Working with Flexera License Servers

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

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Paid Features

Paid Features have a count and expiration date

Free Features 

All of the Free Features we provide show up as “permanent uncounted”

CENHANCE 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.

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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

1. lmgrd

2. 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,

1. first choice is the CENHANCE_LICENSE_FILE environment variable 

2. the CE_LIC_FILE environment variable is checked next

3. otherwise the  CE_LICENSE_DIR CSET is used to find the license.