The TIBCO EMS 10.4.0 server requires activation to start. Licenses can be generated in the TIBCO Software Downloads site at https://www.tibco.com/downloads . For complete details on activating TIBCO products, see the TIBCO Activation Service documentation at https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-activation-service .

Warning: The TIBCO EMS server will shut down when you reach the end date of your entitlement to the product, and will not restart until you replace your license file with one that contains a new entitlement end date. It is recommended that you do so well in advance of your entitlement end date to avoid business disruption.

Starting with TIBCO EMS 10.4.0-HF03, the license file doesn’t need to be bound to the host identifier (hostid) of the system.

There are two options for activating the EMS server:

1. In-product Activation (local activation): Copy your license file to the host system where you are running the TIBCO EMS server. Update the license parameter in the server configuration file with the path for the license file. Alternatively you can set the TIBEMS_LICENSE environment variable to the same value.

2. TIBCO Activation Service (remote activation): Install TIBCO Activation Service software and upload your license file to the running instance before installing TIBCO EMS. Consult the TIBCO Activation Service documentation for installation instructions, and to determine the URL for your TIBCO Activation Service instance. Update the license parameter in the TIBCO EMS server configuration file with this URL. Alternatively, you can set the TIBEMS_LICENSE environment variable to the same value.

Note: License generated for a TIBCO Activation Service instance and In-product Activation are not compatible with each other. Consult the TIBCO Activation Service documentation for instructions on generating a license for the activation option you choose.

To activate the product using in-product Activation, please refer to "Generating A License" in the TIBCO Activation Service User Guide here:https://docs.tibco.com/pub/tibco-activation/1.1.0/doc/html/Default.htm#user-guide/generating-licenses.htm .

To activate the product using TIBCO Activation Service, follow these steps:

Step 1: Download the latest TIBCO Activation Service product from the TIBCO Software Downloads site: https://www.tibco.com/downloads .

Step 2: Review the TIBCO Activation Service product documentation at https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-activation-service .

Step 3: Install and configure the TIBCO Activation Service. Follow the installation and configuration instructions provided in the TIBCO Activation Service documentation.

TIBCO Activation Service is supported on Linux and Windows. Check its readme file for details about the supported platforms.

To install TIBCO Activation Service, please refer to "Installing TIBCO Activation Service" in the TIBCO Activation Service User Guide here:https://docs.tibco.com/pub/tibco-activation/1.1.0/doc/html/Default.htm#user-guide/installing-activation-service.htm .

For detailed steps on activating TIBCO EMS 10.4.0, please see https://docs.tibco.com/pub/ems/10.4.0/doc/html/Default.htm#users-guide/running-ems-license.htm .

The article "How to Configure TIBCO Activation Service for TIBCO Messaging Components" on TIBCO Community has details about how to generate the TIBCO license key, install and configure the TIBCO Activation Service, and configure TIBCO EMS and TIBCO Rendezvous to use the license key:
https://community.tibco.com/articles/37_tibco-platform/39_messaging/how-to-configure-tibco-activation-server-for-tibco-messaging-components-r3545 .

Note: If you were using a host-bound license file with TIBCO EMS 10.4.0 GA, we recommend that you switch to an in-product activation license upon applying TIBCO EMS 10.4.0-HF03.