OpenLM monitors FlexLM license managers, for improved Application usage management. Historically – OpenLM was written by ArcGIS users for ArcGIS users, and it is an ESRI partner.
As such, we in OpenLM receive many queries about ESRI ArcGis licensing, one of which is: “What Flexnet publisher version is my ESRI ArcGis using ?”
ESRI has recently published the ArcGIS 10.1 SP 1 patch version.
This release contains a list of bug fixes and enhanced performance.
One fix is related to the desktop’s license borrowing capability:
NIM060359: High Latency/Low Bandwidth connections including VPNs may prevent license borrowing.
OpenLM has already installed and tested the patch with OpenLM Server and Agent version 1.7. No compatibility issues were found.
If you have any questions regarding the upgrade of ESRI ArcGIS to the 10. SP1 version, please contact OpenLM: support@openlm.com
OpenLM supports the monitoring of a wide, and ever growing variety of license servers. Among those are Flexera FlexLM (Flexnet) , Beta LM, IBM LUM, DSLS, Sentinel HASP, Sentinel RMS, RLM, and LM-X. This is an description of the basic procedure for configuring the Openlm server to interface a FlexLM license manager, to monitor Flexnet reporting.
Please first refer to this Application Note. It gives a general description of the OpenLM system; what should be installed where, and who needs to communicate with whom.
Install the latest version of the OpenLM server. It is found on the OpenLM site.
It is a common misconception that migrating to ArcGIS version 10 replaces the licensing software. This is incorrect; ESRI has only upgraded the old FLEXlm version to a newer one. The FLEXlm licensing software has gone through many changes during the passed several years, and is now called FLEXera FLEXnet for publishers. For every practical term – it is still the same good old FLEXlm software.
The main changes that have been implemented in the ESRI ArcGIS licensing scheme include:
Some problems have appeared in FlexLM reporting alongside these changes:
These issues have imposed several limitations on the capabilities of OpenLM when interfacing ESRI ArcGIS 10.
The OpenLM Active Agent may still “Save and Close” the ArcGIS 10 extension enabled application. This is regardless of the omission of the “lmremove” command. The closure process employs the applications’ own closure APIs, sent by the Active Agent, and applied by the OpenLM extension. Closing ArcGIS 10 may also be done via the “Close Application” button on EasyAdmin’s “Active Products” window.
This makes OpenLM the only solution for remotely saving & closing ArcGIS 10.
In their blog dating September 09 2011, ESRI has announced the upcoming release of ArcGIS’s Service Pack 3. This Service Pack is due in October 2011, and deals with a long list of enhancements and fixed issues.
Please take a look at the ArcGIS blog space for the ArcGIS Service Pack 3 item:
http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgis/archive/2011/09/09/ArcGIS-10.0-Service-Pack-3.aspx
And at the list of fixes and enhancements :
http://downloads.esri.com/support/documentation/ao_/10.0_SP3_Announcement.pdf
NIM066475: ArcGIS Desktop Administrator is unable to return borrowed licenses if DNS resolution is required to reach the license manager.
NIM065008: Running a geoprocessing tool using background geoprocessing causes license error in ArcEngine 10.0
Details:
You must not panic when you see above mentioned issue during the process of ArcGIS license-claiming from ArcGIS License Manager 9.3. This is a software bug mostly observed in all level of ArcGIS software ver9.3; earlier releases of this software did not observe this problem but following mentioned all levels observed this issue.
All of the above software modules observe this problem while operating on following Windows Operating systems.
This bug is identified by the ID ‘NIM037135’ and FlexNet licensing error ID “-15,570” which is shown in the error report/message returned against licensing request to the server. Following error message is returned with related details:
The name of the server and license path may vary as per network configuration. The error numbering scheme will be -15 and followed by 570 after comma; this is ArcGIS error reporting format.
Reasons for error:
This happens mostly in following two conditions when network/concurrent licensing scheme for ArcGIS is implemented.
Solution:
There is a stepwise process to resolve this issue of the software through modification of the environment variables in the Windows operating systems. The network or server client messages take certain time to process and reach at their destinations. Therefore, the waiting time of the program for communication response to reach is set a bit larger to resolve this issue on the windows OS. Stepwise procedure is given below:
If the problem still persists then, repeat above mentioned procedure with an increase the variable value in the multiples of 1000000 micro seconds and reach to the value which gives you satisfactory communication results.
Inserting the disk and starting the installation. It takes some time and the we have received error 1303 The installation has insufficient privileges to access the directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\Bin. ESRI provides this assistance.
This time we installed the software as administrator. Browse the install disk and execute the setup.exe under D:\Desktop.
Using “Run As Administrator” solved the problem.
With these tools, users can:
This post focuses on the sixth item in the previous list: Setting the ArcGIS license level.
First of all, it is important to note that ESRI Desktop ArcGIS comes in three levels:
Viewer – While Viewer is a very powerful software package, it is entry-level software as far as ESRI ArcGIS Desktop is concerned. Also known as ArcView, Viewer allows users to view, edit, and analyze GIS data stored in files or SDE. The capabilities of this license level can be enhanced by using different extensions from ESRI or third-party developers.
Please note that Viewer, or ArcView, is called VIEWER in FLEXlm.
Editor – Editor provides users with the capabilities of Viewer as well as tools designed for editing spatial data. The tools of this level make the creation of map and spatial data in GIS easy; they can edit:
Please note that Editor is called EDITOR in FLEXlm.
Professional – Professional is the most powerful Desktop-GIS package from ESRI. The professional license provides users with all capabilities of the previous levels in addition to other features, including:
Please note that Professional is called ARCINFO in FLEXlm.
ESRI Desktop ArcGIS software allows users to switch between the different license levels by using ArcGIS Administrator software.
The tool pictured above allows users to switch between “Concurrent Use” and “Single Use” licenses. It also allows users to access the license-borrowing capability that was released with version 10 of Desktop ArcGIS.
To make changes in this form, users set values in the workstation registry. For example, entering HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ESRI\License10.0\SOFTWARE_CLASS = Viewer into a workstation’s registry will set that system’s license level to Viewer (ArcView).
Set ArcGIS License Level
OpenLM Active Agent’s “Set ArcGIS License Level” tool provides users with a quick, easy-to-use method for setting their workstation’s license level; it uses an environment variable (ESRI_SOFTWARE_CLASS). When enabled, this tool allows users to quickly change their software levels without having to use the ArcGIS Administrator tool.
The possible values of the environment variable are:
Using the environment-variables method provided by OpenLM Active Agent offers numerous benefits:
There is, however, one drawback to using the OpenLM Agent tool:
Disabling the OpenLM Agent Tool
If any problems do occur while using the OpenLM Agent tool, it can be disabled in two easy steps. First, navigate to the software folder, which is typically located in C:\Program Files\OpenLM\OpenLM Agent. Then, once in the folder, delete “plugin.xml.”
The next version of OpenLM Agent will provide built-in support for enabling and disabling extensions.
Summary
This post focuses primarily on OpenLM Active Agent’s “Set ArcGIS License Level” tool, but it also briefly covers the three levels of ESRI Desktop ArcGIS and ArcGIS Administrator’s method of changing license levels. The benefits of using “Set ArcGIS License Level” to change users’ license levels are discussed, and the methods used to do so are explained. Additionally, for system administrators who would prefer to disable the OpenLM Active Agent method of changing users’ license levels, there is a quick guide that can be followed to do so.
OpenLM is now an ESRI Business partner.
ESRI uses FLEXlm (FLEXnet) software for protecting its products.
Joining the ESRI Partner network allows OpenLM to provide better support to ESRI users, making the best out of their investment in ESRI Software.
OpenLM for ESRI ArcGIS implements a TIMEOUT feature for ESRI ArcGIS software that uses FLEXlm software for licensing. The activity of the TIMEOUT feature is based on two parameters, maximum idle time and threshold.
Maximum idle time (minutes) – Set the maximum time that ESRI ArcGIS software will not be closed, even if the software is not in use (idle). The software may be closed after that time, if the usage is above a set level (threshold).
Threshold (percent) – The usage level that above it OpenLM will start to release ESRI ArcGIS FLEXlm licenses.
How does it works?
OpenLM monitors the usage level of each FLEXlm feature and once the usage level is above the set threshold, OpenLM will gracefully close sessions, starting with the ones that are idling longer. Once the usage level drops below the set threshold, OpenLM Server will not close more idling sessions.
From the end user’s point of view, his ESRI ArcGIS project will be saved and then closed. A pop-up message will announce that the project was closed and will allow the user to reopen the project in a single click. The user can also click OpenLM Agent located on the end user desktop and get the list of all recently closed projects.
Discussion
The combination of the threshold/maximum idle time is a simple system that assures that licenses will be available for users that need licenses while trying to minimize the number of closed sessions.
Since the act of closing idle sessions of ArcGIS Desktop can cause some inconvenience, OpenLM, is trying to minimize the number of closed sessions. If demand for Desktop ArcGIS licenses is low then users can keep idle session. When there is a demand for licenses OpenLM Server must assure that a sufficient number of licenses are available for new users that may try to access the software.
For example:
ESRI ArcView Licenses – 100
ESRI ArcInfo Licenses – 10
ESRI ArcGIS Spatial Analyst – 3
The default OpenLM Values are:
Threshold – 80%
Maximum idle time – 20 Minutes
Starting with the ArcView licenses, OpenLM will try to keep 20 licenses free for new users. Since 400 or more users can use a pool of 100 ESRI ArcGIS concurrent licenses. Keeping an amount of 20 free licenses available for new users makes sense.
Because of the low number of Spatial Analyst licenses, OpenLM will only keep one floating license free for new users. This is because when two licenses are in use the usage rate is only 66% (less than 80%). Only when the third floating license is consumed the usage rate will be 100% and OpenLM will try to release one license for new users.
As shown above, the threshold mechanism works well for both high and low numbers of ESRI ArcGIS concurrent licenses.
Is there any benefit in applying different timeout values for different features?
We will try to address this issue by an example. Let us assume we have two FLEXlm features with different groups of users for each group: editing users that use ESRI ArcInfo and viewers the use ESRI ArcView.
Feature Licenses Users
ArcView 10 40
ArcInfo 10 20
If the usage rate of the FLEXlm ArcInfo feature is higher then the set threshold, 80%, a higher time out will not allow OpenLM to release idle licenses. The result is that we allowed idle users to hold licenses that are required by other users, and by that, avoided them from doing their work.
The conclusion is that timeout should be kept minimal and uniform to all features and user groups.
Summary
The timeout mechanism provided by OpenLM for ESRI ArcGIS is based on two parameters, “maximum idle time” and threshold. The combination of these two parameters provides a good solution for floating licenses (FLEXlm features) with both high and small number of licenses. The timeout value should be kept minimal (15-20 minutes) for all FLEXlm features and user groups.
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