Summary

Synopsis

In a basic test of the FLEXnet licensing with a node-locked license:
From Box 1, place an uncounted (aka: node locked) license file ?Test-uncounted.lic? (example below) in the same directory as the FLEX-enabled application (FLEXnet will check this location by default), or in the license search path. The format of a node-locked license file typically looks like this:
FEATURE f1 sample 1.000 1-jan-2005 uncounted SIGN=signature1 HOSTID=ANY
An uncounted license for the Feature ?test_feature?, version 1.0, expiring 01-January-2008 for daemon ?xyz?, with LM_STRENGTH_113BIT will be similar to:
FEATURE test_feature xyz 1.000 01-jan-2008 uncounted \
SIGN="1234 5678 90AB CDEF 1234 5678 90AB CDEF 1234 5678 90AB CDEF 4078 D48A BC93" \
HOSTID=ANY
Verify the license checkout completes normally on the system by running the FLEX-enabled application. Once you have confirmed that your node-locked licensing is working, we can move onto testing your licensing with a license server or ?service?.

*When using a counted license (aka: floating license), which requires a license ?server?, a licensing-issuing service needs to be installed on a system, to ?serve? the licenses to the FLEX-enabled application. Basically, the license service takes the place of the uncounted license file and keeps track of who has used the licenses. Though the service can be on Box 1 or Box 2, 3, etc?, we will use an example with an application on Box 1 and license server on Box 2.

License server example:
Box 1 should have the FLEX-enabled application and there should not be any licenses available for use. You can test this by running the application and it should fail, not finding a FLEX license for the application.

Box 2 will need to have a server license file generated/encrypted and we will need to set up a service to issue the licenses in the server license file.
Make/generate/encrypt a server license file, ?Test-floating.lic? using the format below: (Needs to be edited for your specific system name, HostID, daemon, feature name, version, etc? )
SERVER syst-name 12345678
VENDOR sample
FEATURE f1 sample 1.00 1-jan-2005 2 SIGN=signature1
A port number can also be specified after the HostID, (with a space separator) which can expedite the license checkout and alleviate issues with firewalls. *FLEXnet uses port 27000 by default.

Box 2 will also need a copy of the Vendor Daemon EXE, license file, LMGRD.EXE, and a log file. Place all of these in a /Licensing directory (or any directory) of your choice. For our test purpose, please name the log file ?Test-sever.log? and the license file ?Test-floating.lic??

Box 2 will need to have a service set up and running. This can be done at the command-line or by using LMTOOLS (Windows). Assuming Box 2 is a Windows system, we will use LMTOOLS. Open LMTools.exe and go to the Tab ?Config Services?. Enter the name ?Test Server? in the Server name box. In the other fields, browse to the location where you placed these files, enable both check boxes at the bottom of the dialog box and save the service. Go to the Start/Stop/Reread tab and click on ?Start Server? the bottom of the box should say ?? started?. Wait 5 seconds and click on ?ReRead License File? ? the bottom of the box should say ??complete?. **if it doesn?t say ?complete?, check the log file for error messages as to the problem email or contact MVSN support for assistance**. Go to the Server Status Tab and click ?Perform Status Inquiry? to double-check the server is up and ready to serve the licenses. *All of this can also be done at the command line, using the LM utilities, as described in the documentation.

If Box 2 is a UNIX type OS, the license server set-up will be very similar, but will be done at a command line and the service will probably need to be set up with the OS to automatically start, each time the system is started. You will want to place all of the LM utilities in a /License directory (or other of your choice) Please use the command: lmgrd -c license_file_list -L [+]debug_log_path to start the license server and run ?lmreread? to re-read the license file and update the log file. (*see reference to User Guide, <below>)

Back to Box 1 ? We will need to tell the FLEX-enabled application where it can find a license to run the application ? which in this case, is Box 2. (There are several ways this can be done, as described in the documentation, we will use a 'Use_Server' file for our example). In the directory where the application resides, make a text file, name it ?Server.lic? and enter the following:
SERVER syst-name ANY
USE_SERVER
Syst-name must be updated to reflect the name (or IP address) of Box 2
ANY does not need to be changed.

A port number can also be specified after ?ANY?, (with a space separator) which can expedite the license checkout call and alleviate issues with firewalls. *FLEXnet uses port 27000 by default.

Much the same way a Node-locked license is locked to HOSTID= ,the Server License on Box 2 is also ?Locked? to a system, using the HostName and HostID fields, on the first line of the file. When encrypting a license, it is locked to the HostID only (HostName can be changed without invalidating the license), but both need to match the system where the license file resides. This disallows the file to be move/used on any other system, which these two fields do not match the system ID?s where it?s installed. This simply means that someone can?t copy the license from Box 2 and put it on Box 3 or 4, etc?, by changing the System Name and HostID in the license file. It will invalidate the license file.

If you want to make a similar license for use on Box 3, simply copy the license file use for Box 2, change the HostID to match the HostID of Box 3 and re-encrypt the file. The System Name will need to be changed as well and can be changed after encryption, without invalidating the license file.

Also, only one Server (per Vendor Daemon) can run on a system at any time and duplicate license files are ignored, which keeps customers from trying to duplicate license files/services.

This is the license checkout workflow for a counted license:
Start your application on Box 1 ? it will look for a license file and will read the System Name from the ?Server.lic? file, which identifies where the licenses are being served (there can be many available license servers). When it sees ?USE_SERVER? in the file, it tells FLEX to stop reading through the license file and get the license from that server (Box 2). The license server receives the license request for the application and if the encryption, Feature, Version, etc? matches ? will return an ?OK to run? back to the application on Box 1. You can open the log file on Box 2 (log files are only used with license servers) and see the entry where the license checked out, or any error messages that may have caused a license checkout failure. When you stop the test application, you will also be able to see where the license was checked back in.

Additional Information