LICENSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH MULTIPLE LICENSE SERVERS

摘要

A system for managing licenses for protected software on a communication network is disclosed. The system comprises at least one client computer and a pool of license servers coupled to the communication network. The pool of license servers is programmed for managing licenses to use the protected software. Within the pool of license servers is a current leader server, programmed for managing all license servers in the pool, and at least one follower server programmed for managing the distribution of authorizations allocated to that particular follower server. Each license server stores a status of the authorizations allocated to that particular license server, and each follower server communicates the status of the authorizations allocated to that particular follower server to the current leader server. The client computers request authorizations to use the protected software from a particular license server. When a particular license server does not have a sufficient amount of available allocations, the current leader server re-assigns, where possible, the allocations within the pool. The system may also include at least one client computer that is capable of being coupled to or decoupled from the communication network. At least one of the license servers may be programmed for granting a commuter authorization in response to a request for a commuter authorization from a client computer if there is an available authorization. After a commuter authorization is received by a client computer, the client computer stores a commuter authorization lifetime representing a time period for which the commuter authorization is valid. The client computer may then use the protected software while coupled to or decoupled from the communication network until the commuter authorization lifetime expires.