FLEXlm Licensing

Configuring The FLEXlm License Server

Note: The Deadline Repository and the FLEXlm License Server do not need to be on the same machine.

Before you can run the Deadline Slave application, it is necessary to configure the FLEXlm license server to certify the license. FLEXlm uses a program called lmgrd to manage licenses, and on Windows it provides a GUI called LMTools that allows you to monitor the license server's state and modify its settings. Before you can setup the license server, you must receive a license file from Frantic Films Software.

To receive a 30 day trial license, you can fill out the Trial License Request Form.
If you would like to purchase a permanent license, you can contact Deadline Sales.

Usually within one business day of sending this information to Frantic Films Software, someone will contact you regarding your license. Once you have your license file, you can setup your license server by:

The Deadline Slave will display an error message on start up if it cannot get a license, or if an error occurs while it tries to checkout a license. The error code and message will be displayed to the user. The message is pretty detailed, and refers the user to the End User Guide available at www.macrovision.com.

If you have difficulties getting your license server to run, or getting your slaves to connect to it, please check out our License Server Troubleshooting section.

Supplementary documentation on FLEXnet licensing for end users is available on the Macrovision website (Macrovision is the supplier of FLEXnet licensing technology):

Starting the FLEXlm License Server Using LMTools

Note that LMTools is only available on Windows.

The following instructions detail how to set-up your FLEXlm license manager using LMTools.exe.

Configure The License Server As A Windows Service Using LMTools
- To configure the license server to be a service, you must have Administrator privileges.
- Run LMTools from \\your\repository\flexlmtools\, and select the Service/License File tab.
- Click the Configuration using Services radio button.
- Select the Config Services tab.
- In the Service Name, type the name of the service that you want to define. It is recommended that you use the name Frantic License Manager.
- In the Path to the lmgrd.exe file field, enter or browse to lmgrd.exe for this license server. For most users the path should be \\your\repository\flexlmtools\lmgrd.exe.
- In the Path to the license file field, enter or browse to the license file for this license server. It is recommended that you copy your license file to \\your\repository\flexlmtools\.
- In the Path to the debug log file, enter or browse to the debug log file that this license server writes. For most users, entering "\\your\repository\\flexlmtools\flexlm.log" should be sufficient.
- To ensure that the license service is always running and automatically started upon system reboot it is necessary to check the Use Services and Start Server at Power Up checkboxes at the bottom of the dialog.
- To save the new Frantic License Manager service, click the Save Service button.
Start The License Server Service Using LMTools
- Run LMTools (if it is not already open) from \\your\repository\flexlmtools\, and select the Service/License File tab.
- Click the Configuration using Services radio button.
- Select the Frantic service name from the list presented in the selection box. If you followed the recommendations above the service name should be Frantic License Manager.
- Click the Start/Stop/Reread tab.
- Start Frantic License Manager by clicking the Start Server button.

The Frantic License Manager license manager should now be started and writing its debug log output to \\your\repository\\flexlmtools\flexlm.log.

Starting the FLEXlm License Server Using LMGRD

The following instructions detail how to set-up your FLEXlm license manager using lmgrd.

Create a FLEXlm directory on your license server machine.
Copy the contents of the appropriate folder in \\your\repository\flexlmtools to the new FLEXlm directory.
Copy the license file provided by Frantic Films Software to the license server machine (for simplicity, you can copy it to the FLEXlm folder).
Open up a DOS/Terminal prompt and navigate to the new FLEXlm directory you created.
Type lmgrd -c "LicenseFilePath" and press the Enter key (make sure to replace LicenseFilePath with the actual path to the license file).

The license manager should now be started in a new DOS/Terminal prompt. If you want the license server to run in the same prompt, use the -z option before the -c option.

Upgrading Your FLEXlm License Server

If you wish to upgrade your license server, simlpy follow these steps:

Find your old license file and make a backup copy of it. This should be the license file that the license server is currently using.
Copy the new license file over the old one.
On Windows:
- Run LMTools (if it is not already open) from \\your\repository\flexlmtools\, and select the Service/License File tab.
- Click the Configuration using Services radio button.
- Select the Frantic service name from the list presented in the selection box. If you followed the recommendations above the service name should be Frantic License Manager.
- Click the Start/Stop/Reread tab.
- Click the ReRead License File button.
On Windows, Linux, or Mac:
- Restart the lmgrd license server application.

FLEXlm License Server Troubleshooting

The following is basically a step by step guide you can follow to ensure your license server is up and running, and to get your slaves connecting to it. If at the end of this guide you still having problems, feel free to contact us at Deadline Support.

Check The Path That The License Server Is Being Run From

The license server may have trouble running if the directory that the license and vendor files are in is called 'frantic', for example:

   C:\flexlm\frantic\

If this is the case, renaming the folder that the license and vendor files are in may help.

Check The License File

Open the new license file that you received and confirm a few things. Look at the SERVER line and you should see the following:

   SERVER [IP OR HOSTNAME] [MAC ADDRESS]

Confirm that the IP address or Hostname matches that of your license server machine.
Confirm that the MAC address is the correct MAC address of your license server machine.

If the IP address or Hostname is incorrect, simply change it to the correct value and save the license file. The license file is specific to the MAC address, which is why you can change this yourself. If the MAC address is incorrect, send us the correct MAC address and Hostname/IP address and we will generate you a new license.

Start the License Server

If everthing looks correct, the next step is to start the license server. If you're running the license server on Linux or Mac, check out the Using LMGRD section. If lmgrd prints out an error message, please copy the contents of the error message and send it to us.

If you're running the license server on Windows, start up LMTools.exe on your license server machine, and then select the Configuration Using Services option and select the Frantic License Manager from the list below. Then select the Config Services tab and confirm that the path to the lmgrd.exe file and the path to the license file are correct. Double check that the path to the license file is indeed pointing to the correct license file that you received from us.

If everthing looks correct here, click the Save Service button, then select the Start/Stop/Reread tab. Hit the Stop Server button, then hit the Start Server button. Then select the Server Status tab, specify 'frantic' as the Individual Daemon (don't use the quotes), then hit the Perform Status Enquiry button. If everything is running properly, you should see something similar to this (of course it will be specific to your license server machine):

   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   License server status: 27001@buttercup
   License file(s) on buttercup: C:\Program
   Files\FranticLicenseManager\licenses\deadline.lic:
   
   buttercup: license server UP (MASTER) v11.3
   
   Vendor daemon status (on buttercup):
   
   frantic: UP v11.3
   Feature usage info:
   
   Users of deadline_license: (Total of 10 licenses issued; Total of 0
   licenses in use)
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you don't see this (ie: you see an error message instead), please copy the contents of the status enquiry and send it to us. If the server appears to be running, double check by opening the Windows Task Manager on your license server machine and look for the processes frantic.exe and lmgrd.exe. If both are running, then you know for sure that your license server is running.

Get the Slaves Connecting to the License Server

If you've gotten this far, then that's half the battle. Now try starting your slaves and see if the slave pops up a license error message or if it starts in Free Mode (both cases mean that the slave cannot find a license). If it does, right-click on the Deadline Launcher icon in the system tray and select Change License Server. Then select the Specify License Server option and specify the Hostname or IP address of the license server machine. If one doesn't work, try the other.

If your slaves can't seem to connect to the license server, difficulties with FLEXlm floating licenses can occur when Windows Firewall is present on the license server machine. System administrators should follow these steps to enable floating licenses with Microsoft Firewall:

Stop the license server if it is currently running:
- In the directory where FLEXlm is installed on the license server, start the program LMTools.exe.
- Select the Configuration Using Services option and select the Frantic License Manager from the list below.
- Select the Start/Stop/Reread tab, click Stop Server.
From the Windows Control Panel, start the Windows Firewall applet.
Select the General tab and make sure On (recommended) is selected and the check box Don't allow exceptions is off.
Select the Exceptions tab and choose Add Program.
Choose Browse and navigate to the directory where FLEXlm is installed.
Select lmgrd.exe, choose Open, and then choose OK to add lmgrd.exe to the list of Programs and Services.
With the Exceptions tab of the Microsoft Firewall applet still active, again choose Add Program.
Choose Browse and navigate to the directory where FLEXlm is installed.
Select frantic.exe, choose Open, and then choose OK to add frantic.exe to the list of Programs and Services.
Choose OK to close the Microsoft Firewall applet.
Start the license server:
- In the directory where FLEXlm is installed on the license server, start the program LMTools.exe.
- Select the Configuration Using Services option and select the Frantic License Manager from the list below.
- Select the Start/Stop/Reread tab, click Start Server.

If the slaves still can't seem to connect to the license server, there are a few more things you can try. First, make a backup copy of your current license file, because you'll be modifying it.

In the license file, try changing the server Hostname to it's IP address (or vice versa), then save it reread the license file (this can be done from the Start/Stop/Reread tab in LMTools, or by restarting lmgrd). Try starting your slaves again, and test both the server Hostname and IP address in the Change License Server dialog. This has been known to work in some cases.
By default, the license server will use the first available port it finds, but you can configure the license file to use specific ports. Again, because the license file is only specific to the license server's MAC address, you can change port number manually. For example, if your SERVER and VENDOR lines look like this:

         SERVER MyServer 0123456789AB
         VENDOR frantic

Change them to this:

         SERVER MyServer 0123456789AB 27009
         VENDOR frantic 2709

After saving the file, reread the license file (this can be done from the Start/Stop/Reread tab in LMTools, or by restarting lmgrd). This time in the Change License Server dialog, specify the server Hostname or IP address, AND the port number you specified on the SERVER line (which is 27009 in this case).

If this still isn't working, you might have to configure your firewall on the server machine to allow communication over ports 27009 and 2709. This has also been known to work in some cases.