The HOSTID_MATCH_RATE directive specifies the percentage of HostIDs that must match for successful HostID verification. This lets you lock your software to multiple HostID values, but allow users to run the software if, for example, only two out of three HostID values are valid.

The HostID match rate setting is a percentage from 0 (HostID verification disabled) to 100 (exact matching) that is required for a successful HostID verification. If no match rate is set, the value defaults to 100.

Note that this setting works only for standard HostID checking; it cannot be used with custom HostID comparison.

Usage and recommendations

HostID matching lets you offer a less strict hardware upgrade policy to your users, because you can decide whether to allow license checkouts using an exact 1:1 match or a more lenient partial match of HostID values.

For example, you might define a license file as follows:

<CLIENT_HOSTID>
<SETTING ETHERNET="123..."/>
<SETTING HOSTNAME="ALPHA1"/>
</CLIENT_HOSTID>
<SETTING HOSTID_MATCH_RATE="50"/>

In the above example, both Ethernet and hostname HostIDs were specified. With the match rate set to "50," only one of the two HostIDs is required to match in order for the license to work.

The match rate is rounded down to the nearest full percentage. For example, if 2 out of 3 HostIDs match, the match rate is 66% (rounded down from 66.67%); thus, the HostID will be valid if the match rate is set to 66 or above.