Importance

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Abstract

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 client computers request authorization to use the protected software, and the license servers manage a distribution of allocations to use the protected software. The pool of license servers includes a selected current leader server for managing the distribution of allocations for all license servers in the pool. The first license server to be started is selected as the current leader server. However, if no license server is started first, the license server with the highest priority according to a leader priority list is selected as the current leader server. In addition, client computers seeking authorization to use the protected software may receive information from the server pool and select a particular license server from which to request authorization to use the protected software based on the received information.

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First Claim