License Server Setup

This information explains how to set up a license server, allowing any computer on your network to run Vortex Studio with floating licenses.



Setting Up a License Server

The process for setting up a license server is different for Windows and Linux operating systems.

Setting Up a License Server on Linux

Setting up a license server on a computer running Linux involves the following activities.

Install the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools Package for Linux

Before you can install a license server, you must download and install the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools Package.

Do the following:

  1. From the CM-Labs website, Click on the Go to Product Detail Page icon.

  2. Find the Licensing tool in the list and click on the Download Package button.

  3. In VortexSetup, select Offline Mode and press the Install on Desktop Button.

  4. On the Install Stage page, press the Next button without selecting anything.

  5. On the Component Stage page, select the licensing tool and proceed with the installation.

For more information, we suggest reading the following articles on how to use VortexSetup and how Installing Only the Vortex License Manager Application.

Earlier versions of the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools package installed the RLM license server in the bin folder. To avoid licensing issues, you must remove any previous license servers that were installed and start with the newest version. Any licenses you activated with previous installations will function correctly with the new license server.

Create the RLM Service

  1. Connect as root user.

  2. Create a user for RLM:

    useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash rlmuser passwd rlmuser

     

  3. Uncompress the new RLM installation directory:

    mkdir /home/rlmuser/RLM tar xz -C /home/rlmuser/RLM -f /tmp/Vortex_Licensing_Tools_[Version]*_x64_rhel7_gcc48.tar.gz

     

  4. Set permissions on the RLM Server folder:

    chown -R rlmuser.rlmuser /home/rlmuser/RLM

     

  5. Create and set permissions on the CMLabs license folder:

     

  6. To start the RLM server at system boot time, do the following (You may need to configure your firewall settings):

     

  7. Create link (required for Linux systems):

  8. Add executable permissions:

     

  9. Add startup service on boot time:

     

  10. Verify service startup:

     

  11. Verify output log:

     

    An example of the output log appears as follows:

     

  12. Verify License Server administration Web page access:

     

Restart the server

As a root user (or as the rlm user), execute the following command:

Setting Up a License Server on Windows

Setting up a license server on a computer running Windows involves the following activities.

Install the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools Package for Windows

Before you can install a license server, you must download and install the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools Package.

See Installing the Vortex Licensing Tools at https://vortexstudio.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=VSD22&title=Download%20and%20Installation

If the license server will run on the same system that runs Vortex Studio software, make sure you install the Vortex Studio Licensing and Tools package in a different folder.

By default, the installation is done in the following directory: C:\CM Labs\Vortex Licensing Tools <version> and contains:

  1. The Vortex Studio License Manager in the bin folder

  2. The RLM license server in the server folder.

Earlier versions of the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools package installed the RLM license server in the bin folder. To avoid licensing issues, you must remove any previous license servers that were installed and start with the newest version. Any licenses you activated with previous installations will function correctly with the new license server.

Create an RLM Service

  1. Launch a command prompt with administrative rights.

    You can launch a command prompt by using the Search Windows function to find Command Prompt. Right-click on the search result and click Run as Administrator.

  2. Go to the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools for Windows folder. For example, C:\CM Labs\Vortex Licensing Tools [version number].

  3. Go to the server folder.

  4. Execute the following command to install the service:

     

  5. Start the server with the following command:

     

Restart the RLM License Server

You can restart the RLM server from a command prompt or from the Windows Task Manager.

To Restart the Server from a Command Prompt

  1. Launch a command prompt with administrative rights.

    You can launch a command prompt by using the Search Windows function to find Command Prompt. Right-click on the search result and click Run as Administrator.

  2. To stop the server, execute the following command:

     

  3. To start the server again, execute the following command:

     

To Restart the Server from the Windows Task Manager

  1. Start the Windows Task Manager application.

  2. In the lower part of the window, click More Details (if not already selected).

  3. Click the Services tab and locate rlm-cmlabs in the list of services.

  4. Right-click on the rlm-cmlabs service and, in the menu that appears, click Restart.

Remove the RLM License Server

  1. Launch a command prompt with administrative rights.

    You can launch a command prompt by using the Search Windows function to find Command Prompt. Right-click on the search result and click Run as Administrator.

  2. Go to the Vortex Studio Licensing Tools for Windows folder. For example, C:\CM Labs\Vortex Licensing Tools [version number].

  3. Go to the server folder.

  4. To stop the server, execute the following command:

     

  5. To remove the service, execute the following command:

     

Note About Setting Up a License Server Behind a Firewall

The license server will be communicating on 2 ports:

  • The port that is used by RLM for communication (default is 5053). It is on the HOST line. Connecting to the license server will use that port.

  • The ISV server port. in the ISV line(default changes each time the RLM license server is restarted, see procedure below to specify it)

Both ports must be opened between the client and the server to be able to use licensing.

Setting Up the communication port to the License Server

The communication port can be modified should that port be in use for security reasons. The default port is 5053.

After generating any license file, open the license file (.lic) from the license folder (C:/CM Labs/Licenses folder on Windows or /opt/cmlabs/licenses/ on Linux) in a text editor. 

The following is a typical example

The first line indicates the host where the server is running. The last number is the port that the server is running on and should be the same in all license files.

In this example, the port was modified to 5555

If you have activated multiple licenses on this server, each license file needs to have the same port. You might need to edit the .lic files in the server folder as well.

Setting Up the main License Server Port

The main RLM port can be specified for security reasons.

After generating any license file, open the license file (.lic) from the license folder (C:/CM Labs/Licenses folder on Windows or /opt/cmlabs/licenses/ on Linux) in a text editor. 

The following is a typical example



The line "ISV cmlabs" must be edited to add port=<desired port>

In this example, port "49676" will always be used for the main RLM ISV server, even after a license server restart.

If you have activated multiple licenses on this server, each license file needs to have the same port. You might need to edit the .lic files in the server folder as well.

Setting Up the ISV Report Log

To keep track of license usage history, you can enable the REPORTLOG in the ISV options file.

This can be done easily from the web interface.

  1. Go to the Status page.

  2. Select the ISV server OPTIONS:

  3. Set the REPORTLOG file path, ROTATE frequency, and the PURGE_REPORTLOG options 
    The REPORTLOG file will be saved at C:\CM Labs\Licenses\report_log
    ROTATE daily will create a new report file every day with the date appended with this format: report_log.yyyy.mm.dd
      Other options are weekly, monthly, or a fixed #days
    PURGE_REPORTLOG 66 will remove log files older than 66 days.


  4. Save the options to the file with the Update Options button.

  5. Reread/Restart the server to enable the REPORTLOG

  6. Parse the report log files to extract information.

    1. The report log data format is well detailed in the RLM License Administration document: Reportlog File Format section (page 94) of the RLM documentation: Checkin, checkout, license denial, and license in use are part of the interesting data described in this section.



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