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AlexM-Lumension's avatar
AlexM-Lumension
Occasional Visitor
11 years ago

How to backup a license server?

Long story short, if it's not a VM, my IT department won't manage it (keep backups, make sure it's up and running, replace hardware, fix networking problems, disaster recovery, etc.). So I've got to manage the license server. All I had available was a 4 year old test box that nobody was using, so I threw an OS on it, and installed the License Manager on it.  Given the attrition rate of the machines in our server room, I expect this box to die within 1-2 years. Are there any best practices for backing up a license server? Should I bother, or should I just resign myself to contacting sales or support to get a new license server set up when this one dies?

 

TIA,

AlexM 

2 Replies

  • Ryan_Moran's avatar
    Ryan_Moran
    Valued Contributor
    11 years ago

    In my experience...don't fight the man.

     

    The hasp licensing software will make you reactivate no matter what you do.

    It detects hardware changes and can be a real PITA if you even ghost the drive.

     

    Always uninstall and deactivate first then start fresh to avoid the need for seppuku.

  • joseph_michaud's avatar
    joseph_michaud
    Icon for Staff rankStaff
    11 years ago

    About the only thing that might be of use is to make a disk image copy of the primary disk.  On a physical machine the license store is dependent on the motherboard and hard disk IDs.  If you fry your motherboard and get it replaced, or if you fry the hard disk and then lay the disk image down on a replacement disk (in that same machine), you should still be good to go.  One of the two required IDs is still valid and the licenses will still work.

     

    If that happens, and you're a conservative kind of guy, you could then deactivate all licenses on the machine, reformat the disk, reload the OS and the License Manager, and reactivate your licenses.  In this way, by creating a completely new license store on the machine, you cause that license store to depend on the new set of IDs.