Monthly Archives: October 2012

Application Note 1032: Monitoring FlexLM license denials

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General:

OpenLM monitors and optimizes the usage of various license managers (e.g.: FlexLM / Flexnet publisher, Sentinel RMS Reprise RLM, MathLM, DSLS, Sentinel HASP, LM-X, IBM-LUM etc).

As part of FlexLM license monitoring, OpenLM also produces license denial reports, i.e.: an account of instances where the vendor daemon has declined an application’s license request. License denial is a key parameter in license maintenance and in the planning of additional license procurement.

The Denials report window

License denial information is clearly presented in the OpenLM EasyAdmin web interface, in the Reports → Denials window. It includes the details of the denial event (Denied user, Denied workstation, Time, License Server, Denied Feature, and vendor) as well as the cause for denial (e.g.: limit of available licenses reached or User on Option file exclude list)

Set up OpenLM to monitor license denials

In order to produce denial reports for monitored licenses, please:
1. Set up the OpenLM Server to monitor the License server. In this case, the host is vmw_win2008_64, its type is FlexLM, the Server port is 27000, and the time zone is Central:

2. Install the OpenLM Broker on the License server machine:
Application Note 1004: OpenLM Broker quick start guide
Make sure that the License server name is exactly (case sensitive) the same as configured in the OpenLM server configuration tool (e.g.: vmw_win2008_64). The OpenLM server in this example resides in 102.101.100.135. The Broker communication port is (by default) 7016.

3. Set the OpenLM Broker to read the Denials’ information from the Monitored application’s debug log file: Type in the filename and click the ‘Enabled’ check box in the image below. Click ‘Apply’ and “Restart Broker” to finalize the configuration.

4. Make sure the Broker indication in the EasyAdmin “License Servers” window turns green. Note the green rectangle adjacent Server name vmw_win2008_64 in the image below. If it isn’t so – wait a while and refresh the “License servers” window. If it is still red – recheck your configuration, and check for alerts in the Easy Admin → Start → Management → Alerts window.

License number surpassed: Case study

In case the number of licenses has been surpassed – the vendor daemon would deny the license request, and a license denial notification will be produced. In the case of AutoCad: this is Network license error -96.

The debug log file shows this too as a string
Licensed number of users already reached. (-4,342)
Note the last denial report at 4:12:22 (Central time US):

It would also be apparent on the EasyAdmin Denial reports window at 11:12:22, according to the difference in time zones between the location of the OpenLM Server (Europe) and the AutoCad License server (Central time, US).

This same information can be presented as a column or pie chart, according to Users, Servers, Vendors, Features or time of occurrence.

Troubleshoot: Denials do not appear in the Flexnet debug log

Denial reports may not appear in the FlexLM debug log if the application’s option file contains a NOLOG line, with a DENIED flag. If this is the case, edit the option file to exclude this flag, and restart the license server. See this document for more information.

Document Revision Table

Version Author Date Changes
0.1 – Preliminary Orik Oct 25, 2012 Preliminary
1.0 Orik Dec 17, 2012 Added troubleshoot

 

Troubleshoot Form: OpenLM Server Item 003 (Unable to connect to FLEXlm license server error: -96,7:11004 “Comm. error”)

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Title Unable to connect to FLEXlm license server
Category OpenLM Configuration Form
Date Oct 24, 2012
Handled by
Relevant Links
Applies to license managers FLEXlm, FLEXera FLEXnet,
Applies to license model Floating licenses, Network licenses, Concurrent licenses
Symptoms No activity reported on EasyAdmin for a specific FlexLM license server
Observed during investigation Clicking the “Check” button for one of the FlexLM license servers on the OpenLM Configuration Form resulted in an error
Trouble shoot process Check License server connectivity configuration.
Solution Found (Found/Pending/Known Issue)
Other steps for troubleshooting

Symptom

The customer complained that he “Couldn’t connect to the FLEXlm license server”. Attempting to connect to the license server resulted in the following message box appearing on his screen:

lmgrd is not running: License server machine is down or not responding. (-96,7:11004 “Comm. error”)

Troubleshoot process

1. Make sure the license manager machine is up and that you could check out licenses from it.

2. Make sure that the hostname , Port number, License Manager type and timezone are configured correctly in the OpenLM server configuration tool. Also, please review this Troubleshoot guide.

3. Check the connectivity between the OpenLM server machine and the license server (using ping or telnet).

4.  Make sure that any security components (Firewall) are not blocking communication on both ends. The OpenLM server uses ports 7012, 7014, 7016, 7017 and 7019. The OpenLM server’s communication with the License server relies on port 7014.

Make sure that the port is open:

 

  • Try disabling the firewall temporarily.
  • Enter “Control Panel”→“System and Security”→“Windows Firewall”→ Advanced settings”.
  • If the port isn’t defined under the “‘Inbound Rules” open the port by adding a New Rule using the “New Rule” button located on the lower right side of the screen as depicted below:

5. The OpenLM Broker may bypass such communication issues. Install the OpenLM Broker on the license server machine. See this application note for more information: Application Note 1004: OpenLM Broker quick start guide

Application Note 1033: Retrieving license usage information with the OpenLM logs uploader

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General

OpenLM people have been addressed many times by customers who were asking for a way to produce license usage reports retroactively, i.e.: for the time period before the OpenLM software was installed on their system. This was usually side-dished with a considerable portion of panic, having to produce reports for a software auditing session, or before the year’s end.

OpenLM has come up with the Logs Uploader module for this purpose. This module guarantees that customers would be able to produce decent usage reports, given that the FlexLM debug log files have been kept throughout the time – period of interest.

How is it done?

The OpenLM logs uploader takes its information from the FlexLM license manager debug log file, and produces historical data in the OpenLM database. This information can later be displayed over EasyAdmin reporting windows, or extracted to CSV files to produce usage reports and statistics.

Where can I get it from ?

In order to get the OpenLM Logs Uploader tool, please contact support@openlm.com

Configuration

First – the OpenLM Server needs to be installed, and configured to monitor the FlexLM license manager of interest. For more information about that: please refer to this Application Note:
Application Note 1026: Basic OpenLM Server configuration for FlexLM

Note the FlexLM license manager which resides on the lm10 host, and port 27000.

Open the Logs uploader tool, and configure it as follows (see image below):

  • Type in the OpenLM server host name (e.g. localhost) and Server port (7014 by default)
  • Click the OK button. The rest of the configuration tool becomes active.
  • Select the target license server from the drop-down list. In this case that is 27000@lm10.
  • Keep the Timestamp value at its default 360 minutes value.
  • Select the debug log file to be imported, and click the Upload button.

The logs’ uploading process may take quite a long time, depending on the size of the debug log and the computer’s performance, so please be patient.

That’s it – this has imported the data from the debug log into the OpenLM database, and potentially saved some headache for a system administrator somewhere.

Version: 0.1 (Preliminary), October 17 2012.

Get more out of your floating licenses

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The OpenLM Utilizer is a complete floating license management solution designed to optimize the use of licensed software: more production for lower cost.
OpenLM is made to harvest idle licenses, and improve license utilization of any organization: big or small.

Who was the OpenLM Utilizer Designed For?

Unlike other license management systems that only offer administration and license monitoring statistics, the OpenLM Utilizer optimizes license usage in a unique manner that provides all personnel with useful license-related functions.

Organization managers:

  • Know what you have: Inventory.
  • Plan license maintenance and procurement of expensive licenses.
  • Charge projects or business units for software usage time.
  • Cut costs by dropping maintenance for licenses that are no longer in use.

Administrator view:

  • Real time license usage management
  • Alerts – Real time troubleshooting
  • Extract usage statistics information and patterns as reports or charts.
  • Roles and Permissions: Grant licenses according to specific Users’ permissions. Enforce concurrent License restriction.

End User View:

  • End users are not kept in the dark. They are informed about the status of denied licenses.
  • Receive a License availability notification when a license becomes vacant.
  • Who is using the license I need?
  • What is this person’s contact details?

Supported features

License managers:

  • OpenLM interfaces a wide variety of license managers, e.g.: FLEXlm / Flexnet, IBM LUM, Sentinel RMS, Sentinel HASP, RLM, DSLS and other leading license managers.
  • OpenLM supports Concurrent monitoring of multiple license servers on multiple time zones.
  • OpenLM supports management of Floating, Node-locked and Borrowed licenses.

Monitoring capabilities:

  • Easily review license inventory in real time.
  • Extract license activity reports, with configurable resolution.
  • Receive FLEXlm reports, statistics and charting (FLEXnet reports).
  • Receive Billing reports for any time period, per user or software (FLEXbill capabilities).

Infrastructure:

  • OpenLM may work over WAN and LAN networks.
  • OpenLM employs a web-based user interface that works with any supported browser.
  • A Mobile interface application enhances monitoring abilities for system administrators.
  • OpenLM may interface license managers that run on UNIX, Linux, or Windows’ Operating systems
  • OpenLM supports both external and embedded databases.

Proactive capabilities:

  • Release orphan licenses with a single mouse click.
  • Query users and licenses from any workstation.

Other features

  • A customizable alert system
  • An open, detailed API

Vendors

  • OpenLM Supports software from the following vendors: Autodesk, Borland, Cadence, EDS, Macromedia, Mathsoft, Mathworks, PTC, Rational, Softimage, Solidworks, Sybase, Synopsys, Unigraphics, WindRiver, FreeScale, ICS,  Foundry, VSNi,Tri-Pacific Software and many more.
  • Some examples of software systems: Autodesk Autocad, ESRI ArcGIS, Mathsoft MathCAD, CADopia IntelliCAD, Mathworks Matlab, VSNi GenStat, Foundary Forge, PTC Pro-Engineer, Rasterx RxView, and more.

 

OpenLM Utilizer Architecture

OpenLM’s basic software package includes the core OpenLM Server module and its user interface; the OpenLM EasyAdmin module. In addition to these core components, the OpenLM Broker, OpenLM Alerts module and the OpenLM Utilizer Agent modules are also incorporated in the basic software package.

The OpenLM Server

is the core element of the OpenLM system. It integrates the functionality of all other peripheral system components, such as the OpenLM EasyAdmin, OpenLM Agent, OpenLM Alerts, and OpenLM Broker. The OpenLM Server is implemented as a Windows service and could be installed on any network machine.

OpenLM EasyAdmin

An HTTP based application that can run on any machine in your network. EasyAdmin is the reporting and management interface of OpenLM. It facilitates extraction of lisence usage statistics, and usage repots, as well as the control and optimization of license usage.

OpenLM Agent

An optional component that can be installed on any machine on the network. The Agent enables end users to query license availability and find who is using the license they need at any point in time.

OpenLM Alerts

is a dedicated alerting service for the OpenLM system. This module alerts system administrators when predefined conditions are met.

OpenLM Broker

is an optional server component that runs on the license server machine. The Broker performs tasks as dictated by OpenLM Server, and is required in order to provide advanced licensing information and sophisticated abilities.

OpenLM Screenshots

Watch the OpenLM EasyAdmin screenshots on the OpenLM site.

Want to evaluate the software ?

You can get the most updated version of OpenLM Utilizer from our OpenLM downloads area. After filling in your name and email – you’d be directed to the Downloads section. The Installation process is easy and straightforward, but if you still need any assistance – Please send an email to support@openlm.com, and we’ll be glad to help.