Re: Opinions wanted regarding how to install ISV software

Hi Nathan,
We use the IBM system manager for our products. It is a bit of a 'Dark Art' but you can get help from IBM.
The unfortunate thing is once your software is bundled up you still need to use various API's to check for License violations. It took months of research and tweaking but once it worked it's great.
Also customers are familiar with RSTLICPGM, DLTLICPGM etc.
The problem with custom license software is that you have to think of everything people on this post may have already though of to access your software. We/They/You are all called techies for a reason and can try to break a license if possible, maybe just for fun.
  
R,
Mark.     


On Saturday, 2 January 2016, 15:07, Richard Schoen <Richard.Schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


I rolled my own and it morphed over the years between serial#, model#, lpar# and we were considering IASP, library licensing and user counts.

My thought process was:

Simply build the production library from source and package it into a save file.

Then restore the library and enter license codes into a data area.

We even had our own push button library upload and restore process.

Our libraries were almost always forward rolling with an upgrade program that ran after install.

I probably wouldn't use the IBM method unless you are a jedi-master.

Regards,

Richard Schoen | Director of Document Management Technologies, HelpSystems
T: + 1 952-486-6802
RJS Software Systems | A Division of HelpSystems
richard.schoen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.rjssoftware.com
Visit me on: Twitter | LinkedIn


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message: 1
date: Fri, 1 Jan 2016 13:26:07 -0700
from: Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx>
subject: Opinions wanted regarding how to install ISV software

I've been considering 2 alternatives. One option is to use IBM "System Manager" to package products which can be installed by using the RSTLICPGM command. Another option is to package products into "save" files and have shops use RSTLIB with a custom INSTALL command to complete the installation.

IBM's System Manager approach seems like something of a dark art. The documentation is minimal, old, conceptually challenging, and much of it is out of date. The product is out of date. IBM evidently uses it as a basis for OS releases and PTFs. Why doesn't IBM update it's "package manager"?

With a custom approach to managing products, packages, and fixes I would at least have a handle on the process. But that would require quite a bit of effort and time. In the Windows world, products like Install Shield fill that kind of need.

What approach would you recommend?