Vendor Daemon Configuration

The Vendor Daemon Configuration page enables you to import license rights, add vendor daemons, configure vendor daemons, and view vendor daemon logs. Only users with Administrator privileges can view this page. The following actions can be performed on this page:

Viewing the Vendor Daemon Summary Information
Importing a License File to Add a New Vendor Daemon
Importing License Rights for an Existing Vendor Daemon
Deleting a Vendor Daemon
Administering the Vendor Daemon (Stop, Start, Reread, Rotate Report Logs)
Changing General Configuration Section properties.
Changing Vendor Daemon Log Section properties.

Vendor Daemon Summary Information

The Vendor Daemon summary grid lists all vendor daemons managed by the license server and includes the following information:

Name: Vendor daemon name.
Status: Status of the vendor daemon.
FlexNet Publisher Version: Version of FlexNet Publisher used to create the vendor daemon. Because the FlexNet Publisher version was not recorded in the vendor daemon until version 8, any version of FlexNet Publisher older than version 8 will display as version 7.2. If the display says “7.2,” the actual version could be anything from 1.0 to 7.2. The license server manager, lmadmin, is backward-compatible with license files and vendor daemons created by FlexNet Publisher 9.2 and later.
Port: Port that the vendor daemon uses to listen for communication.
Administer: Opens the vendor daemon properties page.
Delete: Deletes the vendor daemon.

Importing a License File to Add a New Vendor Daemon

The following instructions describe how to add a new vendor daemon by importing a license file. As a prerequisite to this procedure, make sure you have successfully installed, configured, and started the license server.

Note: Some license files may specify the vendor daemon port number in the file on the VENDOR line. (See Vendor Daemon Port.) If you import a license file that specifies a port number that is already in use, that vendor daemon will not be started. If you have more than one license file that specifies the same vendor daemon port number when the License Manager starts, only one of the vendor daemons will be started. If this is the case, you must edit the license file to remove or change the port number.

1. Copy the vendor daemon and the related support files to the specified location on the license server. The software publisher should tell you where to copy these files so that the license server manager (lmadmin) can locate them. The VENDOR line in the license file also defines this location.
2. Obtain the license file from the software publisher and save the license file to a directory on either a client system or the license server.
3. Access the license server management interface from the machine where you saved the license file and sign in as an administrator.
4. Click the Administration link, and then click the Vendor Daemon Configuration tab.
5. Click the Import License button.
6. In the Import License File page, click Browse to select the license file.
7. Optionally, select the Overwrite License File on Server check box. If a license file exists in the upload directory on the license server with the same name, the license server will overwrite that file. This option should not be required when you are adding a new vendor daemon to the license server manager.
8. Click the Import License button. The vendor daemon information will be added to the license server configuration file so that it can be managed by the license server. The license file will be copied to the configured directory on the license server. You can configure the directory that licenses are uploaded to using the lmadmin command line argument –uploadDir. See the License Administration Guide for details. Typically this location is configured when lmadmin is first installed and you will not need to alter it.

Importing License Rights for an Existing Vendor Daemon

This procedure describes how to load license rights onto a license server from a license file when the license server already manages the vendor daemon. Please see the note about older license files and Vendor Daemon port numbers in Importing a License File to Add a New Vendor Daemon.

1. Obtain the license file from the software publisher and save the license file to a directory on either a client system or the license server.
2. On a system which can access the location where you saved the license file, access the license server management interface (lmadmin) and log in as an Administrator.
3. Click the Administration link, and then click the Vendor Daemon Configuration tab.
4. Click the Import License button.
5. In the Import License File page, click Browse to select the license file.
6. Optionally, select the Overwrite License File on License Server check box. If a license file exists in the upload directory on the license server with the same name, the license server will overwrite that file.
7. Click the Import License button. The license file will be copied to the configured directory on the license server. You can configure the directory that licenses are uploaded to using the lmadmin command line argument –uploadDir. See the License Administration Guide for details. Typically this location is configured when lmadmin is first installed and you will not need to alter it. You do not have to restart the license server and users can begin using these licenses as soon as the license rights are loaded.
8. Load the license rights from the imported license file as follows:
If Overwrite License File on License Server was selected, the updated license file will be reread automatically by the vendor daemon and users can begin using any new licenses once this reread has completed. The new licenses will also be displayed on the Dashboard.
If Overwrite License File on License Server was not selected, then stop and start the vendor daemon. The new license file is read and the licenses it contains are loaded when the vendor daemon is started.

Deleting a Vendor Daemon

When you delete a vendor daemon from the license server management interface, the vendor daemon executable remains on the hard disk. However, the license server no longer manages the vendor daemon and it will not appear in the license server management interface. Users cannot check out any licenses from that vendor daemon.

1. Stop the vendor daemon.
2. Click the Delete hyperlink for the specific vendor daemon to remove it.

Administering the Vendor Daemon (Stop, Start, Reread, Rotate Report Logs)

To change the vendor daemon configuration, click the Administer hyperlink in the vendor daemon summary grid. The following sections describe the configuration options. The license server management interface displays the following:

Vendor Daemon Port in Use: This field displays the TCP/IP port number that the vendor daemon uses for communication with FlexEnabled applications.
Stop: This button stops the vendor daemon, but leaves the license server manager (lmadmin) running. When you stop a vendor daemon, this button changes to Start.
Start: This button starts the vendor daemon. This button only appears when the vendor daemon is stopped. When you start the vendor daemon, the vendor daemon reads the license files and trusted storage to load the license rights into memory. When you start a vendor daemon, this button changes to Stop.
Reread License Files: This button rereads the contents of the license files, trusted storage, and any vendor daemon options file and then loads the information into memory. The license files specified in the License File or Directory field in the General Configuration section are reread, unless the contents of License File or Directory have been changed when a restart of the vendor daemon is required (see License File or Directory). Typically this button is used when the content of the license file or options file has been edited or trusted storage has been updated.
Report Log Name: Type a file name in which to save the current report log.
Rotate Report Logs: When you press this button, the license server renames the existing report log to the name in the Report Log Name field and creates a new empty report log file using the name in the options file. To use this capability, you must enable report logging using the options file.

General Configuration Section

The following configuration settings are available in this section of the page. If this section is closed and the Vendor Daemon Log section is open, click on the General Configuration link to open this section. Click Vendor Daemon Log to close this section and open the Vendor Daemon Log section.

License File or Directory

You can specify any of the following:

A single license file.
Multiple license files.
A single directory containing multiple licenses files. All files with a .lic file extension are read.

Enter the absolute path or the relative path from the license server root directory to the license file. The server administrator defines the root directory when they start the license server manager (lmadmin).

If the license server root directory is C:\fnplm and you specify “examples\counted.lic” as the license file, then the absolute path of the license file is “C:\fnplm\examples\counted.lic”.

Examples of valid entries for a single license file are:

licenses/counted.lic

C:\examples\uncounted.lic

examples\counted.lic

If the license server root directory is C:\fnplm and you specify “examples” as the directory, then the absolute path of the directory is “C:\fnplm\examples\”.

Examples of valid entries for a directory are:

C:\i86_n3\licenses\demo

licenses/demo

licenses\demo

Click Save to save the configuration. After saving the configuration, start and stop the vendor daemon to update the license rights in memory.

Vendor Daemon Location

Enter the location and name of the vendor daemon. This should be the location relative to the license server root directory. The license server root directory is set when you start the license server manager (lmadmin).

An example of a valid entry is: “licenses/demo”. If the license server root directory is C:\fnplm and you specify “licenses/demo” as the Vendor Daemon Location, then the absolute path to the vendor daemon is “C:\fnplm\licenses\demo.exe”.

If you leave this field blank, the license server assumes that the vendor daemon executable is in the license server root directory.

Click Save to save the changes.

Vendor Daemon Port

Define the port number that the vendor daemon uses to listen for communication (lmadmin communication, checkout requests, and so on). If you select Use Default Port, the license server chooses an unused port when it starts. You must specify a specific port number if you are communicating across an Internet firewall. (The port number may be up to 5 digits in length.)

Also, see the note about older license files and vendor daemon port numbers under Importing a License File to Add a New Vendor Daemon.

Click Save to save the changes.

Restart Retries

Define the number of times the license server will attempt to start the vendor daemon if it fails to start. (The number of attempts may be up to 3 digits in length.) Click Save to save the changes.

Date-based Versions

Your software publisher will let you know if you need to configure these properties.

If you enable the Enable Date-based Versions property, the license server uses the Feature Version value in the license, rather than the Expiration Date, to identify expiring licenses. You must enable this property before you can configure either of the Date-based version expired or the Date-based version expiring alert (configured on the Alert Configuration tab). The Feature Version value in a license file or trusted storage record is a floating-point number that may be used by the publisher for a variety of purposes. To activate either of these alerts, the Feature Version must specify an expiration date in the format “yyyy.mmdd”.

Vendor Daemon Log Section

Overwrite Vendor Daemon Log

If you select this option, when you restart the license server the vendor daemon log will be overwritten. If you deselect this option, the log entries are appended to the end of the file.

Click Save to save the changes.

Vendor Daemon Log Location

Enter the location and file name of the log file where the vendor daemon will record information. This should be the path relative to the license server root directory. The root directory can be specified when you start the license server manager (lmadmin).

Click the Save button to save the changes.

View file externally

Click this hyperlink to display the contents of the vendor daemon log in a new browser window. The display shows the last 200 lines of data in the file.