Note that DICOM (and transaction) servers can be operated without a PMOD license. Only the process of their configuration requires a license. Therefore, particularly in a multi-user environment, the server processes should be moved to a dedicated machine with fast disks.
To establish such a configuration, please perform a standard PMOD installation on the server machine including the USB license protection key. Use the Config facility for the database and DICOM server configuration, and generate the server starting scripts. Thereafter, the USB key can be removed and used on client machines. The server processes can be started at any time, only re-configurations will require the USB key again.
It is easy for Mac OSX and Linux to start programs like the transaction servers at system boot time and run them in the background. On Windows, this is not possible with normal programs. Rather, a command window is required which needs to stay open for the whole program duration, which is not convenient for shared server systems. A workaround is to purchase a third-party solution which wraps the DICOM servers into service processes, such as the AlwaysUp solution.