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How do I set up a floating license server (FlexNet) on Linux?

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Symptoms:
  • I have just purchased a license from Unity and am looking for guidance on installation.
  • I just bought my license and am trying to figure out why I can't find my license.
  • I am trying to communicate the identifiers of my server and I don't know where to find them.
 
Resolution:
 
Preliminary information
Pre-requisites for Pixyz floating license deployment and usage
- CPU
- Memory
- Disk Space
- Network Bandwidth
- Machines
- Firewall
Automatic installation
Server activation
Manual installation & activation
Connect your Pixyz "clients" and start using your product(s)
Troubleshooting
Uninstall
Table of contents
 

Preliminary information

This article is for Pixyz users and/or IT teams who are new to FlexNet and need to set it up for the first time. FlexNet is a floating license manager server that allows a wide range of Pixyz users to access a license within the company network.

If you are renewing your contract or are already familiar with Flexlm tools, you can update your license tokens and obtain a new license file directly from your Pixyz license portal If you have any issues, please reach out to Unity Support.

If you are already using FlexLM or Flexnet to manage other software, you can use your existing
server(s) to host and manage Pixyz licenses.

If your network is secured by custom firewall settings, please click here to jump to port settings.

 

Pre-requisites for Pixyz floating license deployment and usage*

*For a small number of floating licenses / concurrent users (below 100), most of these system limits are applicable and available on any workstation.

CPU

The license server uses little CPU.

For a large number of clients (where each is exchanging heartbeat messages with the license server), or for high checkout and check-in activity levels (hundreds per second), the amount of CPU time consumed by the server may start to become significant; although, even here, CPU usage is normally not high.

Memory

The license server uses little memory.

The vendor daemon uses approximately 2 MB and the command-line license server manager, lmgrd, uses approximately 2 MB.

Disk Space

The only output files created by the license servers are the debug and report log files.

If there is a lot of license activity, these log files grow very large. You need to consider where to put these files and how often to rotate and archive them.

Network Bandwidth

The license server sends relatively small amounts of data across the network. Each transaction, such as a check-out or check-in, generally transfers less than 1 KB of data.

Machines

Only physical and virtual machines are supported. This installer is not to be used in containers.

Firewall
  • The server requires a port (usually in the 27000 to 27009 range to be opened on the server/client, for Flexlm server initialization and execution.
  • A second port (any, usually  26999 ) must be opened for Pixyz Vendor Daemon execution.

 

Automatic installation

Open a terminal on your target server and run the following command to automatically download the Pixyz Flexlm license server from Pixyz website sources:

curl -L https://pixyz-software.com/get_pixyz_flexlm -s -k | /bin/bash

Server activation

  • Login to the Pixyz website.
  • Navigate to the license management section of your profile.
  • Select one or more of your floating license(s).
  • Select the detected identification method (MAC address or UUID).
  • Enter the activation information obtained in the previous step.
  • Download the activated license & upload it to your server.

Then run

/opt/flexlm/activate.sh /path/to/uploaded_license.lic

 

Manual installation & activation

  • The installation process requires root/sudo permissions.
  • This step-by-step process uses these default values:
    • /opt/flexlm as the installation path.
    • flexlm:flexlm as the service user.
  • If you need to change these values, edit the commands, the services definitions, and the permissions accordingly.

Download the installer

Download the installation package and upload it on your target server. Or run the following command in a terminal.

curl -s -k -L https://www.pixyz-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/pixyz_flexlm_server_11.16.4.1.tar.gz --output ./pixyz_license_server.tar.gz

Extract to installation path

sudo tar -xzf pixyz_license_server.tar.gz -C /opt/flexlm --no-same-owner

At this point, you can run sudo /opt/flexlm/install.sh or continue manually

Install required dependencies

For Ubuntu 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install lsb-core fuse

For Debian

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install lsb-base fuse 
sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 /lib64/ld-lsb-x86-64.so.3 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null

Install services

If you are not using the default installation path, you must edit the services definitions in /opt/flexlm/services before installing the services.

  • Run as a flexlm user
sudo useradd flexlm --no-create-home -s /bin/bash 
sudo chown -R flexlm:flexlm /opt/flexlm 
sudo cp /opt/flexlm/services/FNP.service /etc/systemd/system/FNP.service 
sudo cp /opt/flexlm/services/pixyz-flexlm.service /etc/systemd/system/pixyz-flexlm.service
  • Run as a root user
⚠ Important: Running the server as root is not recommended for safety reasons. 
sudo chown -R root:root /opt/flexlm 
sudo cp /opt/flexlm/services/FNP.service /etc/systemd/system/FNP.service 
sudo cp /opt/flexlm/services/pixyz-flexlm-root.service /etc/systemd/system/pixyz-flexlm.service

Enable services

sudo systemctl enable FNP 
sudo service start FNP 
sudo systemctl enable pixyz-flexlm 
sudo service start pixyz-flexlm
Please note: Running the server requires an activated license file. See the below section.

Get the server activation information

Hostname

/opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmhostid -hostname -n

If the hostname is empty, use the server's public ip.

For AWS EC2 instances the public elastic IP can be obtained running:

/opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmhostid -ptype AMZN -eip

Server ID

The activation process differs for physical machine & cloud based VM.

  • Physical machine:
/opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmhostid -ptype PHY -n
Please note: Pick only one of the issued MAC addresses for activation
  • Cloud based VM:
/opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmhostid -ptype VM -uuid

AWS EC2 must use the MAC address identification

Install signed license

Follow the Server activation section of this guide.

To manually install your uploaded activated license, run:

sudo service stop pixyz-flexlm 
sudo cp ./pixyz_licence.lic /opt/flexlm/licenses/pixyz_license.lic 
sudo service start pixyz-flexlm

Check that the license has been implemented

/opt/flexlm/pixyz-flexlm.sh status
 

Connect your Pixyz "clients" and start using your product(s)

Your team can now start using its Pixyz product(s) by using the License Manager tab to set up the server details. 

Pixyz-Studio-1.png

See the example below in Pixyz Studio: 

server-2.png
 

In Pixyz SDK, please use the following python command - configureLicenseServer:

core.configureLicenseServer("myServerHostname",27000,True)

Please note: Port 27000 is used by default. Specific port numbers can be set up, please refer to the above example:

- 27000 is the main port being used by Flexlm service to connect with the client (Pixyz software)

- 26999 is the "return" port, used by Pixyz vendor daemon

 

server-1.png
 
Important: Do not forget to check that the FlexLM setting is turned ON in the Pixyz software license manager window, License server tab.

 

Troubleshooting

Ensure the license server is running

On the license server, run:

/opt/flexlm/services/pixyz-flexlm.sh status

It should output the daemon status & version, followed by available tokens in installed license.

License server not found from client software

  • Ensure the license server is running.
  • Ensure the server is reachable by client.
  • Check server inbound ports 26999 to 27010 are opened on the machine & firewall.
  • Check client outbound port 26999 & 27000 are opened.
  • Use server's public IP instead of hostname.

The desired vendor daemon is down

  • Ensure the license server is running.
  • Ensure the license is properly installed at /opt/flexlm/licenses/pixyz-license.lic
  • Read /opt/flexlm/logs/lmgrd.log and check the desired hostname and server id
  • Go through the Get the server activation information section of this guide and check the hostname and server id
  • Ensure these values are registered properly in the license file.

Error file already in use while running installer

The FlexLM serve is already running. Stop the services by running:

sudo service stop pixyz-flexlm
sudo service stop FNP

And run the installer again.

Adding the PIXYZ vendor to an existing flexlm installation

Extract the installation package & copy the bin/PIXYZ file to your existing flexlm installation directory.

Follow the activation process to install a signed license file and restart the flexlm service.

Uninstall

sudo service stop pixyz-flexlm 
sudo service stop FNP 
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/FNP.service /etc/systemd/system/pixyz-flexlm.service 
sudo rm -R /opt/flexlm
 

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