About Named License Pools

In a generic setup, each license server has a license pool which contains all the licenses available to its client devices. The license server distributes licenses from this license pool on a first-come-first-served basis to client devices requesting them. This license pool is also referred to as the default license pool.

However, in addition to the server’s default license pool you can create named license pools, which divide your license estate into groups of licenses. By defining rules of access, you can allocate licenses to a group of client devices or users to help ensure that these entities have access to the features they need.

Thus, a license server serves licenses from its default license pool and any named license pools that you create. Each named license pool contains license counts for one or more features, which can be allocated to client devices or users. It is important to note that in a named license pool, licenses are not assigned to individual client devices or users. Instead, counts allocated to a named license pool can be accessed by a number of devices or users that meet certain criteria, such as, for example, be member of a particular business unit or have a certain hostid. Allocated license counts can be checked out by any device or user that fulfills the specified criteria.

License server administrators can choose to allocate the entire pool of licenses, a portion of the licenses, or none of the licenses. Any license that is not allocated to a named license pool remains in the default license pool and is available to any device on a first-come-first-served basis.