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This article describes the configuration of a Reprise (RLM) 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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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.
You also need to have an FNMEA agent installed and running. For more information on agent installation please consult the documentation.
This Article
This document describes the implementation of Reprise (“RLM”) into a common report log (“CRL”) connector. The goal of a common report log connector is to convert a usage log file coming from Reprise license technology or another technology like Sentinel to a format that complies with the FlexNet Manager for Engineering Application (“FNMEA”) reporting format. The advantage of doing it is the possibility to use a single console for all your license technology management and reporting needs. For more information on Common Report Log please visit the documentation.
The connectors will have several roles. They will take the original report file (or usage file) produced by RLM and convert them into an appropriate format. We will then have the FNMEA agent transfer this file to the central system daily. If the conversion fails for any reasons, if the import fails for any reasons the scripts will log this information. Whether it is successful or not, the log file, as well as some information about the conversion will be sent as an email after each time it runs.
All connectors are written using the Microsoft .NET. They require that the .NET Framework 4.7.2 be installed on the machine.
In this document we will review how to implement the Reprise Log Converter into a new server and send the data to FNMEA.
Third party architecture
The third-party architecture in FNMEA allows users to implement admin and reporting functions for license technologies that are not licensed using the FLEXlm licensing management technology. These could be Reprise or Sentinel or any other licensing management system that will produce usage data. It could virtually convert anything so long as we can read meaningful usage data from the engine. It requires to build a data converter in any language that you feel comfortable with. Upon converting the usage data file, the FNMEA agent will then ingest it and send it to FNMEA
Below you will find a diagram that represents the implementation of the FNMEA third party architecture and all existing converter created at the time of this writing.
Implementation
The following section of this document describes the implementation steps.
Configuring License usage
You must enable Reprise license usage. if you are familiar with the FLEXlm license server, you will noticed that RLM license manager enable historical reporting the same way.
You need to create and option file, reference that option on the license file.
Below you will find a sample license file for the vendor CMGL. The convention is to name the option file the same name as that of the vendor daemon. In our example this will be cmgl.opt
The option file must contain at lease one keyword and this is the REPORTLOG keyword like the following
For more information go to the Reprise documentation for enabling usage.
If the option file did not exist, you must restart the RLM license service to enable reporting logging.
This is a prerequisite before moving any further make sure the cmgl.log file contains data.
Configuring FNMEA
On the FNMEA admin server, in the root of your installation, you need to unzip, copy and paste the following folder called custom, you can find the latest copy here.
When/if asked to replace files always say yes.
The folder path should look like the following
On common mistake is to have the custom folder twice – make sure the server and webapps folders are directly underneath the custom folder.
You then need to reconfigure FNMEA
Go the root installation directory of FNMEA admin server
Run the command flexnet stop
Once stopped run the command flexnet site make
Then run the command flexnet service start
You are now ready to configure the license server
Configuring the RLM License server
After the log file and FNMEA have been configured as described on the previous step, make sure the FNMEA agent has been installed on the machine. To install it refer to the agent documentation .
Now run the FNMEA License Configurator, If it starts properly you should be presented with the following application. Installation of the FNMLC as been described here.
Go to the “REPRISE CONFIG” link and enter the information below:
fill out the form based on your RLM license server configuration then click on Configure. Below an example
Setting Name
Description
Log File
the path of the report log file configured on the option file RLMUTIL PATH
the path of the rlmutil.exe file Agent root folder
this is the agent install directory. should come up automatically Converter root folder
The root of the converter folder. Get status command
enter the command to get the current status of the license server. usually rlmstat -c port@host -a. you can check the RLM documentation Status File
this is the file that will contains status information. it is used internally by the converter but can be checked for debugging purpose Time to GMT Hours
This is the different in hours from the GMT time to the location of the license server. For instance for CET time it is 1 hour more Time to GMT Minutes
This is the difference in minutes from the GMT time to the location of the license server. For instance for CET time it is 0 Date Format
The date format of the license server. you can check the log file to determine the format. look a the line
count: 19980, # reservations: 0, inuse: 820, exp: 15-jan-2014
Days to expiration
The number of days to get notified before a license of the RLM server expires
Vendor Name
the name of the vendor daemon FNMEA Server URL
The URL of the FNMEA server as picked up on the agent configuration RECIPIENTS
A comma separated collection of email address that will receive notification when the script runs HOST
the SMTP server host name PORT
the port of the SMTP server FROM
the from address SUBJECT
the subject of the email that will be send by the script FNMLC will install and configure the converter and reconfigure the agent. you will get the following message
In our example the converter was installed in the following location
you are done on the agent side
Add the RLM report log definition in FNMEA
If it does not exist already you will need to add the report log definition for RLM so that FNMEA can manage transformed report file coming from the agent that we’ve configured in the previous steps. The report log definition maps the fields in the RLM report log to the FNMEA report log format.
For more information on these definitions please visit the CRL documentation.
If you do not have any FNMEA login then please contact the technical person responsible for the implementation of FNMEA within your organization.
Log into FNMEA and go to Report -> Report Log Definitions
If you cannot find a definition for Reprise, click Add Report Log Definition
Then enter the following information as pictured below. It must be an exact match
Once done click save and you are now ready to add the license server.
For more information on common report log please visit the documentation
Configuring the license server in FNMEA
The last step is to configure the license server in FNMEA. For that you will need to create a third-party license server through a template.
To add the third-party license server, log into FNMEA
If you do not have any FNMEA login then please contact the technical person responsible for the implementation of FNMEA within your organization.
You will first need to create create third party template that will be used by all RLM servers. A template is going to be a basic block for the license server configuration
Once logged into FNMEA Go to:
Servers ->Third party license server -> Third-Party Licensing Templates
Enter the information below
For a description on the temple please visit the Managing Third party license server template
Then click on New Third-Party License Server
Then select the RLM template and click “Copy from template”
For a description of the fields please visit the Adding Third-Party License server documentation.
Set the update status interval to a value that suits you. We usually set it to 10 minutes. You will also need to set a report log rotation schedule. Usually this should happen early morning or late evening.
Once you are done, you can then click on “Save” and wait for the license server to become green
Once it is green you are done with the configuration. The following day you should see a report log file coming into the FNMEA reporting database by going into the following location
Reporting -> Report Log Summary
You should see a report log file with the name of your license server
If you do not see the report log file, please consult the agent log file and converter log file for more information.
In this article you've learned how to implement a Reprise ("RLM") license server using FNMLC.
The latest version of FNMLC can be found here.
