Installing IBM i licenses in Skytap

IBM i VM licenses are generally tied to the serial number of the hardware host and must be renewed each year. If you migrated an IBM i LPAR into Skytap, use this procedure to install an IBM i license and to create a LICKEY scheduled job which runs once per day to verify that a valid license is installed on the VM.

Prerequisites

Python 3 must be installed on the IBM i LPAR.

Create the `IBMPULL.SH` script

From the green screen of the IBM i VM, sign in as QSECOFR. Make sure networking is enabled and that you can access the internet.
Type STRTCPSVR SERVER(*SSHD) to start SSH.
From a command windows on your local computer, sign in to your IBM i VM using SSH: ssh QSECOFR@ipaddress
In the SSH session, type bash to start a bash instance.
Use an editor such as NANO to create IBMPULL.SH in the root directory of the IBM i VM. For example, type nano /IBMPULL.SH.

Paste in the contents of the IBMPULL.SH script:

 #!/bin/bash/
 /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/curl --fail -o tmp_ibmi_license_management.py http://169.254.169.254/skytap?ibmi_script_update=1
 if [ $? == 0 ]; then
 /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/python3 -m py_compile tmp_ibmi_license_management.py
 if [ $? == 0 ]; then
 mv tmp_ibmi_license_management.py ibmi_license_management.py
 chmod +x ibmi_license_management.py
 ./ibmi_license_management.py
 else
 echo "Failed to compile new script." && exit 1
 fi
 else 
 echo "Failed to download new script." && exit 1
 fi
 echo "This is done!"

Create a LICKEY user

Create a LICKEY user to run the license-verification script.

Type the following command:

CRTUSRPRF USRPRF(LICKEY) PASSWORD(*NONE) INLMNU(*SIGNOFF) LMTCPB(*YES) SPCAUT(*ALLOBJ) DSPSGNINF(*NO) LMTDEVSSN(1)

Create a LICKEY scheduled job to validate the IBM i license

Configure Advanced Job Scheduler to run the LICKEY script once each day. You can do this in an SRA session or using a 5250 emulator.

To create the LICKEY job:

Type WRKJOBJS to open job scheduler.
Create new job called LICKEY with the following parameters:
- Frequency: DAILY
- Interval: 1
- User: LICKEY
- Schedule times: 0:02 (or any time of your choosing in UTC).
Press Enter to confirm the job.
Choose option 8, and then add these commands to the job:
- Seq: 10
- Command: QSH CMD('/IBMPULL.SH')
Choose option 6 to release and reset the job.
Use option 7 to immediately execute the job to test it.

The job can take a long time to complete, depending on the EC and any running processes on the VM. For a very low EC VM, the job can take 20 minutes.

Troubleshooting the LICKEY job

The LICKEY job calls the ibmi_license_management.py script, which has a debug option.

Type ibmi_license_management.py debug to run the script with verbose progress output.
Contact Skytap Support with the output if you’re experiencing an error and need assistance.