When trying to run a COBOL program, the error is received:

Error - No license key detected. Application Server requires
a license key in order to execute.

This indicates that no Server for COBOL licenses are installed in the apptrack licensing system.   For more information about this licensing system, consult the documentation.  Start here:

http://supportline.microfocus.com/documentation/books/sx51ws02/sx51indx.htm

Then scroll down the menu on the left side and click "Deployment License Management Guide", then "Chapter 2: Installing and Administering Micro Focus Server Licenses". 

Run apptrack, then use option 2. "License Summary" to see installed licenses.

If there are no licenses at all, then install a Server for COBOL license and the problem will be solved.

Apptrack may show some licenses described as "Developer Usage".  This type of license is described in the documentation section: "Chapter 3: Developer Testing Licenses". 

These licenses will only work when the COBDIR environment variable is pointing to an installation of Server Express, which is the complete COBOL product including the compiler and the runtime system.  These licenses will not work when COBDIR is merely pointing to an installation of Server for COBOL, which is the "runtime" COBOL product without the compiler.  To solve the problem, change the setting of the COBDIR environment variable (and other related environment variables) to point to an installation of Server Express.  For more information about these environment variables, see this knowledge base article:

http://community.microfocus.com/microfocus/mainframe_solutions/enterprise_server/w/knowledge_base/18129.using-more-than-one-version-of-server-express-on-the-same-machine.aspx

You can tell whether a given COBOL installation is Server Express, or just Server for COBOL, by the second character of the PRN, which is held in the file $COBDIR/etc/cobver.  For each COBDIR (i.e. each COBOL installation), there is a subdirectory named etc, and within that, a file named "cobver".  It is a short text file that indicates the cobol version.  It contains a PRN (Product Reference Number). 

If the second character of the PRN is "X" then the COBDIR in question is an installation of Server Express, but if it is a "1" or a "9", then the COBDIR is Server for COBOL. 

To find all the installations of COBOL on a given UNIX/Linux machine, see this knowledge base article:

http://community.microfocus.com/microfocus/mainframe_solutions/studio_mfe_and_older_mainframe/w/knowledge_base/18328.discover-which-micro-focus-cobol-products-are-installed-on-a-unix-or-linux-machine.aspx