Using a Floating License

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

A floating license requires a license manager to be run on a designated machine that is called the license server. Any instance of Xpress that is started on any machine contacts the license server over the network for authorization before continuing. This guide refers to those machines running Xpress as client machines.

Setting Up the License Manager

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

1. To use a floating license, you must designate a machine on your network to be the license server. This machine must be on the same IP subnet as the client machines, and must allow incoming connections on TCP port 27100 (or another of your choice as described in the section ).
2. Run the Xpress installer on the server machine. The installer is a wizard that step you through the installation process.
   • On UNIX machines you will be prompted for a license file. Enter the path to the folder containing the file xpauth.xpr that you received from FICO Support. The license file will automatically be copied into the server installation.
   • For Windows NT/2000 or later only: You will be asked whether to install the license manager as a Windows service. To install the license manager as a service you must have Administrator privileges, so if you do not have Administrator privileges choose No when prompted.
3. For Microsoft Windows installations only: Copy the server license file you received from Xpress Support (xpauth.xpr) into the bin folder of Xpress installation directory.
4. Before you run Xpress on any of the client machines, start the license manager on the server.
   • On Windows, use the shortcut on the Start menu to start the license manager. If you installed the license manager as a Windows service you can also start and stop it using the Services control panel applet.
   • You can also start the license manager from a Unix shell or Windows command prompt (or DOS box) using one of the following commands:

   runlmgr start	(for the standalone license manager and the Unix license manager)
   runlmgr starts	(for the license manager Windows service)

The license manager remains running until you stop it manually or restart the computer, in which case it will need to be restarted before Xpress can be used again.

Setting Up the Clients

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

1. To set up a client machine to use a floating license, you must first install Xpress on the client machine. When the installer asks you whether this is a server machine or a client, choose client. Enter the path where you want to install Xpress.
2. During installation you will be prompted to enter the hostname of your license server. Enter the hostname of your machine, together with any qualifying domain if necessary. For example:

   uranos.ficdash.co.uk

Note: It is not necessary to run the license manager on the client machines.

Using the Client and Server on the Same Machine

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

• To run the Xpress software on your server machine: Install the client and server in different folders. Install the client first (as described earlier) and then install the server. When prompted for an install path, enter a different path.
• To install the client and server into the same folder: Install the client first, and then the server. You may also have to edit the use_server line of your license file to point the client at your local machine, since both client and server will use the same license file for this type of configuration.

Stopping the License Manager

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

At times you may wish to take your license server process offline, for maintenance or upgrade purposes, for example.

• On Windows, you can stop (and start) the license server using the links placed in the Xpress area of the Start menu.
• If you are using a Unix machine (or for Windows users who do not/cannot use the Start menu option just described) you can control the license server using the runlmgr script manager from a Unix shell or Windows command prompt (or DOS box):
   
  

  runlmgr stop	(for the standalone license manager and the Unix license manager)
  runlmgr stops	(for the license manager Windows service)

Custom Port Number

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

You may need to configure the license manager to use a particular TCP port, such as in those cases where you are running another service on your server machine which is conflicting with the Xpress license manager, or if you want to make a rule in your firewall to allow incoming connections on this port. Use the following instructions to do so:

1. Edit the license file on the server and add a server line specifying the port number. For example:

   server port="12840"

2. Edit the license file on the client and add the following port directive to the use_server line. For example:

   use_server server="our_server_machine" port="12840"

3. Restart the license server application in order for it to re-read the license file.

Connection Retries

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

In some cases, where the license server resides on a high-traffic machine or you have a large number of client applications, it may be helpful to automatically retry failed connections. Using this feature, if a client fails to connect to a license server, it will retry for a specified number of attempts, leaving an exponentially increasing delay between retries, rather than returning an error. To do this, follow the following instructions:

1. Edit the license file on the client and add the retries directive to the use_server line. For example, to retry a failed connection 5 times before returning an error:

   use_server server="our_server_machine" retries="5"

Logging

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

By default the license server process creates a log file called xprl_server.log in a temporary folder on the server machine.

• On Windows machines, the server logfile is created in the temporary folder by default, which is typically the folder Local Settings\Temp within the profile of the user account used to run the server; however in some circumstances it may appear in C:\Windows\Temp.
• On Unix machines the server logfile is generally found in either /tmp or /var/tmp.

To fine-tune the server's logging: edit the server license file and add a logging line. For example, you can change the location of the logfile as follows:

logging file="C:\logs\xprl_server.log"

or on Unix machines:

logging file="/var/log/xprl_server.log"

To change the level of detail that will be placed in the log file, use the logginglevel command. For example:

logging level="verbose"

The default detail level is normal. Other levels are quiet (log only serious errors), verbose (log more detail than normal) and debug (which should only be used under the direction of FICO support).

To change the log file size: By default the log file should not get much larger than 128 kilobytes; if you find this is not enough and want to store more logging data you can set the maxsize directive to the number of kilobytes you want to retain. For example:

logging maxsize="256"

License Status

Note: This section applies to Option_3 (Floating) licenses.

When using a server license, you may want to quickly review the current state of all the licenses. For example, you may want to find out who is using a license that you want to use yourself.

You can use the supplied command-line tool xplicstat to summarize which licenses are in, as well as which tokens can still be checked out. For floating licenses only, the tool will also output the time the license was locked and the IP address of the machine that locked it. Use the xplicstat command in conjunction with a client xpauth.xpr file and at least one use_server line.

Using Windows, this command will look for this in the same folder as the executable. On Unix machines, this command will use the XPRESS environment variable. You can also specify an alternate location using the -xpress command-line flag. For example:

xplicstat -xpress C:\xpressmp\bin\xpauth.xpr

Replacing the License File

If you need to upgrade or renew your license, contact FICO Support to send you a new xpauth.xpr file, which you must place in the same location as the original xpauth.xpr as follows:

• For Option_1 (Node Locked) or Option_2 (USB Dongle) licenses, this location is in the bin sub-folder of the Xpress installation.
• For Option_3 (Floating) licenses, you must place it in the bin subfolder of the Xpress server installation on the server machine. Restart the server process in order to force the server to reread the license file.