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User-Managed LMX Server Setup

This guide walks you through setting up your own LMX (License Manager X) license server that will integrate with Vantage License Manager. LMX provides modern license management with cloud-ready features and enhanced security.

Prerequisites​

Before setting up your LMX server, ensure you have:

  • License Files: Valid LMX license files from your software vendor
  • Server Hardware: Dedicated server or virtual machine meeting vendor requirements
  • Network Access: Connectivity between your LMX server and Vantage infrastructure
  • Administrative Access: Root/administrator privileges on the target server
  • SSL Certificates: Optional SSL certificates for HTTPS communication

Supported Operating Systems​

LMX servers can be deployed on:

  • Linux: RHEL 7/8/9, CentOS 7/8, Ubuntu 18.04/20.04/22.04, SUSE Linux
  • Windows: Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, Windows 10/11
  • macOS: macOS 10.15+ (for development environments)
  • Docker: Container deployment with official LMX images

Installation Steps​

1. Download LMX Software​

# Download LMX from X-Formation
# Visit: https://www.x-formation.com/download/
wget https://download.x-formation.com/lmx-latest-linux-x64.tar.gz
tar -xzf lmx-latest-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd lmx

2. Install LMX Server​

# Copy LMX binaries to system directory
sudo mkdir -p /opt/lmx/bin
sudo cp lmx-serv /opt/lmx/bin/
sudo cp lmxendutil /opt/lmx/bin/

# Set executable permissions
sudo chmod +x /opt/lmx/bin/*

# Create LMX user
sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false lmx

3. Configure License Files​

# Create license directory
sudo mkdir -p /opt/lmx/licenses
sudo mkdir -p /opt/lmx/config

# Copy license files
sudo cp *.lic /opt/lmx/licenses/

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R lmx:lmx /opt/lmx/
sudo chmod 644 /opt/lmx/licenses/*.lic

4. Create LMX Configuration​

# Create LMX server configuration
sudo cat > /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
# LMX Server Configuration
LICENSEPATH /opt/lmx/licenses
LOGFILE /var/log/lmx/lmx.log
LOGFORMAT COMBINED
PORT 6200
HTTPS_PORT 6201
WEBSERVER ON
WEBPORT 8080
HTTPS_WEBPORT 8443
EOF

5. Start LMX Server​

# Create systemd service file
sudo cat > /etc/systemd/system/lmx.service << EOF
[Unit]
Description=LMX License Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
User=lmx
Group=lmx
ExecStart=/opt/lmx/bin/lmx-serv -c /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf
WorkingDirectory=/opt/lmx
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

# Create log directory
sudo mkdir -p /var/log/lmx
sudo chown lmx:lmx /var/log/lmx

# Start and enable service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start lmx
sudo systemctl enable lmx

Network Configuration​

Required Ports​

Configure your firewall to allow:

  • Port 6200: Default LMX server port
  • Port 6201: HTTPS LMX server port
  • Port 8080: LMX web interface
  • Port 8443: HTTPS LMX web interface
  • HTTPS (443): For Vantage integration

SSL Configuration​

# Generate self-signed certificate (for testing)
sudo openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout /opt/lmx/config/server.key -out /opt/lmx/config/server.crt -days 365 -nodes

# Update LMX configuration for SSL
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
SSL_CERT /opt/lmx/config/server.crt
SSL_KEY /opt/lmx/config/server.key
EOF

# Restart LMX server
sudo systemctl restart lmx

Vantage Integration​

1. Register Server with Vantage​

  1. Log into your Vantage dashboard
  2. Navigate to Licenses → Servers
  3. Click Add License Server
  4. Select LMX as the server type
  5. Choose User-Managed deployment
  6. Enter server details:
    • Server Hostname/IP
    • Port Number (typically 6200)
    • Web Interface Port (typically 8080)
    • SSL Configuration (if enabled)

2. Configure Monitoring Agent​

# Download Vantage monitoring agent
curl -O https://vantage-agents.s3.amazonaws.com/license-monitor/latest/vantage-license-monitor

# Install and configure
sudo chmod +x vantage-license-monitor
sudo ./vantage-license-monitor install --server-type lmx --server-port 6200

3. Verify Integration​

# Test LMX server
lmxendutil -licstat

# Test Vantage connection
vantage-license-monitor test-connection

Web Interface Management​

Access LMX Web Interface​

  1. Open browser to http://your-server:8080 or https://your-server:8443
  2. Configure administrative access
  3. Monitor license usage through web interface
  4. Configure server settings and policies

Web Interface Security​

# Configure web interface authentication
# Edit /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
WEB_AUTH ON
WEB_USERNAME admin
WEB_PASSWORD your_secure_password
EOF

sudo systemctl restart lmx

License Management​

Adding New Licenses​

# Add new license file
sudo cp new_license.lic /opt/lmx/licenses/

# Reload licenses
lmxendutil -licreload

# Verify license is loaded
lmxendutil -licstat

License File Validation​

# Check license file
lmxendutil -licstat -f feature_name

# Verify license checkout
lmxendutil -checkout feature_name
lmxendutil -checkin feature_name

Advanced Configuration​

High Availability Setup​

# Configure for HA deployment
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
# High Availability Configuration
MASTERSERVER primary-lmx-server.domain.com
SLAVESERVER secondary-lmx-server.domain.com
HEARTBEAT 30
EOF

Performance Tuning​

# Optimize for high load
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
# Performance Settings
MAXUSERS 1000
TIMEOUT 300
BORROWTIMEOUT 86400
LINGER 300
EOF

Monitoring and Logging​

Enhanced Logging​

# Configure detailed logging
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
# Logging Configuration
LOGLEVEL DEBUG
LOGFILE /var/log/lmx/lmx.log
AUDITLOG /var/log/lmx/audit.log
ERRORLOG /var/log/lmx/error.log
EOF

Log Rotation​

# Create logrotate configuration
sudo cat > /etc/logrotate.d/lmx << EOF
/var/log/lmx/*.log {
    daily
    rotate 30
    compress
    delaycompress
    missingok
    notifempty
    postrotate
        /bin/systemctl reload lmx
    endscript
}
EOF

Security Configuration​

Access Control​

# Configure IP-based access control
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
# Access Control
INCLUDE CLIENT 192.168.1.0/24
EXCLUDE CLIENT 0.0.0.0/0
EOF

License Security​

# Secure license files
sudo chmod 600 /opt/lmx/licenses/*.lic
sudo chown root:lmx /opt/lmx/licenses/*.lic

# Enable license encryption (if supported)
sudo cat >> /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf << EOF
ENCRYPT_COMM ON
EOF

Troubleshooting​

Server Diagnostics​

# Check LMX server status
lmxendutil -licstat

# Test server connectivity
telnet lmx-server 6200

# Review server logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/lmx/lmx.log

Common Issues​

Server Won't Start​

# Check configuration syntax
/opt/lmx/bin/lmx-serv -c /opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf -test

# Verify file permissions
ls -la /opt/lmx/config/
ls -la /opt/lmx/licenses/

# Check system logs
sudo journalctl -u lmx -f

License Checkout Failures​

# Verify license availability
lmxendutil -licstat -f feature_name

# Check client connectivity
telnet lmx-server 6200

# Review license file
cat /opt/lmx/licenses/license.lic

Backup and Recovery​

Automated Backup​

# Create backup script
sudo cat > /opt/lmx/backup-lmx.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/lmx"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup configuration and licenses
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/lmx-config-$DATE.tar.gz /opt/lmx/
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/lmx-logs-$DATE.tar.gz /var/log/lmx/

# Cleanup old backups
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete
EOF

sudo chmod +x /opt/lmx/backup-lmx.sh

# Schedule backup
echo "0 2 * * * root /opt/lmx/backup-lmx.sh" | sudo tee -a /etc/crontab

Docker Deployment​

Docker Container Setup​

# Create Dockerfile
cat > Dockerfile << EOF
FROM ubuntu:22.04

# Install dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y wget

# Install LMX
COPY lmx-latest-linux-x64.tar.gz /tmp/
RUN cd /tmp && tar -xzf lmx-latest-linux-x64.tar.gz
RUN mkdir -p /opt/lmx/bin && cp /tmp/lmx/lmx-serv /opt/lmx/bin/

# Copy configuration
COPY lmx.conf /opt/lmx/config/
COPY licenses/ /opt/lmx/licenses/

# Expose ports
EXPOSE 6200 6201 8080 8443

# Start LMX server
CMD ["/opt/lmx/bin/lmx-serv", "-c", "/opt/lmx/config/lmx.conf"]
EOF

# Build and run container
docker build -t lmx-server .
docker run -d -p 6200:6200 -p 8080:8080 --name lmx-server lmx-server

Performance Monitoring​

Server Metrics​

# Monitor LMX processes
ps aux | grep lmx-serv
top -p $(pgrep lmx-serv)

# Check memory and CPU usage
free -h
iostat -x 1

# Monitor network connections
netstat -tuln | grep -E '6200|8080'

License Usage Analytics​

# Generate usage reports
lmxendutil -licstat > /tmp/license-usage.txt

# Monitor real-time usage
watch -n 5 "lmxendutil -licstat"

Integration Testing​

Client Configuration Testing​

# Set environment variables
export LMX_LICENSE_FILE=@lmx-server:6200

# Test application integration
your_application --license-test

# Verify license checkout
lmxendutil -checkout feature_name
sleep 10
lmxendutil -checkin feature_name

Next Steps​

After setting up your user-managed LMX server:

  1. High Availability: Configure redundant LMX servers for failover
  2. Monitoring Integration: Enable comprehensive monitoring with Vantage
  3. Performance Optimization: Monitor and optimize server performance
  4. Security Hardening: Implement additional security measures
  5. User Training: Train users on LMX-specific features and policies

For advanced LMX features and enterprise configurations, contact your LMX vendor or see additional documentation in the Vantage dashboard.