License Server

Home › Knowledge Base › Licensing ›

Version 2011 and later use the RLM licensing system to administer license keys. Floating licenses now require a license server in order to run. This article explains how to create and activate a license server on your network.

Installing the License Server on a Virtual Machine

If installing the License Server on a virtual machine, please contact StarNet BEFORE registering the license so it can be converted to run on a VM. Otherwise RLM will reject the license as invalid.

Preinstallation Setup

  • Before installing, identify a server computer that will be able to host the Reprise License Manager (RLM) server. Supported Platforms: Windows XP or later, or Linux x86.
  • This computer needs to be on your internal company network where it can be reached by all the computers in your organization that may need to check out licenses.
  • The computer should not be turned off. Losing access to the license server will cause all copies of X-Win32 to lose their license until the license server is restarted.
  • The load imposed on the server from RLM is extremely light meaning a dedicated server is not required.
  • Once this server has been chosen it can be used by other products that use RLM as well.

Installing the RLM Server

Windows Installation

  1. Create the folder C:\RLM
  2. Download and extract rlm.zip into C:\RLM
  3. Open a Command Prompt (CMD) as an Administrator
  4. At the command prompt, type: cd C:\RLM
  5. *Type rlm.exe -dlog "C:\RLM\rlm.log" -install_service
  6. To start the service, at the command prompt type: net start rlm

*RLM by default ships with a web interface with very little security. For maximum security, disable the web interface with the -nows

When installing the service type:
rlm.exe -nows -dlog "C:\RLM\rlm.log" -install_service

**To disable the service Type: rlm.exe -delete_service

Linux Installation

The following instructions give basic information on creating and starting the license server on a linux system. Advanced users can modify the included rlm.sh file to customize their systems (change user, directory etc) as needed

  1. Create the directory "/opt/rlm"
  2. Create a new user named rlm to run the application. This user should have write access to the /opt/rlm directory. This user should NOT be root.
  3. Download rlm.tar.gz into /opt/rlm
  4. Run the command to extract the files: tar xzf rlm.tar.gz
  5. *Move rlm.sh to the /etc/rc.d/init.d
  6. cd to /etc/rc.d/init.d
  7. Run the command: ln -s ../init.d/rlm.sh /etc/rc3.d/S99rlm
  8. Run the command: ln -s ../init.d/rlm.sh /etc/rc5.d/S99rlm
  9. Run the command: /etc/init.d/rlm.sh start to start your license server

Your server will now start automatically on boot.

*RLM by default ships with a web interface with very little security. For maximum security, disable the web interface with the -nows

Edit the rlm.sh script. Add the -nows option to the following line

su - $rlmuser -c "$rlmdir/rlm -nows -c $licfile -dlog $debuglog &"

Configuring Your Firewall

Your firewall needs to be configured to let license server traffic from your X-Win32 users through. RLM uses 2 ports to communicate, one for the license server, and one specifically for StarNet

The rlm license server by default runs on tcp:5053 This can be changed in the first line of your license server's license.lic file

HOST hostname 023402380fc port

The starnet ISV license by default dynamically binds to a random high level port.
To specify a static port for the starnet, add port=port_number to the ISV line of your license.lic file

ISV starnet port=port_number

where port_number is the TCP port you want starnet to listen on.

The rlm license server web interface by default runs on tcp:5054

Activating the Floating License

Activating the license from the website can be done from any machine, not just the machine where the license server is located. This is useful for users who are on a closed network and do not have direct access to the internet.

If your license server is running on a Virtual Machine, please contact StarNet Sales prior to activating your license key. Otherwise you will invalidate your activation.

Go to license.starnet.com/activate to begin your activation.

Step 1: Enter your floating license activation key

Click Next

Step 2: Enter in the Host ID

The host id can be found by going to the rlm directory and running rlmutil rlmhostid

For other methods of finding the hostid see finding license server hostid

Click Next

Step 3: Enter the number of seats you wish to activate

You can activate up to and including the number of seats available Next

Step 4: Confirm your selection

Click Submit

Step 5: Download the license

Save the license as a .lic format

Step 6: Install the License File

Drop the *.lic file into the RLM server directory and restart the server to install the license.

(optional): Edit the first line of the license file. Change server.example.com to your DNS name of the license server

Deploying Licenses to End Users

  1. Start X-Win32
  2. In the License Activation Dialog Drop Down Menu, choose License Server
  3. Enter the hostname and port number (typically 5053) in the relevant fields

Deploying Licenses at X-Win32 Install Time Using MSI

To deploy a license on a machine when installing X-Win32

Run the command
msiexec /i "X-Win32 2012.msi" /qn LICENSE="HOST hostname 00000000 5053"

where
hostname is the DNS name of the license server
5053 is the default port number.

Files and Reference