541 Rate this article:

No rating

[ARCHIVE] Install and Administer the Flexera License Server Service on Windows

MariM Thursday, September 12, 2019

Install and Administer the Flexera License Server Service on Windows

Last Updated: January 11, 2019

These instructions describe how to install and configure the Flexera FlexNet license server 2017.08 for use with Harris Geospatial Solutions products.

See the following:

Uninstall the License Server 2016.03 Service (for users migrating from version 2016.03 to 2017.08)
Install the License Server Service
Activate License Server Licenses from the License Administrator Tool
Activate License Server Licenses from the Command Line
Additional License Server Administration Tasks from the Command Line

System Requirements

Minimum hardware requirements:

Disk: 500 MB
RAM: 4 GB
CPU: 2 GHz - 2 Cores

Supported FlexNet License Server platforms:

Operating System	CPU Architecture	Tested with Operating System Versions
Windows 64-bit	x86-64	Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2 Windows 7 SP1, 8, 10

Operating System

CPU Architecture

Tested with Operating System Versions

Windows 64-bit

x86-64

Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2

Windows 7 SP1, 8, 10

Administrator Privileges

You need administrative privileges to perform the steps in this document.

Firewall Configuration

By default, the license server is configured to communicate on local TCP/IP port 7070. If a firewall is deployed on the license server, you will need to configure the firewall to allow inbound connections by the license server computer on TCP port 7070. You will also need to define a rule for INSTALL-DIR\flexnetls-x64_windows-xxxx.xx.x\jre\bin\java.exe on port 7070.

The program that runs the FlexNet License Server service is flexnetlsw.exe, located in the INSTALL-DIR\flexnetls-x64_windows-xxxx.xx.x\server directory.

If needed, consult your local system or network administrator for assistance in configuring your server's firewall.

Correct System Time and Date

To allow proper communication, the system time and date of both the license server and the license client computer should be configured to accurately reflect the current time and date.

Contact Us

If you need assistance, visit our website at http://www.harrisgeospatial.com/Company/ContactUs.aspx to find worldwide contact information for technical support.

Uninstall the License Server 2016.03 Service

If the Flexera FlexNet license server 2016.03 is installed on the license server computer, you must do the following before installing the new version.

Open a command window.
Navigate to the license server installation directory (INSTALL_DIR\flexnetls-x64_windows-2016.03.0\server). For example:

cd C:\Program Files\Harris\flexnetls-x64_windows-2016.03.0\server
Stop the license server service with the following command:

flexnetls -stop
Rename the directory C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\flexnetls to C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\flexnetls.bak. This will ensure the directory is not deleted by the FlexnetLS 2016 uninstaller in the next step.
Uninstall the service with the following command:

flexnetls -uninstall
From the Start menu, select Control Panel > Programs and Features and uninstall FlexnetLS 2016.
Rename C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\flexnetls.bak to its original name of C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\flexnetls

After you have finished uninstalling Flexera FlexNet license server 2016.03, proceed to the next section to install Flexera FlexNet license server 2017.08.

Install the License Server Service

Start the installer:
- Web download: Navigate to the flexnetserverxxxx.xx-win.exe file that was downloaded to your computer and run it, where xxxx.xx is the release date of the FlexNet server software.
  
  Note: The License Server installer is available only as a separate product download file. It is not included as part of other Harris Geospatial product downloads.
- DVD: Navigate to the DVD directory flexnet-license_server and run setup-flexnetls-win.exe.
Follow the prompts to install the software.
Activate the licenses on the license server, described next.

Administer License Server Licenses from the License Administrator Tool

Activating a license transfers the license rights from the Harris Download and Licensing Center to a node-locked (local) computer or license server. It also creates the features and quantities of licenses that enable the software to run. When you purchase Harris Geospatial products, you will receive an email with an activation code to use to activate your software license. The license is a concurrent process license for each product that was purchased.

These instructions describe how to use the License Administrator Tool to activate your licenses on a license server. The License Administrator Tool is available if you have a full version of IDL or ENVI installed on the license server. If the license server will not have IDL or ENVI installed on it, you can perform these same functions from the command line, described in Activate License Server Licenses from the Command Line. This document also intended for you to activate licenses over the Internet. If you do not have Internet access, contact Technical Support to receive separate instructions to activate your licenses offline.

You will use the activation codes provided in your product order email to activate the licenses. Clients will then create a connection to the license server to acquire those licenses when they launch their application. If a client attempts to launch the application before licenses are activated on the license server, or before the client has a connection to the license server, they will receive an error message.

The steps that follow describe how to use the License Administrator Tool to:

Activate licenses on a license server.
Deactivate licenses on a license server.
Connect a client to a license server.
Disconnect from a license server.
Borrow licenses from a license server for a limited time.
Return borrowed licenses to a license server.
View licenses and feature details.

The License Administrator Tool

The steps that follow use the License Administrator Tool. If the tool is not already open, access it from the Start menu by selecting Tools > Harris License Administrator under the shortcut group for your product installation. Administrator privileges are required.

Activate Licenses

To activate licenses on the license server:

In the License Administrator Tool, click Activate License on this Server. The Server and Port fields populate with the information for the license server.
Enter (or copy and paste) the activation codes from your product order email into the text box provided. The text box allows one activation code per line; press the Enter key after entering each code to start a new line.
Enter the Quantity of licenses you are entitled to.
Click Activate. A message appears when the codes are successfully activated. To view details on the activated licenses for the license server, click View Licenses. See View Licenses and Feature Details for more information.
Click Close to exit the tool.

Deactivate Licenses

Licenses remain activated on a license server until you deactivate them. Deactivating a license returns it to the Harris Download and Licensing Center. Deactivated licenses can then be used on another license server. For example, if you receive a new computer and you want to install the license server service on it, first deactivate the licenses from the old license server. If you do not deactivate the licenses (and the old computer is no longer accessible to you), you will be unable to activate them on the new license server. If that occurs, Technical Support will need to deactivate the licenses for you.

To deactivate licenses on the server:

In the License Administrator Tool, click Deactivate License on this Server. The Server and Port fields populate with the information for the license server.
Use the check boxes to select the individual activation codes to deactivate, or enable the Select all check box to deactivate all activation codes.
Click Deactivate.
Click Close to exit the tool.

Connect a Client to a License Server

A client computer can connect to only one license server at a time; however, a client can use a combination of node-locked licenses activated locally on the computer and served licenses from a connected license server.

The steps to install and set up a license server are described in the Install and Administer the Flexera License Server Service documentation for Windows (flexnetserver-windows-install.html) or Linux (flexnetserver-linux-install.html), included with the software download or installation DVD.

To connect a client to a license server:

On the client, open the License Administrator Tool.
In the License Administrator Tool, click Use License Server.
In the Server field, enter the server name or IP address.
In the Port field, enter the TCP/IP port number being used by the license server for communication with license clients. The default port is 7070.
Click Connect. A message appears when the client successfully connects. To view details on served licenses for the computer, click View Licenses. See View Licenses and Feature Details for more information.
Click Close to exit the tool.

Disconnect from a License Server

To disconnect a client computer from a license server:

In the License Administrator Tool, click Use License Server. The Server and Port number fields populate with the information for the connected license server.
Click Disconnect, then click Yes to confirm the request to disconnect. A message appears when the client successfully disconnects.
Click Close to exit the tool.

Borrow Licenses from a License Server

Client computers can optionally borrow licenses from a license server. Borrowing licenses activates them locally to the client computer for a limited time. One example of borrowing is when you need to work in a remote region for one week and will be unable to connect to the license server to acquire licenses. In this case, you borrow the needed licenses for 7 days; then when the specified time has expired, the licenses will be automatically returned to the license server.

License borrowing is enabled by default. To disable (or re-enable) some or all license borrowing, the license server administrator should contact Technical Support, or their regional sales office or distributor. When borrowing licenses is enabled, only the licenses that are borrowable will be visible to you as you use the steps below.

To borrow licenses from a license server:

In the License Administrator Tool, click Borrow Licenses from a Server.
The Server and Port fields populate with values if there is a current license server connection. Enter or change the values if needed.
Use the check boxes to select the licenses to borrow, or enable the Select all check box to select all licenses.
Enter the Borrow time in days. The default is 7. The maximum number of days allowed is 60.
Enter the Quantity of licenses to activate. The default is 1.
Click Borrow from Server. A message appears when the licenses are successfully borrowed. To view details on borrowed licenses for the computer, click View Licenses. See View Licenses and Feature Details for more information.
Click Close to exit the tool.

Return Borrowed Licenses to a License Server

Borrowed licenses are automatically returned to the license server at the end of the specified period, but you can return all of the licenses earlier.

To return licenses on a server:

In the License Administrator Tool, click Borrow Licenses from a Server.
The Server and Port fields populate with values if there is a current license server connection. Enter or change the values if needed.
Click Return all Borrowed Licenses to Server. All borrowed licenses are returned to the server.
Click Close to exit the tool.

View Licenses and Feature Details

Click View Licenses in the License Administrator Tool to view license details and features for the license server. License names, activation codes, and maintenance IDs available to the license server will be listed in a table. To refresh the data in the table, click the refresh icon.

To view feature details for the licenses, select one or more table rows and enable the Show feature details check box. Select all table rows to show all licenses. To filter the details further to show only in-use features, enable the Show in-use counts check box.

In the feature details Expiration column:

The expiration date is listed for licenses that have a termination date.
Permanent indicates the license does not have a termination date.

You can copy the details of all features to the clipboard, or save them to a .json file.

To view the license activity log for the computer, or to view device information for the computer, click View Log.

Activate License Server Licenses from the Command Line

The steps that follow describe how to:

Activate licenses on a license server using commands.
Deactivate licenses on a license server using commands.
Connect a client to a license server to use served licenses.
Remove a client connection to a license server.
Borrow licenses from a license server using commands.
Return borrowed licenses to a license server using commands.

These steps have you activate licenses over the Internet. If you do not have Internet access, contact Technical Support for separate instructions to activate your license offline.

Activate Licenses

You can also activate the licenses from the command line:

Go to the INSTALL_DIR\flexnetls-x64_windows-xxxx.xx.x\enterprise directory, for example:

C:\Program Files\Harris\flexnetls-x64_windows-xxxx.xx.x\enterprise
Activate the licensing capabilities on the server, for example:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://server:port -activate -id xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx -count quantity

Example:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://localhost:7070 -activate -id AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD -count 3

Where:
- -server specifies the communication URL and port number of the license server, and localhost indicates the computer issuing the command.
- -activate indicates to activate the id that will follow.
- -id specifies the activation code provided in your product order email.
- -count specifies the quantity of license feature counts to enable on the license server, up to the total that was purchased. If not specified, the default is 1.
To view details on the activated licenses for the license server, see View Licenses and Feature Details for commands.

Deactivate Licenses

Specifying a -count of 0 deactivates the specified licenses on the license server. For example:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://localhost:7070 -activate -id AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD -count 0

Connect a Client to a License Server

Create a plain text file on the client computer to reference the license server. Perform the following steps:

Create a plain text file that contains a reference to the license server URL. Format the text as follows:

http://[license-server-hostname-or-IP-address]:7070/fne/bin/capability

For example:

http://myserver.mycompany.com:7070/fne/bin/capability
Save the file with the name o_licenseserverurl.txt.
Copy the file to the license subdirectory located under your Harris installation directory. The file should have read privileges for all product users.

Examples using the default locations:

Windows client: C:\Program Files\Harris\license\o_licenseserverurl.txt

Linux client: /usr/local/harris/license/o_licenseserverurl.txt

Mac client: /Applications/harris/license/o_licenseserverurl.txt

To view details on served licenses for the computer, see View Licenses and Feature Details for commands.

Remove a Client Connection to a License Server

To remove the client computer's connection to the license server, delete the o_licenseserverurl.txt from the license subdirectory located under your Harris installation directory.

The Activate Utility

For the steps in the next section, you will find the activate utility in the following directories:

Windows client: INSTALL_DIR\IDLxx\license_utils\bin.x86_64 for IDL installations, or INSTALL_DIR\ENVIxx\IDLxx\license_utils\bin.x86_64 for ENVI installations.
Linux client: INSTALL_DIR/idlxx/license_utils/bin.x86_64 for IDL installations, or INSTALL_DIR/envixx/idlxx/license_utils/bin.x86_64 for ENVI installations.
Mac client: INSTALL_DIR/idlxx/license_utils/bin.x86_64 for IDL installations, or INSTALL_DIR/envixx/idlxx/license_utils/bin.x86_64 for ENVI installations.

Borrow Licenses from a License Server

Use the activate utility to borrow licenses from a license server for a period of time.

To borrow licenses, open a command or terminal window on the client, change to the directory that contains the activate utility, and type the following at the command line:

Windows client:

activate.exe -a activation-code -s serverName:serverPort -t seconds

Example:

activate.exe -a AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD -s LicenseServer:7070 -t 86400

Linux and Mac client:

./activate -a activation-code -s serverName:serverPort -t seconds

Example:

./activate -a AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD -s LicenseServer:7070 -t 86400

Where:

-a specifies the activation ID.
-s specifies a license server.
-t specifies the borrow interval, in seconds. The default is 86400 seconds (one day). The maximum number of days allowed is 60 (5184000 seconds). When this value expires, the features are automatically returned to the license server for use by another process.

The following are also valid command-line arguments for borrowing with activate:

-b specify the name of a buffered license file, to display the features it contains.
-c use this option with -b, to display the C source code for a buffer license.
-g groups features by their license source (i.e., License Portal and borrowed from a license server).

To view details on borrowed licenses for the computer, see View Licenses and Feature Details for commands.

Return Borrowed Licenses to a License Server

Use the activate utility to return borrowed licenses before their expiration date.

To return borrowed licenses, open a command or terminal window, change to the directory that contains the activate utility, and type the following at the command line:

Windows client:

activate -r -s serverName:serverPort

Example:

activate -r -s LicenseServer:7070

Linux and Mac client:

./activate -r -s serverName:serverPort

Example:

./activate -r -s LicenseServer:7070

Where:

-r returns all borrowed licenses to a license server.
-s specifies a license server.

Additional License Server Administration Tasks from the Command Line

This section provides commands to administer and uninstall the license server service. See the following:

View licenses and feature details
Manage the license server service
Uninstall the license server service

View Licenses and Feature Details

To view details on licensed features, open a command window change directories to INSTALL_DIR\flexnetls-x64_windows-xxxx.xx.x\enterprise. From a command line, use the following commands:

Confirm the service is running and listening on the port:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://localhost:7070 -status
Display a summary of license features/capabilities enabled on the license server running on the local host computer:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://localhost:7070 -features
Display a listing of license features/capabilities enabled on the specified license server:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://myserver.mycompany.com:7070 -licenses
Display a verbose listing of license features and capabilities enabled on the specified license server, using an IP address:

flexnetlsadmin.bat -server http://123.456.789.10:7070 -licenses -verbose

Manage the License Server Service

Perform the following tasks from the Windows Control Panel, under Administrative Tools > Services.

Start the license server service:

In the Services tab, right-click FNLS-idl_lmgrd (FlexNet Licensing Server - idl_lmgrd) and select Start.

Stop the license server service:

In the Services tab, right-click FNLS-idl_lmgrd (FlexNet Licensing Server - idl_lmgrd) and select Stop.

The default location of the service log files:

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\flexnetls\idl_lmgrd\logs

Uninstall the License Server Service

On the license server, open the Control Panel from the Start menu.
Select Programs and Features > Uninstall a Program.
Select the FlexNet Server xxxx.xx.x program, and click Uninstall.

© 1988-2019 Harris Geospatial Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This information is not subject to the controls of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).