TIBCO Enterprise Message Service 10.4.0 requires activation to start. For non-production environments, TIBCO Enterprise Message Service 10.4.0 can be activated using the TIBCO Activation Service. This can also be performed using a license file that is deployed to the file system where TIBCO Enterprise Message Service 10.4.0 runs.

Note: This approach to activation is supported for non-production environments only.

When generating a license file using this approach, it must be bound to the host identifier (hostid) of the system where the TIBCO product runs. The hostid is a unique identifier for the machine. You can run the tib-id utility available for all supported platforms to get the current machine’s hostid. 

The utility: tibco-activation_1.0.0-client-util.zip can be downloaded from the TIBCO Activation Service download page on the TIBCO Software Downloads site. 

For details, refer to the “Appendix: Additional Activation Options” section in the https://docs.tibco.com/pub/tibco-activation/1.0.0/doc/pdf/TIB_activation-service_1.0.0_user-guide.pdf book.

Refer to KB article “Activation Requirements for TIBCO Enterprise Message Service™ 10.4.0 in Production Environments” (KB0137433) for details of activation using TIBCO Activation Service.

The article "How to Configure TIBCO Activation Service for TIBCO Messaging Components" on TIBCommunity has details about how to generate the TIBCO license key, install and configure the Activation Service, and configure TIBCO EMS and 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

Activation Requirements for TIBCO Enterprise Message Service™ 10.4.0 in non-production environments