License server configuration automation using FNMEA License Configurator (FNMLC)

This article describe the configuration of a FLEXlm based license server using FNMLC.

FNMLC is a tool created to ease and  speed up the integration of concurrent license server(s) to the FlexNet Manager for engineering application  ("FNMEA") tool. It will automatically detect FLEXlm license server(s) on a system and configure them according to Flexera best practices rules. If you need more information on the best practices rules please contact Flexera.

You must own a valid license of FNMEA to using this tool and perform all the steps described in the document.

You can download FNMLC here

This is currently the first Beta version that runs only on Windows

Below is a screenshot of the tool after a successful installation

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The Article

It describes the implementation of the FNMEA License configurator(“FNMLC”).

This is a product that will help configuring FLEXLM license server and third party (non FLEXLM licensing system such as Reprise, Sentinel etc...).

 It will allow users to easily configure them according to Flexera best practices and automatically add them to FNMEA. Moreover, if you have a new license server it will help configuring these servers from scratch so long as you can provide it a license file and vendor daemon.

It is written using the Microsoft .NET. It requires that the .NET Framework 4.7.2 be installed on the machine and on Linux the dotnet core 5.x.

At the time of this writing the Linux version is not available yet.

We will provide separate document for third party license management system integration.

Introduction

Intended audience

This document is intended to be used by the following people:

• Technical and solution architects.
• Systems engineers responsible for implementing and maintaining the FlexNet Manager for Engineering Application (“FNMEA”) system.
• Network and security personnel who have responsibility for networks and infrastructure the FNMEA system relies upon.
• Flexera consultants working on the system.

It is assumed that readers of this document have completed an appropriate FNMEA administration training course to understand basic concepts and aspects of the FNMEA product solution.

This Article

This document describes the implementation of the FNMEA License configurator(“FNMLC”).

This is a product that will help configuring FLEXLM license server and third party (non FLEXLM licensing system such as Reprise). This article will focus only on FLEXlm license server.

 It will allow users to easily configure them according to Flexera best practices and automatically add them to FNMEA. Moreover, if you have a new license server it will help configuring these servers from scratch so long as you can provide it a license file and vendor daemon.

It is written using the Microsoft .NET. It requires that the .NET Framework 4.7.2 be installed on the machine.

At the time of this writing the Linux version is not available yet.

In this document we will review how to install FNMLC and how to use it with the FLEXLM based license servers. We will provide separate document for third party or non FLEXlm license management system such as Sentinel, Reprise and others.

Functional requirements

Business requirements

High-level business requirements

• Help speed up the process of FNMEA implementation by automating license server configuration.

System requirements

FNMLC

• Have the FNMEA agent installed on the machine where you run the tool.
• Have a copy of the FNMEA License configurator, you can download the latest copy here.
• Be admin on the license server.
• .NET 4.7.2 client installed on the machine or dotnet core 5.x on Linux.
• have a valid FNMEA license

This tool is currently working only on Windows

Current tool capabilities

Below we have a table to represents the current FNMLC capabilities. As the tool is currently being developed more capabilities will be added so make sure you are always using the latest version.

 Installation and presentation of FNMLC

The following section will describe the installation. This is currently Windows only

Installing the FNMLC on a windows machine

You should first get the installation files

You then need to run the setup.exe as an Administrator

You will be greeted with the welcome page, just click next

Then select the installation folder

Confirm your installation and click next

Once done click close

You can then verify the files installed in your system

The file LicenseConfigurator.exe is the main executable. You need to run it with admin rights for it to detect running license servers on the machine.

 Presentation of the tool

The tool is basic in its presentation. It has a side menu bar with the different capabilities that are offered.

As you click on a capability it will present a different page that correspond to it. In this document we will focus on the first three.

Using FNMLC with FLEXLM servers

The next section will describe how to use the different capabilities of FNMLC that pertains to FLEXLM license servers. We will review how to configure servers that are already running, how to configure a new license server in a machine and how to migrate them from one FNMEA admin server to another.

FLEX SERVERS CONFIG Capability

This capability will allow you to configure all running license server in a machine and add them to the FNMEA console. It will ignore triad as there are no web services to include triad servers.

When you start FNMLC it is the first capability that shows up

You then need to select the Debug log and Report log location. This will configure these locations for all license servers found on the machine that do not have this configured. For simplicity and resilience Flexera recommends putting the report log in a folder that is separated from that of the license servers.

 You need to then enter these two folders' locations as pictured below

Then click on Search and Config Server(s). this will look for lmgrds processes on the machine and for each one found, go to the license file, and configure it according to best practices. 

You will get notified of the search and configuration result

here some license servers were found

If that’s the case, then you can click on Configure. If the agent or the license server do not exist in FNMEA they will be added automatically.

As the FNMLC is communicating with FNMEA the following message will be display

You can select the license server you want to add. (Press shift to select multiple servers)

Then

You should now see the newly added license server and agent in the FNMEA dashboard

What will be remaining is scheduling the log rotation.

Beware if the option file and report log did not exist you will need to restart the license server process

License file has been correctly configured

When you close the FNMLC it will notify you that it created a log file in its install directory

In case of an issue the log  file will contain all the steps taken by the FNMLC so will be very handy for debugging. You are now done with this license server and can repeat the process to other license servers.

NEW SERVERS CONFIG Capability

This capability will allow you to configure a license server from scratch. Let’s say you have a brand-new license server, and you need to configure new FLEXLM license servers. all you will need are the vendor daemon, the license file, and lmgrd and lmutil utilities although the latter are not necessary as the FNMLC comes with the latest utilities.

Install your new license server according to the vendor documentation , and you collect theses files from the vendor. 

All you need are the following files

• License
• Lmgrd
• Vendor daemon

an example below

Start the FNMLC tool and go to NEW SERVER CONFIG

On the Folder section click on Add

This will open a dialog box so just browse to the location where you put the license server files

In the example here it was New License Server.

The tool will look at the executable and propose you to choose the vendor daemon

Make sure to select it. In this example it was pauld.exe then click Ok

It will then store the vendor daemon and the folder. Repeat the process for all license server you want to Add.

Then select a commo location for:

• The Option Files
• Debug Log Files
• Report Log Files

These will be common location for all license server(s) to be configured.

The port for lmgrd will start at 27000 and for the vendor daemon will be 28000 (currently not used). As the tool is going to configure more license server it will increase these numbers. You can modify that to any port you would like to start with.

Un check the Detect Only option to have the tool add the license server(s)

Enter the FNMEA URL and user information. The FNMEA user must have the right to add license server. Please consult the documentation for more details.

Then click on Run

FNMLC will display a status information while configuring these license server(s) to best practices and communicating with FNMEA to add Agent if not there and License servers if not there

When done it will display the following message

You should now see the License server(s) in FNMEA

It will be red as the license server was never started. By default, the license server refresh is every 15 minutes. If you do not want to wait this long you can go ahead and start the license server from the FNMEA console.

After a couple of seconds, it should be up

FLEX SERVER MIGRATION

This capability will allow you to migrate the configuration of one agent to another agent and add these configurations to FNMEA. It is useful when you migrate the admin server of FNMEA but not the database. Using a fresh database server will remove all agent configuration. Using this capability, you can copy the configuration of an agent and using web service add them automatically to FNMEA new admin instance. 

For instance, you need to migrate to a newer instance of FNMEA. The agent cannot register license server(s) to the new instance therefore you could make a copy of the current configuration file of the agent located at <AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\conf\config.properties. you can then reinstall/upgrade the agent and run the FNMLC to copy the old configuration and add the license server to the new FNMEA.

You need to have a pristine agent installation done first. You can check the documentation of the agent for installation or upgrade

You must copy of the current config.property file before uninstalling the agent. Put it in a separate directory

an example config file

Then reinstall or migrate the agent. It will reinitialize the config.properties file

If you were pointing this agent to the same FNMEA. Then FNMEA would update this file with the former configuration. In the case you want to point the agent to a new FNMEA then you will need to use FNMLC so that it can read the content of the old configuration file and add them to the new FNMEA instance.

Start FNMLC and go to FLEX SERVER MIGRATION

Select the backed-up configuration file with the license server settings enter the correct FNMEA URL and user and click Configure

Once done it should add all server(s) found on the config file

You should then see the license server(s)

In case of any error please check the log file created once you close the FNMLC. It is called LicenseConfigurator.log and you can find it on its installation directory.

This article described using the FNMLC for FLEXlm license server, it will allow user to add running license server(s), add new one from scratch or migrate configuration to an FNMEA instance. You can download the latest version of the  tool here.