebLogic Platform 8.1 Service Pack 2, the license.bea file that you generate and distribute, as described in Using an ISV Redistribution License, will continue to be valid for any customers who later use the Upgrade Installer to upgrade their installations with service packs for WebLogic Platform. As a result, customers who install your distribution of the initial release of WebLogic Platform 8.1 can later use the Upgrade Installer to install Service Pack 2 without obtaining a new license.

If, however, you provide an upgrade to your existing customers by supplying a whole new version of WebLogic Platform that includes a service pack, then you must generate a new license.bea file and include it in your distribution.