cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Invoking the Flexnet Connect Agent from the Command Line

Invoking the Flexnet Connect Agent from the Command Line

Summary

How to check for updates using Flexnet Connect Agent by invoking the agent directly from the command line

Synopsis

There are a number of ways to check for updates using the Flexnet Connect Agent. Perhaps the easiest way to check for updates is by invoking the agent directly from the command line. This article discusses the various command line options which are available for the Windows Agent.

Discussion

The Agent executable supports the following command-line options:
Option: -r (Register)
Before it is possible to check for updates against a product, it is first necessary to register the product on the client machine. The -r option registers a version string for the application (specified by <product code>) on the end user's computer. For example:

agent.exe -r{C4091E43-4FC0-11D5-8C6C-00104B9747FA},1.2.3

Please note that there is no space after the comma (before the version string).
For Flexnet Connect On-Demand (i.e Flexera Hosted) customers it is seldom necessary to specify additional options when registering. For Flexnet Connect On-Premise ( i.e Self-Hosted) customers, it will also be necessary to specify the notification server which hosts the updates. See the -sv option listed later in this article.
Additional, less frequently used, arguments which can be used in conjunction with the -r switch. The full syntax (including optional elements) is as follows:
agent.exe -r<productcode>,<versionstring>[:<productlink>] [<logo>] [/pu"<userID>"] [/i"<instance>"] [/db"<relative path to database>"]

<productlink> : The :<productlink> option uses the ProductLink value from the product .ini file to uniquely identify the product to register.

<logo> : The <logo> option provides the path to an image file to use as a logo in the Agent.exe UI.

/pu : The /pu option specifies a userID for software that was installed in a particular user account.

/i : The /i option identifies a specific instance. It takes the pathname of the instance as a string as its argument. This option allows you to differentiate between separate instances of software that share the same product code (GUID).

/db : The /db option specifies a vendor-specific database for the Agent to use. It takes a path to the vendor-specific database (relative to the FlexNet Connect main database) as an argument.

Option: -sv (Set Value)

The -sv switch allows you to set the value of any property in the product .ini file, such as Server, ServerSecurity, ScheduleInterval, and LanguageID. The full syntax for the -sv switch (including optional elements) is:
agent.exe -sv<product code>[,instance] "<propertyname>" "<propertyvalue>"
Note that both the property name and property value must be in double quotes. Furthermore, there must be a space between the two values. The instance option identifies a specific instance of a product when multiple instances of the product (each sharing the same GUID) are installed. This option is infrequently used.
At a minimum, On-Premise customers must set the value "Server" in order to direct the agent to the correct Notification Server which hosts the updates. An example of setting the "Server" value is as follows:

agent.exe -sv{C4091E43-4FC0-11D5-8C6C-00104B9747FA} "Server" "http://127.0.0.1:8080/"

Note: Use a fully qualified URL. For example, use http://1.1.1.1, rather than 1.1.1.1

Option: -sn (Show Notifications)
The -sn option is used to check for updates against a particular product after it has been registered. This is perhaps the easiest way to test updates after they have been created on the publisher site.
The full syntax (including optional elements) is

agent.exe -sn<product code>[,instance] -<event>

The "event" can be one of the following options:
  • AppMenu
  • AppStart
  • BeginInstall
  • EndOfInstall
The event "AppMenu" is used most often. If an event is not specified then "AppMenu" is the default. It should be noted that using the "AppStart" event will upload default profile data, after it has been collected by the -df switch (see below), but the "AppMenu" option will not.

An example of using the AppMenu event is as follows:

agent -sn{C4091E43-4FC0-11D5-8C6C-00104B9747FA} -AppMenu

Option: -df (Collect default profile)

The -df option collects the default profile data for the product represented. An example of using the -df switch is as follows:
agent.exe -df{4C51CEC9-27B6-11D5-9242-006097DF5F92}
Option: -u (Unregister)
This option unregisters a product on the client machine:

agent.exe -u{C4091E43-4FC0-11D5-8C6C-00104B9747FA}

The -u switch can also use the following options.

agent.exe -u<product code>[,instance] [/pu"<userID>"]

/pu : The /pu option specifies a userID for software that was installed in a particular user account (as opposed to for All Users).


Additional Information

While there are a number of command line options for the agent, those wishing to test an update quickly would only require two or three steps in most cases. These are as follows:
1. Register the product using -r. This is only necessary if the product has not been registered previously.
2. If an On-Premise customer, set the Server value using -sv, setting "Server" to the URL of the Notification Server.
3. Check for updates using -sn.
The path to the agent.exe executable will vary, depending upon the version of the agent. The agent will be located in one of the following locations:

Flexnet Connect 11.5 and later:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet\Connect\11
Flexnet Connect 11.0
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrovision\FLEXnet Connect\11
Flexnet Connect 6.1
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrovision\FLEXnet Connect\6
Labels (2)
Was this article helpful? Yes No
No ratings
Version history
Last update:
‎Dec 06, 2010 01:21 PM
Updated by: