eSupport for floating licenses with the Flexera License Server was added starting with Version 18.9.1 of the CadEnhance Tool Suite.
User Inputs
The user will be required to provide cadEnhance with the hostid (MAC Address) and hostName of the server they intend to host the flexera license.
In the simplest case, this could be the user's own laptop or desktop machine. In most corporate environments, there will be an existing set of servers dedicated to hosting flexera licenses.
With those inputs, CadEnhance will be able to generate a license file containing keys to access the purchased features, and provide that to the user.
The CadEnhance License Files:
When a Flexera License is purchased, CadEnhance will provide a license file to enable inter-operability with the Flexera Licensing Tools.
You will also be required to download the CENHANCE daemon file which is the executable that the license server runs to exchange information with the CadEnhance tools
CadEnhance License File
Click this link to see a Sample License File After User Edits
The License file contains many commented lines starting with '#' The comments are intended to help the user with the changes they need to make.
There are 2 very important lines in the license file that you will be responsible to update:
SERVER Line:
The SERVER line (line 58 in the example) is very important. It contains the hostname and hostid and port Numbers that you provided to cadEnhance.
#SERVER hostName hostID Port Options
SERVER bills-flex5-i7 010203040506 27000
You can replace the hostName, Port, and Options, but not the hostId, because your features are locked to the that.
VENDOR Line:
The VENDOR line (line 72 in the example) provides the Flexera software the path to the daemon executable you get from cadEnhance resides on the host.
#VENDOR daemon path_to_daemon_on_host PORT=XXXXX
VENDOR CENHANCE C:\cadEnhance\license\flex64\CENHANCE.exe PORT=27001
The host must have read access to the directory where the executable resides.
Port Settings
The Port settings are optional, but it is best practice to provide them.
The Port on the SERVER line locks the port that LMGRD will use,
The Port=XXXX option on the VENDOR line locks the port that the daemon will use.
The Server Port must be different from the daemon port (and these ports must be unique for the cadEnhance license server)
The chosen ports must also be opened to allow UDP and TCP traffic in the firewall on your flexera server.
Feature Lines:
The Feature lines change based on the Tools you have licensed from CadEnhance, they cannot be edited by the user, but you can read them to verify the features and expiration dates. There are Paid Features and Free Features.
If you change these lines, the license file will not work.
Paid Features
Paid Features have a count and expiration date
FEATURE PART_BUILDER_ALL CENHANCE 1.0 30-jun-2023 4 SIGN="000A 96F0 \ 967A 9642 1681 1430 C2CB 2500 119F E9EC D45C 7C71 8D97 A6A0 \ 2682"
Free Features
Free Features show up as permanent uncounted
FEATURE CE_HDL_FREE CENHANCE 1.0 permanent uncounted SIGN="0046 580E \ 3F2A 0A33 379C 0876 E0D5 AE00 69F7 F3F1 44D5 0DBA C918 AF94 \ F2E4"
CEHANCE Daemon
The Daemon is the special executable provided by CadEnhance that the Flexera license manager hosts to exchange licenses with our tools. The daemon is stored on the Flexera server, and the License File needs to be modified to tell the server where the daemon is located.
CadEnhance provides a 32-bit (x32) and 64-bit (x64) executable for Linux and Windows. You need to use one that match the type of server that will be hosting the license.
The 32-bit Daemons will typically work with the x64 servers, but the reverse is not true.
CadEnhance provides the CENHANCE license daemons for Windows and Linux Platforms in
InstallationDir/CadEnhance/License/flexWin32
and
InstallationDir/CadEnhance/license/flexLinux folders.
The Daemon files can also be downloaded from this link: Flexera Downloads — CadEnhance
Starting the Flexera License server
There are 2 tools used to start the Flexera License server... Most companies have a person responsible for license administration who are very familiar with these tools
lmgrd
lmadmin
Attached is the reference guide from Flexera. FNP_11.16.0_doclib.pdf
lmgrd
the old way of starting the License server was using
lmgrd -c{license_file}
you need to start it in a directory where the CENHANCE license daemon resides or the DAEMON line in the license file can be modified to point to the CENHANCE daemon file
lmadmin
lmadmin is the new recommended way to run the license server. Once started, there is a web based control interface available at http://<server>:8090
With the control interface, you can select the location of the CENHANCE daemon and the location of the actual cadEnhance.lic file which was provided to you by cadEnhance. I
Lmamdin caches the license file
Its important to understand that lmadmin caches copies of the license files, so you need to stop the Daemon and re-import the new license file or you may not get the results you were looking for.
Configuring the location of the Flex server for CadEnhance tools
CadEnhance tools will look for the flex server in one of several places,
first choice is the CENHANCE_LICENSE_FILE environment variable
the CE_LIC_FILE environment variable is checked next
otherwise the CE_LICENSE_DIR CSET is used to find the license.
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