FNMS move all Logs, Readers, and intermediate data to a data drive.

[steven_donovan1]

Hi,

On the FNMS Application server is there a way to move all logs and folders to another data drive? Most customers do not want anything installed on the C drive.

Thanks,

Steve

[BradAkers]

Steven, 

FlexNet Manager is tied to .Net and such some logs and other items cannot be moved off of the C drive for the Application and Beacon servers. 

For FNMS agents you can control where the logs are written to however by updating the config.ini during install. Please let me know if you have any other questions. 

Thanks

Brad

[ChrisG]

Much FlexNet application data (like data for other applications) is stored under the system %ProgramData% directory. Organizations typically configure this directory to be on the C: drive, but it could be placed elsewhere if people want application data stored somewhere different. This is something that would be configured at the operating system level, not something configured just for FlexNet or any other specific application.

Some selected data directories can be configured at installation time to not be placed under %ProgramData%. I think [at least some of] these can be configured in the install wizard UI, but I typically do installs using an msiexec command line so know the settings to configure on the command line better than what can be done in the install wizard UI:

• Alternate location for %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\Beacon: BASEDIR=D:\Beacon
• Alternate location for %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\FlexNet Manager Platform\DataImport: DATAIMPORTDIR=D:\DataImport
• Alternate location for %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\Warehouse: WAREHOUSEDIR=D:\Warehouse
• Alternate location for %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\Incoming: INCOMINGDIR=D:\Incoming

For example:

msiexec /i "FlexNet Manager Suite Server.Msi" /l*v install.log BASEDIR=D:\Beacon DATAIMPORTDIR=D:\DataImport WAREHOUSEDIR=D:\Warehouse INCOMINGDIR=D:\Incoming

After installation there are some registry entries which can be set (or changed) to point to alternate locations:

• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Beacon\CurrentVersion\BaseDirectory (default location if not changed: %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\Beacon)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Compliance\CurrentVersion\LoggingBaseDirectory and HKLM\SOFTWARE\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Compliance\CurrentVersion\LoggingBaseDirectory (default location if not changed: %ProgramData%\Flexera Software\Compliance\Logging)

I would recommend stopping services and moving current original directory contents at the same time as changing these settings in the registry.

(Thanks @mrichardson  for the registry settings tips.)

[steven_donovan1]

Maybe there needs to be an enhancement request to include in the installer which Drive you want all pieces of the application to get installed.

[mrichardson]

Hi @steven_donovan1, There are a couple of enhancements for this, one of the main ones being FNMS-18451: Beacon ProgramData folder should be customizable at install time There are some registry settings which help: BaseDirectory string in [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Beacon\CurrentVersion] refers to "C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Beacon" and changing this to another directory does work. LoggingBaseDirectory string in [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Compliance\CurrentVersion] refers to "C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\Logging" and changing this seems to work for all logs except CompliancReader. The reason it doesn't work for ComplianceReader is that executable is 64 bit so if you modify in the 64 bit registry, that should also work.

[EHacking]

Is there a way to move these files and logs after the fact? We installed our Beacon Server over a year ago, and the person helping us from Flexera said this couldn't be done. It would be great to be able to get this switched without having to uninstall and reinstall.

[BradAkers]

As of today we cannot move these files but long term there are enhancements for this. 

[mrichardson]

If you check the reply from ChrisG he provides some registry settings you can modify after stopping all services and then the contents of the folders can be moved. This is the manual approach which I know a few customers use; if you mean an automated method of moving them then no, this is not currently available as Brad stated.

[ccrawford]

There's also the possibility of using a folder junction to workaround this limitation, however I haven't tested this yet so I recommend to try it first on a development environment but I don't see it causing any ill effects as NTFS junctions are supported in .NET.

Using C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\Logging as an example:

1: Shut down the FlexNet Manager services and IIS or any component which has logs you wish to move.

2: Move the log "Logging" folder to the new location, such as D:\Flexera\FNMS\Logging

3: Use the following PowerShell command to create a folder junction:

New-Item 'C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\Logging' -ItemType Junction -Value D:\Flexera\FNMS\Logging

[juanr1vargas]

Hi, 

I have tried the suggested edits in the registry, but all it does is break communication with the beacon. Has anybody tried this solutions successfully after the beacon has been installed? 

[pavol_holes]

Hi all,

I'm using the NTFS junction successfully for few years already on all FNMS parts (Batch. Inventory, Analytics, Web, Beacons) in production.

Before installation of the application:

1. create "d:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"
2. run command: mklink /J "c:\ProgramData\Flexera Software" "d:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"
3. install application (i.e. Beacon)
4. install the application with usual default data location "c:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"

After installation of the application:

1. uninstall product (i.e. Beacon)
2. move "c:\ProgramData\Flexera Software" to "d:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"
3. run command: mklink /J "c:\ProgramData\Flexera Software" "d:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"
4. install the application with usual default data location "c:\ProgramData\Flexera Software"

Of course, I don't provide any guarantees on this, I'm only a community member and you are doing this on your own risk.

Regards,

Pavol