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Server Setup

FlexLM license server installation and configuration for Vantage integration.

FlexLM Server Setup

This guide covers the installation and configuration of FlexLM license servers for optimal integration with Vantage License Manager.

Single License Server​

Server Installation​

# Download FlexLM license server components
wget http://vendor.com/flexlm/lmgrd
wget http://vendor.com/flexlm/vendor_daemon

# Make executable
chmod +x lmgrd vendor_daemon

# Create directory structure
sudo mkdir -p /opt/flexlm/{bin,licenses,logs}
sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false flexlm
sudo chown -R flexlm:flexlm /opt/flexlm

# Install binaries
sudo cp lmgrd vendor_daemon /opt/flexlm/bin/

License File Configuration​

# Example: /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic
SERVER license-server.vantage.com 001122334455 27000
DAEMON ansyslmd /opt/flexlm/bin/ansyslmd
USE_SERVER

FEATURE ANSYS ansyslmd 2023.1000 permanent uncounted \
        VENDOR_STRING=ANSYS \
        HOSTID=001122334455 \
        TS_OK SN=123456 \
        ISSUED=01-Jan-2023 \
        NOTICE="ANSYS License"

FEATURE CFX ansyslmd 2023.1000 31-Dec-2024 10 \
        VENDOR_STRING=ANSYS \
        HOSTID=001122334455 \
        TS_OK SN=123456 \
        ISSUED=01-Jan-2023 \
        NOTICE="CFX License"

Systemd Service​

# /etc/systemd/system/flexlm-ansys.service
[Unit]
Description=FlexLM License Server for ANSYS
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
User=flexlm
Group=flexlm
ExecStart=/opt/flexlm/bin/lmgrd -c /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic -l /var/log/flexlm/ansys.log
ExecStop=/opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmdown -c /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic
PIDFile=/var/run/flexlm/ansys.pid
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start and Enable Service​

# Enable and start the service
sudo systemctl enable flexlm-ansys
sudo systemctl start flexlm-ansys

# Check status
sudo systemctl status flexlm-ansys

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u flexlm-ansys -f

Environment Configuration​

System-wide Settings​

# /etc/environment
ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=27000@license-server.vantage.com
LM_LICENSE_FILE=27000@license-server.vantage.com
ALTAIR_LICENSE_PATH=6200@license-server.vantage.com

Application-Specific Configuration​

ANSYS Configuration:

# ANSYS licensing setup
export ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE="1055@license-server.vantage.com"
export ANSYS_FLEXLM_DISABLE_DEFLM=1

# For Fluent
export FLUENT_LICENSING=flex
export FLUENT_LICENSE_FILE="$ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE"

MATLAB Configuration:

# MATLAB network license
export MLM_LICENSE_FILE="27000@license-server.vantage.com"

# Test MATLAB licensing
matlab -batch "license('test', 'MATLAB')"

Performance Optimization​

Server Tuning​

# Increase file descriptor limits
echo "flexlm soft nofile 65536" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
echo "flexlm hard nofile 65536" >> /etc/security/limits.conf

# Network optimization
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 1024' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 5000' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 2048' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
sysctl -p

License File Optimization​

# Optimized feature definitions with timeouts and borrowing
FEATURE FLUENT ansyslmd 2023.1000 permanent 50 \
        VENDOR_STRING=ANSYS \
        HOSTID=001122334455 \
        TS_OK SN=123456 \
        TIMEOUT=3600 \
        BORROW=86400 \
        NOTICE="Fluent with timeout and borrow"

# Access control
INCLUDE FLUENT USER smith jones GROUP engineers
EXCLUDE CFX HOST slow-machine.vantage.com

Firewall Configuration​

# Open required ports
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27000/tcp  # lmgrd port
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27001-27020/tcp  # daemon ports
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# For iptables
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 27000 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 27001:27020 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4

Security Configuration​

Access Control​

# Restrict server access by IP
echo "INCLUDE * INTERNET 192.168.1.0/24" >> /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic

# User-based restrictions
echo "GROUP engineers USER smith jones wilson" >> /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic
echo "INCLUDE FLUENT GROUP engineers" >> /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic

SSL/TLS Configuration (Vendor-specific)​

# Some vendors support encrypted communications
# Check vendor documentation for SSL certificate setup
FEATURE ANSYS ansyslmd 2023.1000 permanent uncounted \
        VENDOR_STRING=ANSYS \
        HOSTID=001122334455 \
        ENCRYPTION_SEEDS="A1B2C3D4 E5F6G7H8" \
        TS_OK

Monitoring Setup​

Log Configuration​

# Configure detailed logging
echo "REPORTLOG /var/log/flexlm/usage.log" >> /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic
echo "DEBUGLOG /var/log/flexlm/debug.log" >> /opt/flexlm/licenses/ansys.lic

# Log rotation
cat > /etc/logrotate.d/flexlm << EOF
/var/log/flexlm/*.log {
    daily
    rotate 30
    compress
    delaycompress
    missingok
    create 644 flexlm flexlm
    postrotate
        systemctl reload flexlm-ansys
    endscript
}
EOF

Health Check Scripts​

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/flexlm/bin/health-check.sh

FLEXLM_SERVER="27000@license-server.vantage.com"
LOG_FILE="/var/log/flexlm/health-check.log"

check_server() {
    if /opt/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmstat -c "$FLEXLM_SERVER" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
        echo "$(date): FlexLM server is running" >> "$LOG_FILE"
        return 0
    else
        echo "$(date): FlexLM server is down" >> "$LOG_FILE"
        return 1
    fi
}

restart_server() {
    echo "$(date): Attempting to restart FlexLM server" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    systemctl restart flexlm-ansys
    sleep 30
    
    if check_server; then
        echo "$(date): FlexLM server restart successful" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    else
        echo "$(date): FlexLM server restart failed" >> "$LOG_FILE"
        # Send alert email
        mail -s "FlexLM Server Down" admin@vantage.com < "$LOG_FILE"
    fi
}

# Main health check
if ! check_server; then
    restart_server
fi

Cron Job for Health Checks​

# Add to crontab (crontab -e)
*/5 * * * * /opt/flexlm/bin/health-check.sh

Integration with Vantage​

Register Server with Vantage​

# Register the configured server
vantage licenses add \
  --type flexlm \
  --vendor ansys \
  --server license-server.vantage.com:27000 \
  --daemon ansyslmd \
  --name "Production ANSYS FlexLM" \
  --description "Main ANSYS license server for production workloads"

# Enable monitoring
vantage licenses monitor enable ansys-flexlm \
  --interval 60 \
  --alerts high_usage,server_down

Validation​

# Test server connectivity
vantage licenses test ansys-flexlm

# Check discovered features
vantage licenses features ansys-flexlm

# View real-time usage
vantage licenses usage ansys-flexlm --watch

Backup and Recovery​

License File Backup​

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/flexlm/bin/backup-licenses.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backup/flexlm"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Backup license files
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/flexlm-licenses-$DATE.tar.gz" \
    /opt/flexlm/licenses/ \
    /opt/flexlm/config/ \
    /etc/systemd/system/flexlm-*.service

# Keep only last 30 days of backups
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "flexlm-licenses-*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

echo "$(date): License files backed up to $BACKUP_DIR/flexlm-licenses-$DATE.tar.gz"

Disaster Recovery​

# Document server configuration for disaster recovery
echo "# FlexLM Server Recovery Information" > /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md
echo "Server: $(hostname)" >> /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md
echo "IP: $(hostname -I)" >> /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md
echo "MAC: $(ip link show | grep ether | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')" >> /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md
echo "OS: $(cat /etc/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME)" >> /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md
echo "FlexLM Version: $(/opt/flexlm/bin/lmgrd -version 2>&1 | head -1)" >> /opt/flexlm/RECOVERY.md

Next Steps​

Important: Always test license server configuration in a development environment before deploying to production. Keep backups of license files and server configurations.

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