Controlling License Use with the SySAM Options File

The options file (SYBASE.opt, in the licenses directory) allows license administrators to control various licensing operating parameters and to designate users of specific licenses.

License users are identified by their user name, host name, display, IP address, or the user-defined project defined by the LM_PROJECT environment variable.

License administrators can use the options file to:

Control license use – for example, the following options file content restricts the use of the Sybase Database Expert product, controlled by the ASE_SDBE license, to users tom, sam, and alice:
```
GROUP dbe_group tom sam alice
INCLUDE ASE_SDBE GROUP dbe_group
```
Reserve licenses – for example, this line in the options file reserves a Sybase SQL Expert license with the licensed feature ASE_SXP for user joe:
```
RESERVE 1 ASE_SXP USER joe
```
Note: For products with more than one edition, and more than one license type, you can use the VENDOR_STRING that appears on the INCREMENT or UPGRADE line of the license to identify a specific license.
For example, to reserve a license for the Enterprise Edition of Adaptive Server® Enterprise (license package ASE_EE, and license attributes SORT=100;PE=EE;LT=SR) to be used on the machines payrollsvr and accountsvr, enter:
```
HOST_GROUP ase_ee_hosts payrollsvr accountsvr
RESERVE 1 ASE_EE:VENDOR_STRING=SORT=100;PE=EE;LT=SR HOST payrollsvr
RESERVE 1 ASE_EE:VENDOR_STRING=SORT=100;PE=EE;LT=SR HOST accountsvr
```
Note: Reserving a license for multiple hosts requires each host to have a separate RESERVE line in the options file. If the reservation was made solely for the HOST_GROUP above, then two licenses are reserved, but any machine in the host group can use all of the reserved licenses.
Restrict the number of available licenses – for example, to prevent accidental use of overdraft licenses for Adaptive Server Enterprise, add the following line to the options file:
```
MAX_OVERDRAFT ASE_CORE 0
```
If overdraft licensing is subsequently needed, you can modify or remove the line from the options file.

Note: Consider carefully the use of an overdraft license since you need to agree to purchase these licenses within 30 days.
Enable report and debug log files – the default SYBASE.opt options file in the license server’s licenses directory sets the location of the license server debug log and report log files, and specifies that the license server should append the files (rather than create a new file) each time the license server is started.

The default SYBASE.opt file contains two lines similar to this, where REPORTLOG and DEBUGLOG are the log type, the + (plus sign character) indicates to append log file entries, and SYBASE.rl and SYBASE.log specify each log file’s path.
```
REPORTLOG +/opt/sybase/SYSAM-2_0/log/SYBASE.rl
DEBUGLOG +/opt/sybase/SYSAM-2_0/log/SYBASE.log
```
Use this syntax for the log file entries in the options file:
```
[DEBUGLOG | REPORTLOG] [+] log_path
```

See The Options File in the FLEXnet Licensing End User Guide for a list of option key words, syntax, and descriptions.

The license server reads the options file and obeys its directives at start-up or, if it is already running, when you issue sysam reread.