Mar 26, 2023
09:15 PM
I ran into an issue with flexnet embedded. I have the following situation: Two application instances use the same trusted storage. One instance requests a feature from the license server, stores it in the trusted storage. The other instance acquires the feature from the local trusted storage. The expected behavior would be that if the one instance puts the feature in the trust storage, that the other instance can acquire the feature after that. (See attached file "flexera_multiple_clients_expected_behavior.png") However I noticed that the actual behavior is different: If "Main Instance" tries to acquire the feature after "Other Instance" put it in the trust store, I get a FeatureNotFoundException, if "Main Instance" created its LicenseManager instance before the feature was in the trusted storage. The detailled message is Requested feature was not found. Error report=[1,7E3,B,0[7000000B,0,702C7]] However I can see that the feature is in the trusted storage, if I show the features in "diagnostic" mode with licenseManager.getFeaturesFromTrustedStorage(true) Which returns this (Just for readability, I converted it to JSON notation) [ { "name" : "FeatureX", "serialNumber" : null, "expiration" : 1680393599000, "version" : "1.0", "count" : 1, "meteredSecondsLeftInUndoInterval" : 0, "meteredUndoInterval" : 0, "issuer" : "My Corporation", "availableAcquisitionCount" : 1, "entitlementExpiration" : 1680353999000, "hostIds" : { "ANY" : [ "ANY" ] }, "issued" : 1678712400000, "perpetual" : false, "metered" : false, "meteredReusable" : false, "notice" : null, "preview" : false, "serverInstance" : "SERVER_DEFAULT", "finalExpiration" : 1680353999000, "maxCount" : 1, "inGracePeriod" : false, "served" : true, "acquisitionStatus" : "VALID", "vendorString" : null, "startDate" : 1677675600000 } ] The only workaround I found it to let "Main Instance" destroy its LicenseManager instance, and create it anew. Then it can acquire the feature. Is there any other way around this?
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Mar 07, 2023
05:59 PM
I am trying out both the anchored and non-anchored implementation for flexnet embedded. Superficially I cannot really tell the difference. How can I verify that the anchoring is active and working?
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Mar 07, 2023
05:54 PM
I am integrating the flexnet embedded trusted storage based licensing into our product. When I inspect the client usage on the license server via /api/1.0/instances/{instanceid}/clients I get the following response: [ { "id": 9, "hostid": { "hostidValue": "0800272CAC78", "hostidType": "ETHERNET" }, "updateTime": "2023-03-06T23:45:55.824Z", "servedStatus": "NORMAL", "hostName": "Client-02", "hostType": "FLX_CLIENT", "machineType": "VIRTUAL", "trusted": false, "dictionary": { "key1": "one", "key2": 2 }, "correlationId": "ddf0132c-3501-4d9a-8e11-80bc80b8e9f1", "collectedHostIds": "ETHERNET 0800272CAC78", "requestOperation": "REQUEST", "requestHostid": { "hostidValue": "0800272CAC78", "hostidType": "ETHERNET" }, "serverHostid": { "hostidValue": "080027A0B0DA", "hostidType": "ETHERNET" }, "expiry": "2023-03-13T23:45:55.824Z" } ] What does `"trusted": false` mean in this context and what are the consequences? And what would I need to do to make a client "trusted"? Cheers, Stefan
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Feb 21, 2023
05:29 PM
@TrinityTonic wrote: [...] Out of curiosity - why do you want to move from node-locked licensing to floating licenses? What's your current use-case for using node-locked and what would be the use-cases that require floating licenses? The reason for us to evaluate a license server based option are: Currently we use node-locked with a smart card based dongle as secure host ID source. So its node-locked to the dongle, which allows the customer to move his entitlements from one machine to another by physically moving the dongle (we permit that). However using the smart card based dongle has some limitations: Using a remote desktop connection to the machine that uses our licenses application is not possible, because Windows deactivates the local smart card on connection. And the other reason is, our application regularly checks whether the dongle is still present, however sometimes when our application does some number crunching, the IO to the dongle is blocked and then the application goes into a restricted mode (and the current operation is stopped). This can be very annoying to the user. And finally its also a logistical thing: the dongle needs to be shipped to the customer. Sometimes they loose it, and we need to provide a replacement which means re-issuing of licenses and a whole rat tail of administration to do. Over time we found that the level of security that the dongle provides is nice, but maybe a bit too much and we are willing to make a trade-off now. However just getting rid of the dongle and instead using a MAC address or similar as host ID source is also not so practical because this restricts the customer of using the application on multiple machines (we want to allow that; just not on multiple machines at the same time). And it feels its too easy to clone licenses with that. Hence we look into the license server option with floating licenses now. It allows the customer to easily move his entitlements from one machine to another. And it seems to provide a reasonable level of security through the capability requests/response so we can at least somewhat ensure that licenses are returned.
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Feb 20, 2023
05:29 PM
We consider moving from node locked licenses to a solution where licenses are checked out from a local license server.
This means a bit of new territory for us: Currently the user just has to install our application, import a license file and done. With additionally requiring a flexnet license server running on the customers network, there is probably some involvement of the customers IT department required to set up a server, open ports, configure firewall etc.
So I am looking for some other users to share how they hand over the flexnet license server?
I guess on one end of the spectrum is to just zip up the files mentioned in the flexnetls user guide and give it to the customer and let them read and follow the admin guide. On the other end is setting up the license server for them, or providing a Container or VM image to them that they just need to spin up.
(Note: The easiest way - using the Cloud Licensing Service - is unfortunately not an option for us because some customers operate our applications in offline networks)
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Latest posts by Stefan_Erucsir
| Subject | Views | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | Mar 26, 2023 09:15 PM | |
| 172 | Mar 07, 2023 05:59 PM | |
| 173 | Mar 07, 2023 05:54 PM | |
| 190 | Feb 21, 2023 05:29 PM | |
| 221 | Feb 20, 2023 05:29 PM |
Activity Feed
- Posted Multiple application instances, one trusted storage on FlexNet Embedded Forum. Mar 26, 2023 09:15 PM
- Kudoed Re: How to verify anchoring? for jberthold. Mar 08, 2023 10:33 PM
- Posted How to verify anchoring? on FlexNet Embedded Forum. Mar 07, 2023 05:59 PM
- Posted Meaning of "trusted" clients on FlexNet Embedded Forum. Mar 07, 2023 05:54 PM
- Posted Re: How do YOU hand over flexnetls to the customer? on FlexNet Embedded Forum. Feb 21, 2023 05:29 PM
- Kudoed Re: How do YOU hand over flexnetls to the customer? for TrinityTonic. Feb 21, 2023 05:29 PM
- Posted How do YOU hand over flexnetls to the customer? on FlexNet Embedded Forum. Feb 20, 2023 05:29 PM
