Floating License Server Setup

Floating License Server Setup on Windows

System Requirements for the Floating License Server on Windows OS

  • The floating license server can run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 server
  • By default the Floating server is configured to start up on port 27000 and 27010.
  • The machine should be accessible via the network on the port used by FlexLM, which is 27000 and 27010 by default. Systems administrators will need to ensure that firewalls are modified to allow access to the server.
  • You must have Administrator privileges on the server.

Installing the Floating License Server

  • You need to have the Floating License Server installable zip file for windows.
  • Unzip and extract to any location of your choice.

Activating the Floating License Server

The Floating License Server first needs to be activated with a license, before it can start serving licenses for the client applications. The steps involved in the activation are described below:
  • Open a command prompt, and cd to the directory where the zip file was extracted.
  • Run the activate.bat script using the command activate.bat
  • This should bring up the License Activation Dialog.
  • You need to have an OrderID for the floating license server. Enter this OrderID here. Remember to provide proxy information if your web access is through a proxy.
  • The license file strand.lic, for the specified number of floating clients is automatically fetched from the web and placed in the bin/license subfolder. If the license activation was successful, you will be prompted with a success dialog.
  • In case you do not have web access from the License Server or if you face problems activating the License Server automatically, you will need to do the above step manually. Go to The Manual Activation Page, enter the OrderID and upload the activation key file manualActivation.txt available in the bin/license subfolder. In response, the strand.lic file will be sent to the designated person (designated at the time of OrderID creation) via email. Save this attachment and copy it into the bin/license subfolder. Once you have saved the strand.lic file, follow the instructions below to start up the License Server.

Administering the Floating License Server

  • Open a Command Prompt and cd to the directory where the Floating License Server is installed.
  • To start the floating server, run the command lmstart.bat. Note that this will need to be performed whenever the machine is rebooted.
  • In the Task Manager check if the process lmgrd and strand have been started.
  • To configure the license Manager as a windows service look at the FlexLM Manual: Configuring the License Server Manager as a Windows Service
  • To get a status report on the server, run the command lmstat -c bin/license/strand.lic -f marray/genespring
  • To stop the server, run the command lmdown -c bin/license/strand.lic. When prompted for confirmation, choose 'y'. If you do not want to be prompted for confirmation, you can run the command lmdown -c bin/license/strand.lic -q
  • If the server doesn't start up then you can either check the FlexLM Manual for troubleshooting or contact support at the address below.

Floating License Server Setup on Linux

System Requirements for the Floating License Server on Linux

  • The following Linux distributions are supported
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86_64
    • Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r1 x86
    • Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r1 x86_64
  • The machine should be accessible via the network on the port used by FlexLM, which is 27000 and 27010 by default. Systems administrators will need to ensure that firewalls etc are modified to allow access to the server.

Installing the Floating License Server

  • You need to have the Floating License Server installable zip file for Linux.
  • Create a user called array on the machine. The Floating server will run by the array user.
  • Unzip and extract to any location where array has permissions
  • Note that it is not advisable to install and run the Floating server as root

Activating the Floating License Server

The Floating License Server first needs to be activated with a license, before it can start serving licenses for the client applications. The steps involved in the activation are described below:
  • Open a terminal, and cd to the directory where the zip file was extracted.
  • Run the activate.sh script using the command ./activate.sh
  • This should bring up the License Activation Dialog.
  • You need to have an OrderID for the floating license server. Enter this OrderID here. Remember to provide proxy information if your web access is through a proxy.
  • If you do not have an X-Server on your Linux machine and would like to activate using a console, follow the steps below.

    • Create a file called server.conf in newline <INSTALLDIR>/bin/license

    • Fill in the appropriate parameters and uncomment them.

      	# sample server.conf if proxy authentication is to be used
      	# proxy=http://proxyserver
      	# port=3128
      	# user=proxyuser
      	# passwd=proxypass
      	# orderID=VWK1-5311-7476
      	# END
      

      You will definitely need an OrderID.

    • Run the command ./activate.sh silent
    • For status of the command see stderr.log and stdout.log files in INSTALLDIR.
  • The license file strand.lic, for the specified number of floating clients is automatically fetched from the web and placed in the bin/license subfolder. If the license activation was successful, you will be prompted with a success dialog.
  • In case you do not have web access from the License Server or if you face problems activating the License Server automatically, you will need to do the above step manually. Go to The Manual Activation Page, enter the OrderID and upload the activation key file manualActivation.txt available in the bin/license subfolder. In response, the strand.lic file will be sent to the designated person (designated at the time of OrderID creation) via email. Save this attachment and copy it into the bin/license subfolder. Once you have saved the strand.lic file, follow the instructions below to start up the License Server.

Administering the Floating License Server

  • Open a terminal and cd to the directory where the Floating License Server is installed.
  • To start the floating server, run the command ./lmstart.sh. Note that this will need to be performed whenever the machine is rebooted.
  • To get a status report on the server, run the command ./lmstat -c bin/license/strand.lic -f marray/genespring.
  • To stop the server, run the command ./lmdown -c bin/license/strand.lic. When prompted for confirmation, choose 'y'. If you do not want to be prompted for confirmation, you can run the command ./lmdown -c bin/license/strand.lic -q

Trouble Shooting the Linux Floating Server

  • The License code requires the libstdc++.so.5 library. These are often not available on newer systems. If these are not available, the license activation dialog will not come up. To check if your installation is missing some libraries, do the following:
    • Open a terminal and cd to
      cd FLOATING_SERVER_INSTALL_DIR/bin/packages/cube/license/x.x/lib
      directory.
    • run the command
      ldd liblicense.so
      This will output the dependent libraries required to run the license code.
    • If any of the libraries are missing, then these libraries must be installed by the system administrator before activating the Floating License Server.
For any other questions or problems regarding the floating server, please contact support at informatics_support@agilent.com

© Strand Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.
© Agilent