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Licensing - A General Overview


The FlexNet Licensing System

IBM Rational uses FlexNet Publisher (formerly FLEXlm) for licensing. FlexNet is a third party licensing system marketed by Flexera Software. FlexNet licenses are available as node-locked (standalone) licenses, which are tied to a specific machine, and as floating (server) licenses, which are available anywhere on a network.

FlexNet main components

The four main components of FlexNet are:

If you would like more information about FlexNet or Flexera, see www.flexera.com

Licensing terminology

The licensing terminology is described in the following table:

Term Description

Daemon

License Daemon

Background processes that run on the license server. They administer the check-in and check-out of licenses for each feature of each application that uses FlexNet.

Demo license

A node-locked license that will work on any computer. A demo license is usually cut for a maximum of 30 days, for evaluation or diagnostic purposes.

Dongle

A hardware-id that connects to a parallel or USB port. The dongle is associated with a FLEXid. A license can be locked to a FLEXid instead of a specific hostID, which makes it possible to move a license between different machines. Each machine needs a copy of the license file.

Floating or Network license

A floating license system allows users on a network to check out individual licenses from a commonly shared set. When a user quits an application, all licenses used during that session are returned to the pool of available licenses.

hostID

A number that uniquely identifies a machine. It is obtained from different sources within a machine, depending on the architecture. For example it may be the machine's ethernet address, or its disk serial number.

hostname

The name that has been assigned to the machine by the system administrator, and can contain characters and/or numbers. For example, Einstein or suns20.

License borrowing

License borrowing lets an end user check out a license from a license server. The user can then disconnect their computer, but retain the license for a specified borrowing period.

For more details about license borrowing, contact your local IBM Rational sales representative.

License file

A text file called license.dat. It includes the following information:

  • Server names and hostIDs
  • Vendor names and paths to vendor daemon executables
  • Feature and package information

License key

Each FEATURE/INCREMENT line in the license file is a license key for a feature or a package. A license key specifies the number of licenses that are available for that particular feature or package.

The license key is based on data that is specific to IBM Rational.

License manager daemon

lmgrd

Handles the initial contact with the client application program and passes the connection to the appropriate vendor daemon. It also starts and restarts the vendor daemons.

License server

The computer on which the license manager daemon and the vendor daemon are running.

Users with node-locked licenses do not use a license server.

Node-locked license

A node-locked license key is for use on one computer, and is tied to that computer. You do not need to run a license server if you are using a node-locked license.

Token-based licensing

The token-based license model means that you can buy a certain number of Token licenses. If you use an IBM Rational tool that checks out a FEATURE that is token-based, the FEATURE line in the license file will specify the number of Tokens that are checked out.

Token-based licenses can only be used with floating licenses. They cannot be used for node-locked licenses or licenses locked to a dongle.

For more details about Token-based licensing, contact your local IBM Rational sales representative.

Vendor daemon
ibmratl
or
telelogic

A process that permits and keeps track of the number of licenses that are used. Each application that uses FlexNet has its own vendor daemon. Formerly Telelogic's daemon is telelogic.

The IBM Rational application and the telelogic daemon communicate through TCP/IP. As the format of the traffic is independent of the machine, the license server and the computer running the IBM Rational application can be on different platforms and operating systems.

Types of FlexNet license keys

There are two types of FlexNet license keys:

Note:

The license key information you receive may not be identical to the information contained in the following examples.

Floating FlexNet license file

An example of a floating license key is given below. The content of the file is explained in the table.

Figure 3 : Floating license file example

Line Description

SERVER

This line has four fields:

  • The SERVER label.
  • The hostname of the license server.
  • The hostID of the license server.
  • A TCP/IP port number. This is the port number on which the license daemons communicate.

In the example license file, the hostname of the machine is MYSERVER, the hostID is 12341234, and the port number is 19353.

DAEMON

VENDOR

This line has three fields:

  • The DAEMON label (or VENDOR Label)
  • The name of the vendor daemon
  • The path to the vendor daemon executable. If this is missing or incorrect the telelogic.exe application placed in the same directory as the lmgrd.exe will be used.

FEATURE

This line specifies the permissions for each component of the IBM Rational application that is licensed.

  • The FEATURE keyword.
  • The name of the licensed component.
  • The name of the vendor daemon responsible for handling the feature. For all formerly Telelogic products, this is telelogic.
  • The version number of the feature.
  • The date that the license for the feature expires. This date is inclusive.
  • The number of licenses available for the feature.
  • A 20-character (hex) encryption code for the FEATURE line. This is determined by the exact character-by-character makeup of the FEATURE line, and by the hostID of the license server, specified on the SERVER line.
  • The VENDOR_STRING containing a customer specific ID.

Node-locked FlexNet license file

A node-locked license file contains a list of FEATURE lines that describe the products or features for which the local computer is licensed. A node-locked license can contain feature lines for all of the IBM Rational products, or for a selection of them.

To make sure that you cannot use the license file on any other computer, the FEATURE line includes a HOSTID value that uniquely identifies the computer. It contains an encryption of the ethernet address of its network interface card or the disk serial number of the local disk on which the operating system is installed.

Note:

If you change the computer's network card, the license file won't work, because the new network card has a different ethernet address. If you reformat that disk, your existing license file won't work, because formatting a disk changes its serial number. Contact IBM Rational to request a new license file.

An example of a node-locked license key is given below.

Figure 4 : Node-locked license file example

How do FlexNet floating licenses work

This is what happens when you start up an IBM Rational product if you are using floating licenses. IBM Rational DOORS is used in this example, but the same events occur for all the formerly Telelogic, now IBM Rational products.

  1. Your IBM Rational program uses the TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE system variable to find out the name of the computer that's running the FlexNet license server and the port that it's using.
  2. The IBM Rational program contacts the license manager on the FlexNet license server, using the specified port.
    It requests a floating license and makes the request for the telelogic vendor daemon.
  3. On the FlexNet license server, the license manager sends the request to the telelogic vendor daemon.
  4. The telelogic vendor daemon checks to see if any licenses are available.
  5. If there are free licenses, the telelogic vendor daemon grants a license and the IBM Rational program runs.

If there aren't any licenses available, the telelogic vendor daemon refuses the request, and the IBM Rational program fails to start and displays a message saying that it couldn't obtain a license.

What is the TELELOGIC_ LICENSE_FILE variable?

IBM Rational products store the location of the license file in the TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE system variable.

The value of TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE depends on whether your computer is using floating or node-locked licenses.

License Value Description

Floating

port@license-server-name

The FlexNet license server from which your computer is requesting server licenses and the port number the server is using.

Node-locked

license-file-name

The full path to the license file on your computer.

If your computer is using several node-locked and/or floating licenses, the values in TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE are separated by semicolons (;) on Windows, or colons (:) on UNIX. The list can consist of the following components:

IBM Rational applications that use FlexNet rely on the environment settings that FlexNet uses to find licenses. The applications search for license servers and license files in the following order:

  1. The environment variable for TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE.
  2. The registry/.flexlmrc for TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE.
  3. The environment variable for LM_LICENSE_FILE.
  4. The registry/.flexlmrc for LM_LICENSE_FILE.
  5. The application dependent path or specific license file relative to the installation directory.
  6. Any .lic file located in the same directory as the application.
  7. The backup location /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/license.dat or c:\flexlm\license.dat. Using the backup location is not recommended by Flexera.

On Windows, the registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager. For Windows Vista/2008 Server/7 the cached key is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager. On UNIX, the equivalent information is stored in $HOME/.flexlmrc. In this file, the syntax is variable=value.

The registry value on Windows or the .flexlmrc file on UNIX is automatically updated with the license file or license server for which a successful checkout was made. The license file location used for the checkout is stored and remembered for all future checkouts for products using the same vendor daemon. This may lead to checkouts from an unexpected license or license server. To avoid this behavior set the environment variable FLEXLM_NO_CKOUT_INSTALL_LIC to 1. This can be set in the environment, or on Windows in the FLEXlm registry, or on Unix in $HOME/.flexlmrc.

To avoid performance degradation due to licensing, make sure you use valid license files and license servers. If it takes an exceptionally long time to start up a licensed application the following points can be useful.

Fore more information about setting up license servers and licenses, see the FlexNet Licensing End User Guide, which is available from the support area of the Flexera website at www.flexera.com.

Obtaining a license

The following table describes how to obtain a license key if you have not used IBM Rational products before.

Region Instructions

USA

When you purchased your IBM Rational software, you should have received an e-mail with instructions on how to request a license. Follow these instructions. If you did not receive an e-mail then mail license.us@ibm.com

Rest Of World

Please contact your local sales office. If you are not sure how to do this, you can find the nearest sales office on www.ibm.com

The following table describes how to obtain a license key if you are an existing user of IBM Rational products.

Region Instructions

USA

New license requests for IBM Rational can be sent to license.us@ibm.com. Please provide your Site ID/Account number and a copy of your current license.dat file so we have all of the host information present.

Rest Of World

Please contact your local sales office. If you are not sure how to do this, you can find the nearest sales office on www.ibm.com.

Please have a copy of your current license.dat file available.

Locating your license file

Windows users

If you are using a node-locked license, locate your license file by inspecting the TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE environment variable.

If you are the administrator for the license server, you can find the license file by inspecting the TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE environment variable.

Alternatively, on Windows you can use the LMTOOLS application from Flexera by clicking on the Start menu and clicking IBM Rational > IBM Rational License Server > LMTOOLS. You will find the license file on the Config Services tab.

UNIX users

Locate your license file using LM_LICENSE_FILE variable.

Updating your license

If you already have some IBM Rational products and you then buy additional products, IBM Rational sends you a new license file, which contains all your previous license features and the new license features. You have to replace your existing license file with your new license.

Changing the license server machine

The FlexNet license server is the computer where the license daemons are running. If you change the FlexNet server after you have received your license key information from IBM Rational customer support, the license will not work. You have to request a new license from IBM Rational Customer Support and provide them with the hostname and hostID of the new license server machine.

Setting up your license

If you want to set up a floating license, see Setting up Your License Server.

If you want to set up a client license, see Setting up Your license on a Client Machine.

Fore more information about setting up license servers and licenses, see the FlexNet Licensing End User Guide, which is available from the support area of the Flexera website at www.flexera.com.

Common problems

When you install a new FlexNet license key, you should be aware of the following points.

Understanding the license log file

The license log file may contain lines that you do not understand. Some of these lines are explained in the following table.

Log file Description

13:51:01 (telelogic) TCP_NODELAY NOT enabled

When a FlexNet licensing session is established, TCP/IP sends data between the server and client using packets. By default, the TCP/IP processing kernel delays small packet transmissions in the hope of gaining an efficiency advantage by using a buffer to coalesce a large number of small packets prior to sending them across the network. These delays can result in artificially high latency times for the small packets that are related to most FlexNet licensing operations.

The TCP_NODELAY system setting (as a FlexNet license server environment variable) can be set to overcome this behavior, and reduce the licensing wait period. Use of the setting causes data packets to be sent through the network more frequently, so there will be less delay in the licensing process due to TCP/IP operations. However, network traffic can increase as a result of smaller and more frequent licensing related packet transmissions.

Where token-based licenses are used:

14:46:39 (telelogic) DENIED: "DOORS" indkach@indkach [telelogic] (Licensed number of users already reached. (-4,342:10054 ""))

14:46:39 (telelogic) DENIED: "DOORS" indkach@indkach [telelogic] (Licensed number of users already reached. (-4,342:10054 ""))

14:46:39 (telelogic) OUT: "TLOG-token" indkach@indkach [DOORS] (3 licenses)

For a token-based DOORS license the normal log is:

14:46:39 (telelogic) OUT: "DOORS" indkach@indkach [telelogic]

14:46:39 (telelogic) IN: "DOORS" indkach@indkach [telelogic]

14:46:39 (telelogic) OUT: "TLOG-token" indkach@indkach [DOORS] (3 licenses)

If the DOORS license is already checked out, the DENIED lines will appear. However, the tokens are still checked out so the license will be granted. This can happen when two different users try to check out the license at the same time, or if the license is kept by an older version of DOORS, which did not support token-based licenses. It can also happen for FEATUREs that have a lingering time.

14:16:17 (telelogic) Multiple dup-groupings in effect for DOORS:

14:16:17 (telelogic) NONE vs. USER HOST DISPLAY

14:16:17 (telelogic) No further warnings about this

This message is an informational message from FlexNet. It is the normal behavior for IBM Rational applications.

Additional Information

For more information on IBM Rational Licensing, see the Licensing_guide.pdf available in the IBM Rational License Server TL or from the IBM Rational Information Center.

For more information on FlexNet Publisher visit:

http://www.flexera.com


http://www.ibm.com/rational
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