FlexNet Connect Knowledge Base

Summary: Several vulnerabilities have been reported in the Apache Log4j library. This article discusses the impact of the following vulnerabilities on FlexNet Connect: Log4j 2.x: CVE-2021-45105 CVE-2021-45046 CVE-2021-44228 Log4j 1.x: CVE-2021-4104 CVE-2019-17571 Description: The Log4j 2.x component is not used in FlexNet Connect Client or FlexNet Connect Back-Office 2017 R3, hence there is no impact from CVE-2021-45105, CVE-2021-45046, or CVE-2021-44228.     There is no impact from CVE-2021-4104 or CVE-2019-17571 on FlexNet Connect Client or FlexNet Connect Back-Office 2017 R3 since the source code does not use any of the following: SocketAppender SocketServer class SMTPAppender JMSAppender which are the cause of the Log4j 1.x vulnerabilities mentioned above.   Resolution: No resolution required. Workaround: No workaround required. Additional Information: Apache Security Site for CVE severity, score, and vector string: https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/security.html    

Synopsis: When migrating the ISUS database to another server, certain files need to be modified in the Publisher server to point to this new database location.   Solution: When moving database servers, then the following files will need updating with the new connection strings, username and password. These files are located in <FNC home>\FNC1500\tomcat\conf\Catalina\<serverName> axis.xml publisher.xml ROOT.xml The "connection string" refers to something which looks similar to the following: "jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://<serverName>:1433;DatabaseName=<databaseName>"  *Note: There is also a connection string in <FNC home>/FNC1500/reports/runreport.bat and <FNC home>/FNC1500/logloader/logloader.bat which will need to be changed.   

Symptoms: The Flexnet Connect reports no longer produce an "Interactive graph" option.  Diagnosis: This is down to Adobe Flash Player being EOL from 31-Dec-2020, and is no longer supported in web browsers. Solution: The only option is generating data using XML (on Firefox ONLY). Other browsers do not seem to generate the XML data.    This can be done by selecting "Data (XML)" as the Output Type, as shown below...  

Summary:  When trying to download an update the error, "General data transfer failure. Couldn't resolve host name" is displayed. Symptoms: When downloading an update using the FlexNet Connect Client the pop-up dialog with the error below is displayed:   Cause: This will occur if the download URL in the Publisher Portal for the update is formatted incorrectly, as shown in the snapshot below:   Resolution: In the Publisher Portal change the download URL to use the correct format (i.e. using forward slash '/', not backslash '\'), as shown below: https://www.testServer.com/joemc/Update/Test/Test1_V1.1.zip

Description When  logging into Flexnet Connect On-Premise you may see the error in the attachment.  There is an problem with the version of Java that FNC installer is using, as this has outdated protocol support and seems to be causing the issue.   Resolution What you'll need to do is the following: 1. Download and install the latest Java SDK* from Oracle based on the FNC architecture you've installed, i.e. x86 or x64.  2. On your FNC machine, stop the 'FNC Connect 15:00' service. 3. In your FNC installation directory, rename '_jvm' folder. 4. Create a new '_jvm' folder. 5. Open up the Java SDK and copy the contents from 'C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_231' folder into the '_jvm' folder. 6. Start the 'FNC Connect 15:00' service again. 7. Now update the instance ID in the FNC admin portal under the 'License Rights' page. You should now be prompted with the following: Available Features: Enterprise Update Management** Instrumentation Management** *Note: The latest Java SDK that was tested with at the time this KB was created is 'Java SE Development Kit 8u231'. **Features available are dependent on what you purchased. If you don't see any features, this just means you've purchased no additional FNC features.   

Summary This article provides information on how to prevent the Software Manager Update utility from automatically searching for product updates. Instead, you'll be able to manually launch the utility to check for updates at your discretion Synopsis This article provides information on how to prevent the Software Manager Update utility from automatically searching for product updates. Instead, you'll be able to manually launch the utility to check for updates at your discretion. Discussion 1. Click Start -> All Programs and then click Software Manager or Software Updates. 2. Click the Settings option. 3. Click one of the existing product hyperlinks from the list displayed. 4. Select the option "Manually". 5. Click the Apply to all products button. 6. Close the window.

Summary The "Failed File Open" error typically occurs when the user checking for updates does not have write permissions to the file C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\productconfig.xml. Symptoms When checking for updates with the Client UI, an error stating "Failed file open." is displayed. The following screen capture illustrates: Cause This error will occur if the user checking for updates does not have write permissions to the file C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\productconfig.xml. Typically, this would occur if a product was registered as one user account, and the check for updates was performed as another account which did not have write permissions. Resolution To resolve the issue, be sure that the user account which is checking for updates has write permissions to C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\productconfig.xml. Otherwise, delete the file C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\productconfig.xml, and register again as the user account that will be checking for updates.

Summary When registering a product on a non US English locale, an error stating "Couldn't find/load the 'locale' catalog for locale ' ' " is displayed. Symptoms When attempting to register a new product/version on a machine where the system locale is not set to US English, an error stating: "Couldn't find/load the 'locale' catalog for locale '<system locale>' may be seen. This will be reported in a pop-up dialog which looks similar to the following: Cause This will occur when the system locale is not set US English, and a localized locale.mo file can not be found matching the current system locale. Resolution There are 2 ways in the Client UI to eliminate the locale error pop-up when registering: 1. The quick way to override the default system language the Client UI is using for displaying the UI. When registering from the command prompt, it would be necessary to use "-l <languageCode>". The following command line illustrates: (-l 1033 indicates the US English language code): FlexNetConnectClient.exe -r {9EEB8D54-EF35-416E-BD44-775252EBF5B8},1.05.201,1033 -ns http://updates.installshield.com 2. It is also possible to create a customized language strings for each supported locale. To do this, it would be necessary to create a directory matching the language code you wish to support, for example en_US, in the same directory as where you are running FlexNetConnectClient.exe, In this directory you would place a compiled locale.mo catalog, which would contain the customized language strings based on the locale. Refer to the README.locale in the Client UI kit (or the user manual) for directions on how to do this.

Summary Due to an issue with the publisher site, it is not possible to save server side conditions.. This article provides a fix for the issue. Symptoms When attempting to configure Server-Side Conditions for an update, the settings are lost upon saving the update. Cause This is due to an issue with the On-Premise FNC publisher server. The issue is being tracked under issue number IOJ-1806447. The issue does not affect FNC On-Demand. Resolution A fix for this issue will be included in the next major release of Flexnet Connect... Workaround To workaround the issue, simply copy the attached file updatew_entitlements.jsp to the directory <FNC home>\FNC1500\tomcat\webapps\publisher\message, and then restart the FNC service... Note that In a distributed environment, this change will be made on the publisher site.

Summary FNC 2015R2 was released on 12/8/2016. This article lists the issues which have been resolved in this release. Synopsis FNC 2015R2 was released on 12/8/2016. This article contains a list of resolved issues. Discussion The following is a list of resolved issues in App Portal 2015 SP1 Issue Number Issue Description FNC-8998 Corrected display of French language in Google Chrome for On-Premise users. FNC-9157 Updated the C XT and .NET XT API Guides with the correct description of the Security Type property in the Notification Interface Reference. FNC-9185 Calling Dispose on one IConnect object no longer causes other IConnect objects to stop functioning. FNC-9193 When using the .NET SDK, modified timestamps are now preserved when performing a sync. FNC-9261 Corrected display of extended ASCII characters in Update titles and descriptions. FNC-9324 Corrected CMP download location during sync to reflect the location on the CMP. FNC-9326 When data is synced from PMP to CMP with auto-publish enabled and Displayed HTML Page set to none or other, the message is now displayed with an active status after the sync. FNC-9339 Additional details URL no longer changed to ?other? when editing an existing update. FNC-9444 Corrected problem with delivering updates if the Title/Description contained an umlaut (ü). FNC-9445 When setting proxy information from a command line, user can now include special characters by escaping with a backslash (\). FNC-9446 Exception is no longer thrown when viewing device viewer data on the update history tab using a browser set to another language. FNC-9447 Enabling logging level of WARN_AND_ERROR now sets the correct level of logging, preventing excessive log file size. FNC-9457 Input is no longer lost after using navigation pane when modifying an update. FNC-9460 During a new message creation, when specifying a URL for the other typeof displayed HTML page, the https protocol is now supported. FNC-9462 USUpdate.expressions property now correctly returns regular expressions. FNC-9487 Performance problems with createUpdate, createUpdateMP, createMessage, and createMessageML web service calls has been corrected. FNC-9509 Corrected download issues for files larger than 2GB. FNC-9515 Pausing a download then starting the same download on a second instance will now cause the second instance to fail with a message that the target download is currently in use. Additional Information The full release notes for FNC 2015R2 SP1 can be downloaded here.

Summary In Flexnet Connect 2015, changes were made to how an update type is identified. The product/update type is now identified at the update level, rather than at the product level.. If the update is not flagged with the correct type, then it will not be displayed correctly by the client. Symptoms In Flexnet Connect 2015, changes were made to how an update type is identified. The product/update type is now identified at the update level, rather than at the product level.. If the update is not flagged with the correct type, then it will not be displayed correctly by the client. Cause Typically, this will be caused by flagging the update with the wrong Delivery type. Resolution There are three possible Delivery Types: 1. Multi-Platform Client 2. Windows Agent 3. Java Agent The default value for any new update is the Multi-platform Client type, The Windows and Java Agents are legacy client types. If the Delivery Type is not set to the client type which is checking for updates, then the update will never be received.. If the Multi-Platform Client is specified, then the client should be either the XT client or the Client UI. If the Windows Agent is being used to check for updates, then set the Delivery type to Windows Agent. If the Java Agent is being used, then the Delivery type should be set to the Java Agent. The following screen capture shows the location of the Delivery Type setting, when creating a new update:

Summary This article will explain how to pass a username and password to a FTP/FTPS or HTTP/HTTPS in the download URL for an update in the FlexNet Connect Publisher site. Question Does FlexNet Connect support any authentication methods and how we can tell FlexNet Connect to use certain usernames and passwords? Answer FlexNet Connect supports HTTP/HTTPS and FTP/FTPS for the download URL and a username/password can be added by using the following syntax: FTP/FTPS: ftp(s)://<username>:<password>@server/setup.exe HTTP/HTTPS: http(s)://username:password@server/setup.exe

Summary This article will explain how to set the image of Common Software Manager dialog after an update has been downloaded in v13.06 Synopsis After downloading an update and the image in the top left hand of the Common Software Manager (CSM) is blank, as shown in the screenshot below. Discussion In order to add a custom image the following image file will need to be modified, "update_header.jpg". This can be found in the following location: image C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\11\ui\images Once the image has been updated, restart the CSM and the custom image will be displayed, as shown in the screenshot below.

Summary The FlexNet Connect U client does not appear when checking for updates of a registered product. Synopsis When attempting to use the UI client (FlexNetConnectClient.exe) nothing is displayed when the show notification parameter, -sn, is used. The product is registered on the PMP. Discussion This is expected behavior. The client UI only displays if there is an update/message available for the registered product/version.

Summary Getting a List of Registered Products when Using the Flexnet Connect .NET XT SDK. Synopsis Earlier versions of the FNC Windows Agent provided an EnumProducts() API to query those products which were registered with Flexnet Connect. This API is no longer available in the .NET XT SDK.. This article provides sample code which can be used to get a list of registered products. Discussion When using the XT SDK's, all registered products are stored in a single file named productConfig.xml... In older agents, each product had a separate registration file... In order to determine a list of registered products, it will be necessary to parse the productConfig.xml file to get a list of product codes.. The following code blurb shows how this might be done: private static IProduct product; private static IConnect connectClient; private static string myProduct = "{78AAAEA6-CB8D-4F0E-9E6B-3C378CD921A6}"; //Enter a registered product code product = connectClient.GetProduct(myProduct); XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.Load(connectClient.StoragePath + "\\productconfig.xml"); XmlNodeList elemList = doc.GetElementsByTagName("Collection"); for (int i = 0; i < elemList.Count; i++) { string attrVal = elemList.Attributes["id"].Value; Console.WriteLine(attrVal); }

Summary This article will explain if VirtualBox VM detection possible in the FlexNet Embedded 2014 R2 & FlexNet Connect 2015 C XT toolkit. Question Is VirtualBox VM detection possible? Answer FlexNet Embedded 2014 R2 only supports detection on the following virtual platforms: Virtual Machine Support: Virtualization functionality in the FlexNet Embedded XT toolkits?including virtual machine detection and the computing of VM UUID hostid values?supports: ? VMware ESX 4.x ? VMware ESXi 5.x ? Microsoft Hyper-V 6.1 ? Citrix XenServer 6.x

Summary This article will explain how to enable the demographics data in the Publisher site (PMP) for On-Premise customers. Question How Do I Enable Demographics Data? Answer In the Publisher (PMP) site the demographics data can be switched on by navigating to the following: Administration tab > Options tab > Demographics Settings > then select the Record Demographics Data radio button and save. See screenshot below or attachment.

Summary After upgrading to Flexnet Connect 2014 R2 On-Premise, only the start page is displayed. No other tabs are visible on the publisher site. Symptoms After Registering Instance ID with Flexnet Connect, an Alert is Displayed Which States: "Your server license is invalid..." Cause The instance ID is not being set correctly when registering the instance ID with an account other than "administrator" Resolution To resolve the issue there are two work arounds: 1. Run the following query, and then restart the Flexnet Connect 15.00 service. Note that <instance ID> is the instance ID provided in the Flexnet Connect order fulfilment email: update ISV set SerialNumber = '<instance ID>' For example: update ISV set SerialNumber = '3C4MNN0MG5YA' 2. Log into the publisher site using the built in ?administrator? account, and then register the instance ID. After doing this, it should be possible to log in as a different user

Summary In order to use a DropBox URL for the download property of an update, the download URL needs to be specified in a specific format.. This article provides an overview of what is required. Synopsis The Flexnet Connect Client will generally be able to download from any HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP file server, provided that the URL is anonymous. It is assumed that the URL will be a direct link to a file, with no redirect, and no prompt for credentials. While Dropbox allows you to host a file, and generates a HTTPS URL, the URL is actually a redirect to another page, so the default URL format will now work for Flexnet Connect. Discussion By default, Dropbox will provide a URL with a format similar to the following: https://www.dropbox.com/<path>/<fileName.exe> For example: https://www.dropbox.com/xx/xzlisibyutmsmxi/BBCfFzsPj7y1wwk46Z6viESva/MyFileName.exe If this URL is pasted into a browser, a redirect will take place to a page where a download button must be selected in order to download the file.. This will not work with Flexnet Connect. In order to get the URL to function correctly with Flexnet Connect, the parameter "raw=1" must be added to the URL. This will allow the file to be downloaded without having to select a download button. Based on the above URL, the following would be the correct URL: https://www.dropbox.com/xx/xzlisibyutmsmxi/BBCfFzsPj7y1wwk46Z6viESva/MyFileName.exe?raw=1 A Dropbox URL should also allow credentials to be embedded in the URL (if applicable). The URL including embedded credentials would be as follows: https://<userName>%40<password>@<www.dropbox.com/xx/xzlisibyutmsmxi/BBCfFzsPj7y1wwk46Z6viESva/MyFileName.exe?raw=1 Note that it is necessary to escape the colon @ between the user name and password, using "%40. Additional Information For additional information on the raw=1 parameter, please see How do I force a file to download from the web?

Summary This article will explain how to overcome a 'Download Failed' error when checking for updates. Symptoms When checking for updates with the agent.exe using the following command line: agent.exe -sn{F8C68CD6-1317-4C1E-B554-B9325DADBA91}, appmenu The following error may appear: Cause This can be caused by the 'Server' line in the {Product_Guid}.ini being missing/incorrect or the port number is missing/incorrect. In the example below the port number should be set to '80'. [Main] ScheduleInterval=30 Instances=Default Segment=829 Version=1.00.0000 MessageFilter=-1 LastCheckPerformed=3/9/2015 LanguageID=1033 RecordDemographics=1 PRODUCTLINK=ZCEFCC78F6EFC77C8F9ACE7E889AB978FD9DC978FFEEBF748CEDBA7A8A98C90AFC9FBC0A899AC Server=http://spock:8099/ [UID] ALL=1 [NewMsgs] 1002=0 1003=0 Resolution Check the {Product_Guid}.ini on the client machine and make sure the 'Server' line is pointing to the notification server URL and using the correct port number. In the example below the port number is set back to '80'. [Main] ScheduleInterval=30 Instances=Default Segment=829 Version=1.00.0000 MessageFilter=-1 LastCheckPerformed=3/9/2015 LanguageID=1033 RecordDemographics=1 PRODUCTLINK=ZCEFCC78F6EFC77C8F9ACE7E889AB978FD9DC978FFEEBF748CEDBA7A8A98C90AFC9FBC0A899AC Server=http://spock:80/ [UID] ALL=1 [NewMsgs] 1002=0 1003=0 *Note: the {Product_Guid}.ini files can be found in the following directory, 'C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\Connect\Database' on a client machine.