Activation in TIBCO Streaming and Model Management Server

TIBCO® Streaming requires activation via a license to start. Activation is required when running an application in development, unless the application is being run in a StreamBase Studio IDE. If the application is exported for testing, then it requires activation. All production deployments use application archives. Activation is enabled during installation of these archives.

If you want to customize the license validation behavior, you need to specify an Activation Configuration. See the sections below for more information on format and details.

If the activation configuration is not specified, then the node uses a default activation configuration. By default, the configuration uses a local license directory located in the user's home directory in the fixed location:

If you want to customize the activation configuration, then specify an activation configuration as given in the sections below.

The following is a description of all activation configuration properties:

There are two ways for you to specify an activation configuration:

If you do not want to modify your application archive or node deploy files, you can place a license configuration file in the node user's home directory, in the fixed location:

It is not needed for the node to be restarted for license validation.

The file format is the same as the configuration content of the activation configuration resource as described in the next section:

      {
        localLicenseDirectory = "/my/license/directory"
      }

Note that a configuration envelope is required because this file is not a configuration resource managed by the node. You can configure activation using either the localLicenseDirectory or the activationServiceURLs property.

Placing an activation configuration into an application archive is useful because you can set your activation configuration in one place. Then you can create as many nodes as you want without separately providing the activation configuration for each one. Alternatively, if you have an existing application archive and do not want to change it, you can place the activation configuration in a node deploy configuration and then create a node using that node deploy configuration. The node uses that activation configuration for license validation.

The activation configuration resource is a singleton. Hence, an error is generated when you activate an activation configuration with a new name when one is already active. You are allowed to update the activation configuration, keeping the name the same and changing only the version. The following is an example of a HOCON format activation configuration:

name = "MyLicenseConfig"
    version = "1.0"
    type = "com.tibco.ep.dtm.configuration.licensing"

    configuration = {
      LicenseInfo = {
        localLicenseDirectory = "/my/license/directory"
        }
    }

Once the configuration is placed in the application archive and/or node deploy file and whenever a node is created using that archive and/or node deploy file, it will automatically be configured with the right activation configuration.

For new projects generated by the Streaming Maven application project archetypes, two new archetype parameter properties are available. These are:

If either of these is specified, a license.conf file is generated using the given values. If neither is specified, license.conf will be generated without either of these specified. In that case, when deployed, the application will attempt to find a license file in the user’s default local license directory.

Docker Projects

If Docker or Kubernetes support is enabled during StreamBase Application project generation, license files are copied into the container image at build time.

Inside the container, license files are always placed in: /home/tibco/.tibco-streaming/licenses. The license.conf file uses a substitution variable for the local license directory, which resolves to the user-specified path on the host or to the fixed license path inside the container.

Overriding License Directory at Build Time

To change the local license directory during project build time (without regenerating the archetype), specify the following Maven property:

mvn clean install -Dlocal.license.directory=/foo

This command overrides the archetype’s locallicensedirectory property, providing flexible control without additional project changes.

Helm Projects

All license files found in the user’s local license directory (or the directory specified at project generation) are packaged into a Kubernetes Secret. A ConfigMap is also created for the license configuration.

The Helm deployment mounts these resources, allowing license files and configuration to be updated easily without needing to rebuild or redeploy container images or Helm charts.

Once a node has been deployed, the activation configuration can be updated without restarting the node.

If you are using a configuration for TIBCO activation license, you can use the epadmin configuration target to load and activate a new activation configuration resource with the same name and a different version. You can then use epadmin configuration command to switch between versions just as you would with any other configuration object.

If you are using a local license file, you can update the license file in the node user's home directory. The changes will take effect the next time license validation occurs.

You can use the epadmin display node command to view the activation configuration and the license expiration date.

The licensevalidation statistic shows validation attempt and failure counts, and the entitlement expiration date. Use the epadmin statistics command target to display the statistic.

For a TIBCO Activation Service-based authorization, the node requests validation when the node starts, and validates entitlement once per day. If activation or validation fails, the node shuts down all application engines. The node remains available for administration and can be restarted once you have fixed your validation problem.

If a running server loses contact with the activation server, a grace period begins during which the connection can be reestablished. Do not restart the node during this grace period. For more information, see TIBCO Activation Service documentation.