Monthly Archives: June 2012

Autodesk’s “Undiscovered Territory” game to boost training of 3Ds Max

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A new fun way of learning Geography and training with Autodesk’s 3Ds Max was recently launched by Autodesk on their site. It’s called the “Undiscovered Territory” game, and it is in fact a contest between users to win a license for the Entertainment Creation Suite.

The game is run on the AutoDesk ‘Area’ forum, so you need to sign in first to become a member.

The game is an eight chapter mission-based adventure game, through which the players complete 3Ds Max design tasks, submit finished files, get their passports ‘signed’ and move on to the next mission.

The game begins with a missions in Coimbra, Portugal, and moves to different locations as the game progresses. This is what the mission page looks like:

 

The 1st mission requires turning a concept sketch into precise 3Ds Max layout.


Every mission is accompanied with a video tutorial, further enhancing specific 3Ds Max expertise.

 

I admit I haven’t progressed much myself yet, but it seems like a refreshing way of training: small tasks each time, and enjoying the scenery on the way.

Ori Kaplan, OpenLM

OpenLM Maintenance Release – Agent version 1.7.1.6

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OpenLM Agent Version 1.7.1.6

OpenLM Agent version 1.7.1.6 is a maintenance release to version 1.7.
It contains a fix for extension control in ESRI ArcGis v10.0.

Upgrading

In order to upgrade to Agent version 1.7.1.6:

  1. Download and Install the new Agent version on top of the existing one.
  2. Update the products XML from the OpenLM site. In order to do so:
    1. Open the OpenLM Server configuration tool in the ‘Advanced’ tab,
    2. Click the “Update products…” button. The “Update product features” window opens.
    3. Select online updating, and click the ‘Update’ button.
    4. Click the ‘Apply’ button, and “Restart Now” when prompted.

See image below for clarification.

OpenLM Maintenance Release – Agent version 1.7.1.5

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OpenLM Agent Version 1.7.1.5

OpenLM Agent version 1.7.1.5 is a maintenance release to version 1.7.
It contains a fix for monitoring the new ESRI ArcGis v10.1 license.
This version impacts the OpenLM Active Agent, and should be installed by users of the ESRI ArcGis v10.1.

Upgrading

In order to upgrade to Agent version 1.7.1.5:

  1. Download and Install the new Agent version on top of the existing one.
  2. Update the products XML from the OpenLM site. In order to do so:
    1. Open the OpenLM Server configuration tool in the ‘Advanced’ tab,
    2. Click the “Update products…” button. The “Update product features” window opens.
    3. Select online updating, and click the ‘Update’ button.
    4. Click the ‘Apply’ button, and “Restart Now” when prompted.

See image below for clarification.



What is the difference between the FlexLM lmgrd and lmadmin license server managers

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license server components

The vendor daemon and the license server manager jointly comprise the FlexLM (Flexnet) license server. The license server manager contacts a FlexEnabled application, and dispatches the handling of that application to the appropriate vendor daemon. It also serves as an interface between the Vendor daemon and the Application, for checking out licenses.

License server manager types

There are two versions of the license server manager:
• lmgrd – the original license server manager with a command-line interface.
• lmadmin – a newer web-based license server manager.

Conceptual differences

The following table summarizes the conceptual differences between the two license server manager types:

Item lmgrd lmadmin
Interface Command-line interface Web-based license server manager
Configuration Options Configuration information is acquired  from the command-line options used when the program is started No configuration options are required upon program start.
Persistence of change Changes need to be done in the license file Settings are maintained after relaunching the tool, and they override the license file.
License file import A single license file set by the configuration options upon running lmgrd Import (multiple) license files.
Number of running instances One instance of lmgrd is run for each vendor daemon. Supports multiple vendor daemons with one lmadmin process.

More changes between lmgrd & lmadmin

On top of these conceptual changes, there have been some changes in commands:

  • Some commands are no longer supported or have been replaced in lmadmin (e.g. lmremove, lmdown)
  • Some have changed in behavior (e.g. lmreread)
  • Other commands have been added into the lmadmin to integrate the functionality previously provided by the LMTOOLS (Stop server)

For more information please refer to
http://www.globes.com/support/utilities/fnp_LicAdmin_11_10.pdf

Some customer testimonials:

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“OpenLM is exactly the software we were looking for”
“Thank you OpenLM team for your incredible product.”
“Thumbs up for OpenLM !”
“(OpenLM’s) capabilities have made administering the licenses a snap …”
“Thanks to the OpenLM team for a great piece of software.”
“Congratulations on an excellent product”

 

Kory Krofft, CAD Administrator,

Trimble Navigation Ltd, USA

“Trimble Navigation Ltd. Is a Silicon Valley based technology company with a wide product range whose core technology leverages the many applications for Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Customer solutions range from controlling earthmoving equipment and precision agriculture to fleet management and surveying.

Trimble’s engineering staff includes roughly 95 CAD system users whose CAD tools are licensed through a FlexLM floating license manager. It has been a long term struggle to properly allocate the costs associated with the CAD system tools such as new licenses and maintenance fees for existing seats to the proper departments.

Initially, OpenLM was investigated as a tool to track license usage so that the costs can be allocated to the specific groups within Trimble based on actual usage of the licenses provided. OpenLm’s “Groups” feature and reporting tools make this task as simple as constructing the report description. The output clearly displays the hours that each department is responsible for, making the allocation of costs simple and equitable.

In addition to the reporting capabilities, Open LM’s license monitoring allows CAD administration to easily see the status of multiple license servers and to remotely release hung licenses.

These capabilities have made administering the licenses a snap.”

Jorge Cunha, IT department – license manager,

Faculty of Engineering,

University of Porto, Portugal

 Work day morning. IT department received a complaint about Matlab licenses not being available and was asked to explain what happened. Usual procedure would be scavenging flexlm logs, building reports by hand and filtering the data so it would make sense.

Openlm proved to be a precious tool! With few clicks we were able to create a report on what happened and illustrate it with graphics. Even more, if the users wanted to see who was using matlab, and what features were active, it provided an online web tool that could be queried on demand, by the inquiry user, enabling them to get data by the minute.

The work stress was lifted from our shoulders and the users got the information they were looking for, and more.

Thumbs up for OpenLM!

 

Philip Nelson, GIS Project Manager

Land Management, Bord na Móna, Ireland.

“I have been using OpenLM for over a year now managing our concurrent licences on Citrix between four offices and seven departments. As we only have a limited number of licences available it is critical that I can monitor the use on and hourly basis to make the most effective use of the available licences. It also helps me with the accounts department to show that we are making the most cost effective use of licences and to produce detailed statistics on a monthly/annual basis of licence use.

At the moment I am not using the full capability of OpenLM to shut down unused licences but as the use of ArcMap grows in the company I expect to implement this in the near future.

The most useful feature of this software is the ease of monitoring licence use so that users who do not have their own dedicated licence can still use ArcMap on quiet days when the full compliment is not being used. The technical support provided by OpenLM is fast and always efficient in solving any problems.”

 

Dirk Linnemüller, GIS Manager,

Landkreis Osnabrück, Germany

“As a GIS manager in a public administration I was again and again confronted with the same questions from groups with very different interests. The GIS-users asked for more GIS-licenses, the financial accounting urged me to save money in the GIS-business. With the installation of OpenLM software these questions are history. We use

our licenses much more effective and were confirmed in our guess, that some users opened GIS-software when they started working and keep the license the whole day, just to have it ready if they need. Now licenses are freed up after 20 minutes when a license usage of 80% is reached and everything works fine. The financial accounting I can apply with statistics from OpenLM about the usage of licenses to show the importance of GIS-software. OpenLM is exactly the software we were looking for. Thanks to the OpenLM team for a great piece of software.”

 

Craig Robson, JBA Consulting, UK

“As for our thoughts on OpenLM, I can honestly say we are extremely pleased with it. Before we used OpenLM there were always broadcast emails being sent around the company asking ‘can anyone free up an ArcGIS licence’ – these stopped almost immediately when we installed OpenLM. We always suspected that people were ‘hogging’ licences (i.e. loading ArcGIS when they first got into the office in the morning because they wanted to use it later and feared they wouldn’t be able to get a licence), so we widely publicised the fact that licences would now be freed up after 15 minutes of inactivity.

..As you can see, after several months of use we don’t have any real problems. OpenLM is very straightforward to administer and works very well in the background without interfering with the users’ way of working. All in all, we’re extremely glad we stumbled upon your website!! Congratulations on an excellent product.”


Daniel Avramov, GIS Team Lead,

Environment Canada

“OpenLM is the most important tool in the management of Environment Canada’s geospatial software assets. Over the past several years, Environment Canada has been working towards better coordination of the Department’s geospatial tool. OpenLM has given us the power to identify and optimize the Department’s investments and is instrumental in the decision making process for the purchase and maintenance of geospatial software. Now, instead of independently investing in duplicative and costly licenses, we have been able to consolidate and save time, resources and money. OpenLM staff are knowledgeable and friendly and most importantly know the value of client service. They went the extra mile to get their software configured on our infrastructure well before we ever committed to purchasing the software. The software is well designed, very easy to use and the summaries and statistics it provides far exceeds any other software management tool that we evaluated. OpenLM is extremely affordable and the cost saving it provided in licenses has made it pay for itself many time over. Thank you OpenLM team for your incredible product.”


Clara Alonso Fernández-Coppel,

GIS manager, Tragsatec, Spain

  “With more than 800 seats of potential users for ArcGIS, we were really worried about the  amount of licenses we will need to buy to cover our needs. People argue that they cannot finish their work when there’s not enough license available, so we received a lot of pressure to buy more licenses. We suspected that in most cases, licenses were captive but not being used. Until we bought OpenLM we couldn’t be sure that we were right.

   Now we have delayed our purchases of licenses until we get real data for the need of buying them.

   At the beginning, people get a bit annoyed when they loose their licenses, but they see the benefit of it pretty soon.

   We have received a great support from people at OpenLM: quick, effective and friendly. It has been a pleasure to work hand in hand with them. We got help right from the beginning when we were merely testing the software.”


Israel Tauber, Director, Forest Management,

Monitoring & GIS, Forest Management, Israel.

“For a long time we heard complaints from many of our GIS users in the organization about the low availability of ArcGIS licenses. We considered buying two more expensive licenses, as we regularly did almost every year. However at that time we happen to be introduced to the OpenLM application and were invited to participate in testing one of the first OpenLM versions. We asked for the price of the software, just in case we ended up deciding to purchase it. When we heard the price we realized that we have nothing to lose. If the application would actually work as expected, we should be saving much time and money by using it, so we really had nothing to lose. The results were beyond expectations, in fact amazing. No more complaints, high availability of licenses and when there is an urgent need for a license, you can always see who are the active users and ask one of them to release their license. I highly recommend OpenLM to every organization, large or small.”

IBM LUM i4blt command reference

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Scope:

Even though the IBM LUM license monitoring tool has decreased in popularity over the passed several years, it is still a widely spread tool for monitoring and tracking license usage of many CAD applications.

The OpenLM license monitoring tool extracts information from a variety of license managers, such as Flexnet / FlexLM, DSLS, Sentinel HASP, Sentinel RMS, Reprise RLM, and – of course IBM LUM. OpenLM extracts comprehensive license reports and obtains license statistics for all these lisence managers.

In order to interface the IBM LUM license manager, OpenLM employs the i4blt command.
The i4blt command is very versatile; its usage depends on the attached i4blt flag options. The following document is a reference to some of these flags.

Syntax:

There are several syntax rules to be met:
1. Named strings containing spaces must be presented within single quotation marks.
2. Names are case sensitive
3. Listed values must be presented within double quotation marks, e.g.:
i4blt -lp -n my_server -v “‘Vend A’ ‘Vend B’”
4. Parameters that appear within options are position specific, e.g.: vendor information in the i4blt -E (Enrollment) option include vendor_name, vendor_id, and vendor_password.

Command reference

The following diagram is a reference to some of the main i4blt options. The Yellow rectangle is a complete reference to the primary i4blt command options. the turquoise rectangles contain elaboration for some of these primary options.

Usage examples:

The following are usage examples of the i4blt command. The examples are taken from real workstations, and include genuine usage information. They were cleared of any user identification markings.

i4blt -s -lc

In order to obtain current license usage information, OpenLM employs the i4blt -s -lc option.

i4blt -ln

The list display option with the ‘n’ flag lists the servers which are monitored by the IBM LUM.

i4blt -r1 -e

The r1 report type enables the extraction of  further information. This example shows license related event logging, in this case: license release.

Forward reading

I have found the following links helpful:
From the University of Alberta

A bit about HAL (High – Availability licensing) : i4blt -H.

Troubleshoot Form: Broker Item 001 (Broker Service Not Starting)

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Title Broker Service not starting.
Category Broker
Date Oct 05, 2011
Handled by Efrat, Rachel.
Relevant Links (link to mantis item, docs, customer correspondance etc.)
Symptoms Broker service failed to start,
No broker log file was written
Applies to license managers FLEXlm, FLEXera FLEXnet, IBM LUM, HASP, RLM, Sentinel RMS
Applies to license mode Floating licenses, Network licenses, Concurrent licenses
Observed during investigation Error when attempting to run the broker service via command line.
Trouble shoot process 1. Run the Broker as a Java application (Not a service) from a command line, to establish whether the problem is in the application or just with running the service:
- Succeeded.
2. Check the registry for the required key.
- Failed.
3. Import the key.
Solution Fo

Symptom

Observed

Run net start “OpenLM Broker” on the command line.
The following error was observed

In this case

-NO log file is created, since the service does not run the application.

-NOR errors in the EventViewer

Trouble shooting:

  1. Try running the Broker from the command line.

This is running the Broker as a Java application, not as a service.

java -jar “C:\Program Files\OpenLM\OpenLM Broker\OpenLMBroker.jar”

start “C:\Program Files\OpenLM\OpenLM Broker\broker.xml”

 

In this case, this procedure succeeded. This means there is a problem only with the service and not the application.

  1. Check the Registry:

a. Open the registry editor : type regedit in the start command line.

b. Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\OpenLM Broker

c. check that you have a Parameters key, with an Application name.

The value of this name should be:

“C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_25/bin/java.exe” -Xrs -jar “C:\Program Files\OpenLM\OpenLM Broker/OpenLMBroker.jar” start “C:\Program Files\OpenLM\OpenLM Broker/broker.xml”

  1. If this key does not exist, save the following marked text in a .reg file, and import it under key OpenLM Broker:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\OpenLM Broker\Parameters]
“Application”=”\”C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_25/bin/java.exe\” -Xrs -jar \”C:\\Program Files\\OpenLM\\OpenLM Broker/OpenLMBroker.jar\”  start \”C:\\Program Files\\OpenLM\\OpenLM Broker/broker.xml\”"

License manager ports: FlexLM(Flexnet), DSLS, IBM LUM, LM-X, Sentinel HASP, Sentinel RMS, Reprise RLM.

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General

Licensed applications communicate with license management tools over predefined ports. system administrators need to know these port numbers, verify that these ports are open and communication via these ports is kept functional.

The OpenLM Utilizer tool interfaces various license managers in order to extract license statistics and usage reports. The license manager ports are different for each tool as elaborated below, and need to be configured correctly in the OpenLM modules.

How do I know the port I need is open for communication ?

The simplest method for verifying that a port is open for communication is by ‘Telnet’. The Telnet utility comes built in Windows XP, but needs to be installed on Windows 7. Open a command line prompt, and type in the following line: telnet <Hostname or IP> <Port number>. For example:
> telnet 123.123.123.123 27000 or > telnet My_Hostname 27000
If the cmd window remains blank, the port is open. Otherwise, an error string would appear.
In such a case, it is suggested to do the following:
1. Make a port exception in FireWall, or temporarily disable it altogether, to ascertain whether the Firewall is to blame.
2. Temporarily disable the Antivirus, to ascertain the same.
3. If a hostname was inserted in the command line, try typing in an IP instead.
4. Try a different port, or ‘ping’ the server:

Specific license management tools

Flexera FlexLM ports:

The OpenLM license monitoring tool provides unique abilities for monitoring and controlling Flex-enabled applications. The FlexLM ( Flexnet ) license manager communicates through ports 2080 and 27000 to 27009. In order to verify which ports are used, please read this short post.
The ports may also be altered, and set up statically by the system administrator.

Dassault Systemes DSLS ports:

DSLS employs three ports for License management:

  1. Administration port: default 4084. Connecting the License Administration Tool GUI to the Server.
  2. Licensing Port: default 4085. Used by clients to request licenses.
  3. Failover port: default 4086.Used for communication among cluster members.

IBM LUM ports:

LUM Network Client and Server communicate over UDP protocol on Network License Server port (by default 1515).

LM-X ports:

LM-X Network Clients and Servers communicate through port 6200 (default) over TCP.

Sentinel HASP ports:

The Sentinel HASP License Manager uses port 1947 to transfer data over TCP and UDP protocols.

Sentinel RMS ports:

  • The Sentinel RMS License Manager uses port 5093 to transfer data over UDP between Servers and clients.
  • Port 5099 is used for intercommunication between servers in a Server Redundancy constellation.

Reprise RLM port:

RLM uses port 5054. It was port 9000 prior to RLM version 6.

Multiple Server license management constellations

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Flexera’s FlexLM (Flexnet)Three Server Redundancy (Triad)

IBM’s High Availability Licensing (HAL)

Dassault Systemes DSLS cluster for “Failover” mode

Scope:

License management tools such as IBM and Flexera both a method of employing multiple license servers in a cluster as part of their attempt to assure a fault-free license management solution. This article summarizes the operative measures required for implementing each of these solutions, and attempts to compare them in terms of pros and cons.

The OpenLM Utilizer license monitoring tool supports both configurations. OpenLM is designed to extract license statistics from multiple servers over WAN. It has been tried and confirmed for Flexera’s Triad configuration. At the time of writing this revision (Rev 1.0), It has not yet been verified with the IBM LUM HAL.

Flexera’s Three Server Redundancy constellation

General:

The Flexnet constellation is consisted of Three license servers, all inter-connected by TCP/IP. These machines are adequately named “Primary”, “Secondary” & “Tertiary”. Any one of the two first machines (Primary or Secondary) may be defined as the “Master”; which is counter intuitive, as it gets to do all the work while the other two basically sit on their hands. All licenses are served by this Master machine, and the Report & Debug logs are also accumulated by it.

Upon system start-up, the three FlexLM license servers are started up separately according to their order, and the Master role is set according to this order or according to a designated flag: “PRIMARY_IS_MASTER”.

The  FlexLM license Servers inter-communicate by a “Heartbeat” messages over TCP/IP, using the same port number. A machine which fails to receive a response to its sent Heartbeats turns down the vendor daemon and can not serve licenses. When the Master server (Primary or Secondary) fails, the Master role is passed to the other (Secondary or Primary) server. The new Master assumes the license management role for all the FlexEnabled applications, and accumulates new Debug and Report logs.

Configuration of a Three Server Redundancy constellation:

  • First, a set of three stable machines needs to be identified, and reliable communication needs to be set between them.
  • The software vendor must receive the HostID and Host name of the machines that consist the Triad. In return, they should provide system – specific license server files. Some changes may need to be done in the license file according to this new information, such as the PRIMARY_IS_MASTER value, the communication port number and the HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL which is effectively the timeout for license servers to be knocked out of the triad.
  • The license server package needs to be copied to each of the three participating servers.

Limitations:

  • There should always be at least two machines up and running. If any two machines halt – then the Triad is stopped as a whole, and no “FlexEnabled” applications are served. This is quite an odd limitation, as the system basically employs a single machine at a time anyway.
  • The “Tertiary” machine never gets to play “Master”. I find this an odd planning, because this in effect renders this machine useless.
  • This configuration puts a strain on one machine at a time. It does not share the work, and is prone for errors especially in busy environments.


IBM’s High Availability Licensing (HAL)

General

The IBM HAL is based on the “License server Cluster” concept. A cluster is a group of 3 to 12 license servers, that jointly manage licensed applications. The management activity load is dynamically and equally shared among most of the servers, while one or two other servers remain on-hold, waiting to pitch in in case an active server becomes unavailable.
Network license servers that participate in a cluster can simultaneously serve server-bound licensed applications,  as well as cluster bound applications.

Configuring HAL

  • Select a set of interconnected license servers as cluster members. These members need to be stable machines, that stay on permanently. Network stability is also crucial in order to assure faultless system activity. It is recommended to maintain the machines in the same geographical vicinity, and that they all run the same operation system type.
  • Instal LUM on each of the license servers.
  • Create the cluster from one of the servers in the cluster. This may be done using the i4blt -H command or the GUI. In the following example, cluster ThisCluster was created, and it contains 3 servers: Server1, Server2 & Server3.
    • i4blt -H c -N ThisCluster -T 3 -n “Server1 Server2 Server3″
  • Activate each member of the cluster. The 1st member is already enabled by default following the cluster definition. This example enables Server2:
    • i4blt -H a -N ThisCluster -n Server2

In order to Deactivate a Server2, use

  • i4blt -H a -N ThisCluster -n Server2
  • Get a HAL Enrollment Certification File (ECF) from the license vendor. In order to do so, You must send him the “Cluster ID”. This ID can be obtained by typing in the status cmmad:
    • i4blt -H s -N ThisCluster.
  • Enroll the HAL ECF just like as for regular license servers, using the GUI or the i4blt command line. for example:
    • i4blt -a -n ThisCluster -f <ECF> -T <NumberOfLicenses>
  • Configure all clients to recognize all the cluster members.

Dassault Systemes DSLS

The DSLS license manager also implements a cluster structure, for “Failover mode”. Its characteristics are a mix of the two types mentioned above;

  • A server may not perform as part of a cluster AND as a stand alone server at the same time.
  • The number of license servers that participate in the cluster are exactly 3.
  • The OS on each server may be either Unix or Windows.
  • At least two machines should be up and running, and interconnected  in order to serve licensed applications.
  • There is no ‘Master’ here: all machines have the same role of license management.
  • The three machines each log the license activity independently. They update each other when usage conditions change.


Summary

It seems that the IBM LUM solution for multiple server constellations is more comprehensive than that of Flexera’s. Its main ‘Pro’ characteristics include:

  • Equal sharing of the workload.
  • Dynamic redistribution of license management as a function of server availability
  • Configurable amount of servers; a maximal 12 server constellation, in comparison to 3 (effectively 2) Flexera servers.

The main ‘con’ on the IBM LUM list is its lack of popularity in comparison to Flexnet (FlexLM). This has manifested in a trend of licensed application vendor’s migration from LUM to various other license management tools, e.g. FlexLM and DSLS.

 

Further Reading:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/lum/hal.html

http://kb.flexerasoftware.com/doc/DocumentRepository/Licensing/FLEXnet_Publisher/FLEXnet_Publisher_11.6/03_ISV/Product%20Manual/LicenseAdministration.pdf

http://communities.mentor.com/mgcx/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/2877-102-1-5407/licensing_bp_wp-10.8.pdf

http://pdir.technodat.cz/r21/install_v5doc/doc21/online/basil_C2/pdf/DSLS.pdf