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INTERNAL: Installing the ITT/EXELIS Network License Server for Windows without installing IDL or ENVI

David Blackston
Topic:

For IDL 6.1 and later, the ITT/EXELIS Network License Server (FLEXlm) for Windows has its own installer, separate from the IDL or ENVI for Windows installer. The ITT/EXILIS Network License Server installer program is invoked by the IDL (6.3 and prior) or ENVI (4.3 and prior) product installer if the optional "Network License Server" item is selected.


Under certain circumstances, it is desirable or necessary to invoke the license server installer outside of the regular IDL or ENVI installer. For instance, one might want to configure a Windows machine to serve ITT product licenses to other machines on a network but without actually installing the IDL or ENVI product itself on the license server machine.

This license server installer does the following:
  • Installs the binary files necessary to run the ITT Network License Server.
  • Configures the ITT Network License Server to run as an NT service. (For IDL 6.1 through IDL 6.3, this NT service is called "RSI FLEXlm License Manager".)
NOTE: The "Network License Server" is an optional installation component for IDL 6.1 to IDL 6.3, or ENVI 4.1 to ENVI 4.3, on Windows and is required only for machines that will be administering ITT product network floating licenses or other license-server-based licenses. The installer for ITT Network License Server is automatically invoked by the regular IDL for Windows product installer when a user selects the optional "Network License Server" installation component.

ITT strongly recommends that you upgrade your Network License Server files to the FLEXlm version (or higher) that is included with the newest version of IDL that will be accessing licenses from the license server. Newer versions of FLEXlm and the ITT product license file are backward compatible with older versions of the application. In some cases, older versions of the FLEXlm license manager will not function correctly with newer versions of the ITT product license file. IDL 6.3 ships with the FLEXlm (FLEXnet) version 10.8 license manager files.

Note that the FLEXlm v10.1 license manager files that come with IDL 6.2 and ENVI 4.2 do not function properly on the Windows 2003 Server platform. For that platform we recommend that you install FLEXlm v10.8 or higher license manager binaries.
Discussion:
Below are the steps to access and run the ITT Network License Server installer outside of the IDL or ENVI for Windows installer.

Sections:

A.   Access the ITT network license server installer for Windows

B.   Launch the IDL network license server installer

C.   Configure the ITT license manager service to launch at boot time

The ITT license server installer configures the license manager to run as an NT service (named "RSI FLEXlm License Manager"), but this service is not yet configured to launch automatically at boot time.

  1. To configure the the "RSI FLEXlm License Manager" service to launch at boot time, open a Windows Explorer window and browse to the "C:\RSI\FLEXlm" directory. Locate and launch the "LMTools.exe" program by double clicking.

  2. In the LMTools application, select the "Config Services" tab.

  3. From the pull-down list field labeled "Service Name", the item "RSI FLEXlm License Manager" should be selected.

    NOTE: If the "Service Name" pull down list contains the names of additional FLEXlm services that have been previously manually configured to start the license manager for ITT products, it will then be necessary to disable these other ITT license server items. The reason for this is because if more than one license service is administering ITT licenses on a single machine, the services will conflict and then none of the licenses will be available. For detailed information about upgrading from a previous installation of the ITT license manager, please refer to the Windows licensing section titled "Upgrading the Network License Server from a Previous Installation" in the "Installing and Licensing IDL 6.3" manual or in the IDL 6.3 Online Help.

  4. Locate and place a check in the box labeled "Start Server at Power Up".

    ./Images/win_lmtools.jpg

  5. The paths defined on the "RSI FLEXlm License Manager" service have been automatically configured for default installation and should not need to be altered.

  6. Click on the "Save Service" button to save the changes.

  7. Close the LMTools application. Before starting the ITT license manager, you will need to enter your license file information. (See next section, D.)

D.   Enter the network license file information

  1. Next enter your network floating license file information. If you have not already received your license information, please refer to the installation and licensing guide for instructions about how to request your license. Locate the licensing wizard program at

          C:\RSI\FLEXlm\license.exe

    then double click to launch it.

  2. In the licensing wizard session, click on "Permanent" and then on "License" to expose the license information editor.

  3. Copy your network floating license information into the editor window.

  4. Confirm that the information on the line beginning with "SERVER" contains information for the current machine.

    NOTE: Only the designated license server machine indicated in the SERVER line of the license (license.dat) file should be configured to run the ITT Network License Server.
  5. For the line that begins with "DAEMON idl_lmgrd", confirm that:

    1. (Default) There is no path to the vendor daemon executable (idl_lmgrd.exe). For example:

            DAEMON idl_lmgrd

      No file path on the DAEMON line implies that the vendor daemon executable file idl_lmgrd.exe is in the same directory as lmgrd.exe, (which is used to run the ITT license manager service) or

    2. That there is a file path designation at the end of that line that shows the full path to the file "idl_lmgrd.exe" on the current machine. For for example:

            DAEMON idl_lmgrd C:\RSI\FLEXlm\idl_lmgrd.exe

      The path on the DAEMON line should reflect the path to "C:\RSI\FLEXlm\idl_lmgrd.exe", even if you have installed IDL in a different ITT product installation directory on the same machine, such as "C:\Program Files\RSI\IDL63".
  6. Click "Next" and then "Finish" to save the license file information.

E.   Start the license manager service

F.   Configure clients to access the license server

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