If your system is set up such that permission to this directory is denied for non-admin users, then non-admin users will not be able to create (or use) rehostable licenses.

If this is the case, login to the system as an administrator and set the permissions so that all users can read and write to this directory.

Note that you might see a similar error when using a roaming license or when attempting to start the license server.

Also note that deleting, copying, or otherwise modifying this directory will lead to problems later.

Installing your product with RLM should be very straightforward, and should require no configuration of environment variables, etc.

Overview:

On the client side, ie, on the machines where your application is going to run, place the license file in your product hierarchy. For nodelocked licenses, this should be the actual, signed license file, and nothing needs to be done to this license file. For floating, this license file will be used only to locate the license server host.

If you ship floating licenses, install the server binaries and license file on the server node. The server license file doesn't need to be modified.

Nothing in this set of recommendations requires the use of environment variables, and the install-time editing of license files is kept to a minimum (No editing of license files for nodelocked licenses, and only the server hostname needs to be set on the client side for floating licenses).

Details:

During development:

• establish a directory in your installed product tree for license file(s). This could be the same directory where your product is installed.
• Pass the directory from the step above as the first argument to rlm_init().

When you ship a nodelocked license:

• If you are shipping uncounted or single node-locked licenses, put the actual licenses into the license file. Install in the default directory. You're done.

When you ship a floating license:

• If you are shipping floating licenses, use a single HOST line in the license file for the client side. Use the default RLM port (5053) - which means you do not need a port number in this license file, and fill in the hostname with the name of the server computer at installation time. This license file should look like this:

HOST server-hostname

• On the server node, place the rlm binary, your ISVsettings file (or ISV server binary), and the license file in a directory. This license file should have the real, signed licenses. The server hostname in this file can be “localhost”, meaning that it doesn't have to be edited by the end-user. The server license file's first two lines should look like this:

• HOST localhost hostid
  ISV your-isvname

By configuring the license file this way, it does not need to be edited by your customer. These lines tell RLM to:

• use the default port (5053)
• use the ISV server settings or binary from the same directory as the rlm binary

Of course, you would include all your signed LICENSE lines in this file as well.

• Start the rlm server from the directory in the step above

If your customer already has another RLM server running:

• Install your ISV settings or server binary and the license file in the same directory as the other product's copy of the server binaries and license files, and do a “reread” operation on the running rlm. That's it, however:
• If your version of RLM is newer than the installed version, update the installed version to your version, then shut down the running rlm and start the new one.

If you ship new, additional licenses to your customer:

• Put the new license file in the same directory as the old one. If they are nodelocked licenses, put them on the client system. If they are floating licenses, put them into the directory with your other licenses and do an rlmreread on the license server.

Whenever this happens, it is because someone is used to the way that FLEXlm configures redundant servers.

The reality is this - RLM and FLEXlm work differently with respect to server failover,  and the RLM method is easier for the end-user to configure, while providing the same amount of server redundancy.  In a FLEXlm redundant-server configuration, a little-known fact is this:

the third server can never serve licenses

This is because, in FLEXlm, 2 of the 3 servers must be running to have the system operate.  So, either servers 1 and 2, 2 and 3, or 1 and 3 must be running.  And FLEXlm (at least until version 10.?) always picks the server whose name is first in an alphabetical sort (we know, we wrote the code).   So the server with the last name, alphabetically, will never serve licenses.

By contrast, with RLM, you pick a primary license server, and a failover server.  If the primary goes down, the failover takes over. There is no 3rd server to configure.  There is no situation where 3 FLEXlm servers would serve licenses that RLM will not serve licenses (assuming RLM is configured on 2 of the 3 FLEXlm servers).  In other words:

adding a 3rd RLM server buys you nothing, other than extra administrative overhead

Usually, this means one of the following has happened:

• The license server is not running
• The hostname or port # on the application's computer doesn't match where the license server is actually running
• The license server (rlm) is running, but the ISV server for your application isn't running for some reason
• A firewall is blocking access to rlm or the ISV server
• The license server machine is down

The first step in diagnosing this problem is to find out where the application thinks the license server should be running.  The most accurate way to do this is to use rlm diagnostics with the application.  Since RLM v8.0, every application which uses RLM has built-in diagnostics.  The procedure for running diagnostics is described in this article:

http://www.reprisesoftware.com/blog/?p=1909

Once you know the hostname and port of the license server, you should log in to that host and verify if the license server is running.  You should see one process for the "rlm" generic server and a second one for your ISV server.  Depending on whether the ISV server is a binary or a settings file, the process listing will be a bit different.  On Unix systems, for an ISV server implemented as a settings file, the two process will look similar to the following (this is for the "reprise" ISV server):

For an ISV server binary, the output will look more like this:

In the windows task manager, you will see either 2 rlm processes or 1 named rlm and one with the name of your ISV server:

• If you can find rlm running, but not your ISV server, you will need to look at the debug log from rlm to see why the ISV server isn't running.   The simplest way to do this is to run rlm in a command window (on Windows) or from the shell on Unix.    Go to the directory where the license servers are installed, and run the command "rlm".    If the problem is not apparent from the output of rlm, you should contatact the ISV who supplied your software - they should be able to help you get the servers running.

• If both rlm and ISV servers are running on the server node, the problem could be that either you have a firewall installed on the server node which is not allowing your application to access either the rlm port, or the port of the ISV server.   If this is the case, configure your firewall to allow access to port "xxx", and you can configure RLM to use a fixed port number for the ISV server by specifying the ISV server port, xxx,  on the ISV line as such:

ISV isvname port=xxx (if you have RLM v9.0 or later), or

ISV isvname isv-binary isv-options-file xxx (if you have pre-v9 RLM)

If  you see another cause of this problem, or have a different solution, please leave a comment.

When this happens, it is usually (99.999% of the time) the fact that another copy of the ISV server is running (in this case "isvabc").  Use the task manager (on Windows) or "ps -ax" (on Unix) to find the other copy of the server that is running, and, if necessary, kill the old copy (don't forget to kill the rlm server that started it, too, otherwise that copy of rlm will just re-start the ISV server and you'll be back to where you started).

Note that a similar situation can occur for rlm itself, if you try to start a new copy of rlm on the same port as another copy.

If you need to run multiple ISV servers (and/or multiple copies of RLM) see the article "Managing Multiple-ISV Installations" here .

In some cases, a floating license cannot be checked out from a particular computer, yet that same computer can view the admin web interface from the license server.

In very early versions of RLM (prior to RLM v3.0), the most common cause of this failure is that the "normal" hostname of the server node is unknown on the client machine.

So, for example, if you server node's hostname is "server", but it is more generally known as "server.mycompany.com",  and on the client computer it is only known as "server.mycompany.com", you will see this behavior.

In more recent RLM versions, the most likely cause is that the hostname in the local license file is not the same as what you typed into the browser.

OK, how do I fix it?

If your rlm software is newer than v3.0, the best way to figure out what is happening is to run rlm diagnostics (available in RLM v8.0 and later).

To run client-side diagnostics, set the environment variable RLM_DIAGNOSTICS to the name of a file, then run the application:

% setenv RLM_DIAGNOSTICS filename

% (run application)

The file "filename" will contain the diagnostic information.  It will look similar to the following:

Near the bottom, you will see the name of the license file that the application is using as well as the server's hostname.  If this is different from the name you use in your browser, correct the license file and try the application again.

If you have a pre-v3 version of RLM, you might also want to put the server's IP address into the license file on the server side.  So, instead of:

HOST server hostid port#

use a line like this:

HOST server_ip_address hostid port#

For example, instead of:

HOST  server  12345678  5053

use

HOST  192.16.7.12  12345678  5053

"My license server reports multiple licenses checked out from the same person, yet I know that this person is only using one license.  Why is this?"

As a general rule, this results from users removing laptops from the corporate network, then re-attaching later.  But it could occur any time a machine is either removed from the network, or shut down improperly.

The reason this happens is that the license server machine does not detect that the client side of the connection has been terminated.  This is an unfortunate aspect of TCP/IP, and it will vary on different platforms.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution to this problem - the TIMEOUT option in the ISV options file.

If this happens only on a single product, you can add a line similar to the following:

TIMEOUT 3600 the-one-product-with-the-problem

This would cause licenses for "the-one-product-with-the-problem" to be timed out after 1 hour of inactivity.

Alternately, if this happens to many products, you could add the line:

TIMEOUTALL 3600

This line would cause all products from this ISV to time out after one hour of inactivity.

Either of these lines would be added to your ISV options file - by default "isvname.opt" (where "isvname" is the ISV server name), contained in the directory with the license server binaries.  Alternately, you can specify any option filename you like on the ISV line in the license file.   Don't forget to do a reread on the license server after you edit the options file.

One last thing - your ISV can control the minimum timeout time for any individual product.  By default, this is 1 hour in RLM (3600 seconds).  However, if the ISV specifies:

min_timeout=xxx

in an individual license, then that minimum time would apply even if you attempt to set a shorter timeout time.

The first choice is to keep them entirely separate, using separate installation directories and port numbers, for example:

Advantages:

• conceptually simple

Disadvantages:

• The two rlm client connection ports and web server ports will have to be managed so that they don’t collide.
• Users of the rlm web interface will have to remember which port number goes with which.
• The default rlm client port numbers as established by the ISVs (in the license files or environments on all the client machines) will need to be changed, for at least 1 ISV.

The second choice is to  run a single instance rlm, which manages two (or more) ISV servers.  This is the method recommended by Reprise Software. For example:

Advantages:

• Only a single RLM port need be managed.  If a new ISV is added with a new port, the single copy of rlm adds this port to the list of ports it listens to.
• A single web interface is used for all ISVs.
• No client-side changes need to be made for any ISV.
• Simple, straightforward method to add a new ISV, when the time comes.

Disadvantages:

• You must be sure to always select the newest version of rlm (rlm.exe) and the utilities that any of your ISVs use.

The simple way to accomplish this is to copy one vendor’s server-side files to the other
vendor’s server directory.  Or create a central repository of rlm server side files. The files necessary are:

• rlm[.exe]. Use the latest version from all the vendors involved, or better yet, get
  the latest from http://www.reprisesoftware.com/enduser_kits/end-useragreement.php
• <ISV>[.exe] or <ISV>.set from all vendors
• *.lic from all vendors
• Command line utilities such as rlmstat[.exe], rlmdown[.exe], etc. As with rlm[.exe] use the latest from the vendors involved, or download from:  http://www.reprisesoftware.com/enduser_kits/end-user-agreement.php

So, let's spend a few minutes talking about the various jobs a license server performs, and when it is needed to support various license types.

Uncounted v. Counted Licenses

The biggest factor that determines whether a license server is required is whether licenses are counted or uncounted.  Counted licenses require a license server because it must "count" concurrent licenses. Counted licenses are used whenever the ISV wants to limit or record concurrent license usage. Counted licenses can be identified by a positive integer in the "count" field of the license.

Uncounted licenses, on the other hand, do not require a license server because there is no need to count usage. Uncounted licenses can be identified by the word "uncounted" or or the number "0" in the license count field of the license. Each uncounted license must be node-locked to a hostid. For ease of administration at larger sites, uncounted licenses for multiple computers may reside in a license file that is managed by a central license server, but this is not required.

The other license type that does not require a license server is the "single" license type. This is also a node-locked license, but it can be used by only one user at a time (concurrent count of "1"). The enforcement of "single" licenses is done via file locking, not by license servers.

The RLM License Server

The basic job of the RLM License Server is to service license requests from RLM-enabled client applications over the network. Based on the needs of the application, the license server redirects license requests to the ISV-specific license server which actually grants or denies the request based on what is specified in the license and on the current usage conditions.

License servers also manage "roaming," named-user, and token-based licenses. They manage held and shared licenses, and offer an admin interface, diagnostic tools, and are responsible for writing debug and report logs.

Roaming Licenses with RLM

If you sell floating licenses for your software products, you can increase the value of your licenses by allowing them to be removed from the network when your users hit the road.

With RLM, you can give users a license that will allow them to remain in compliance even after they've disconnected their laptop from the corporate network.  Whether for a few hours, a few days or a few weeks, "roaming" licenses can be valuable to your users, and set you apart from your competition.

Increasingly, users want to take their work “on the road.” RLM’s built-in license roaming capability allows users to check out a license from a server, physically disconnect from the server and continue to use the license for a specified number of days, after which the license is automatically returned to the server when it expires on the mobile computer.

As an ISV, you control whether licenses are allowed to roam, and how long they can be checked-out in the disconnected state. No API changes are required beyond providing a special rlm_roam license to your customer.

RLM license roaming was designed to allow ‘disconnected’ use for short durations up to a few weeks.