FLEXlm FAQs

Common Flex Commands

Other sources of FLEXlm information

The following is a list of frequently asked questions about FLEXlm, the licensing software used by EarthVision.

1. Q: EarthVision cannot check out a license feature, what do I check?

2. Q: I received an error after installing a new license file or putting new FEATURE lines in an existing license file. What should I check?  

3. Q: How do I get a correct host ID for FLEXlm?

4. Q: How can I run EarthVision on my Sun when my server is on an SGI?

5. Q: Does EarthVision licensing handle dates in the year 2000 and beyond?

6. Q: Options Files - How do I reserve the use of a license to a group of users?

7. Q: How do I start up EarthVision with a specific feature?

8. Q: I would like to have an EarthVision script execute automatically when a license feature finally becomes available. How do I do this?

9. Q: Is there a way for single-server sites to more easily manage EarthVision licenses?

10. Q: The license daemons do not seem to restart when I reboot my system. Why?

1. EarthVision cannot check out a license feature, what do I check?  

If the error message is "maximum number of user's reached",  Then check the output from: 

  % $DGIHOME/license/lmstat -a -c <path to license.dat> 

If the error message is "None of the following features could be checked out", it is likely that the license daemon is not running. Check this by running the following two commands on the license server: 

 % ps -aef | grep lmgrd 
 % ps -aef | grep dgi_nlcd 

If no output appears (other than the grep command), then the license daemon should then be restarted. See the EarthVision Site Administrator's Guide for how to do this. 

2. I received an error after installing a new license file or putting new FEATURE lines in an existing license file. What should I check?  

Check the FLEXlm log which should be in the license directory: 

 % cd $DGIHOME/license 
 % tail -100 NLChostname.log 

 % cd $DGIHOME/license 
 % ./lmstat -c ./license.dat 

% cd $DGIHOME/license 
% ./lmdiag -c ./license.dat 

"Encryption code is inconsistent" - Check your FEATURE line for typos. 

"feature has expired/not yet available" - Check your machine date. 

"cannot connect to license server" - This could be a number of things, but often the DAEMON line in the license.dat is wrong. This also happens when all the FEATURE lines are invalid or expired (if there are no valid FEATURE lines, the license daemon (dgi_nlcd) is not started).   

3. How do I get a correct host ID for FLEXlm?  

The FLEXlm utility for checking the host ID is always the most accurate. It is found in:

% $DGIHOME/license/lmhostid 

SGI:    echo /etc/sysinfo -s 16o p | dc 

IBM:   uname -m (then get rid of leading zeros and last 2 digits) 

SUN:   hostid 

4. How can I run EarthVision on my Sun when my server is on an SGI?  

First, EarthVision has separate sets of executables for Sun and SGI. See the Site Administrator's Guide for loading the appropriate set. 

An exact copy of the SGI license file should be put on the Sun in a file named license.dat in $DGIHOME/license/. 

Please Note:  No modification should be made to the license file. No license daemon is started on the Sun. 

When EarthVision is started on the Sun, it will trace its way automatically to the SGI server and check out a license. 

As an alternative to copying the license file, each Sun user's LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable can be set to: 

 port@host 

where "host" is the name in the SERVER line in your license.dat file on the SGI, and "port" is port number in the SERVER line. 

5. Does EarthVision licensing handle dates in the year 2000 and beyond? 

Yes. Dynamic Graphics has begun issuing license files with 4-digit years for the expiration date. While not necessary until license files contain expiration dates after January 1, 2000, we have begun this to allow our users to become familiar with the practice.

For further information on FLEXlm and year 2000 issues refer to:

http://www.globetrotter.com/flmfaq.htm 

 
6. How do I reserve the use of a license to a specific group of users?  

The restriction of use of a license to a particular group of people is done by using a FLEXlm "options" file. The following is an example but more information is available on the FLEXlm web site:

http://www.globetrotter.com/chap5.htm 

First, create a new file with a ".opt" suffix. In this example, the file, res.opt, has the following information, defining who is in the group and what FEATURE is reserved:

GROUP new_ps mike bill terri jean 
RESERVE 1 ev-ps GROUP new_ps 

SERVER starburst 69000000 1700 
DAEMON dgi_nlcd /usr/dgi/license/dgi_nlcd /usr/dgi/license/res.opt 

This reserves one seat of ev-ps to members of this group. They can check out other licenses as well, but no one outside the group can check out that seat of ev-ps. 
 

7. How do I start up EarthVision with a specific feature?  

When several FEATURE lines allow authorization for a particular module, the least capable FEATURE is checked out first. If it is desired that the module chosen from the EarthVision main menu check out a specific FEATURE, the EarthVision main menu must be started with a specific command. For example, to have all modules started from the EarthVision main menu check out the ev-gmx/svp FEATURE, EarthVision must be started with the following command: 

% ev -xrm '*feature: ev-gmx/svp' 

For additional information, refer to the Site Administrator's Guide. 

8. I would like to have an EarthVision script execute automatically when a license feature finally becomes available. How do I do this?  

ev_license is included with EarthVision for just this purpose. 

If, for example, your script is called run.sh and you wish it to execute as soon as an "ev-gmx/svp" license is available, just type:

% ev_license -F ev-gmx/svp run.sh 

ev_license can also be used interactively to grab a license for an interactive process when it is available: 

% ev_license -F ev-gmx/svp evedit 

See the man pages for ev_license for more details. 

9. Is there a way for single-server sites to more easily manage EarthVision licenses?  

Yes. A centralized manager of licenses is available in EarthVision 4.0.2 (and all subsequent versions). In the license directory ($DGIHOME/license), users will find two programs:

evlm   (Motif version) 
dgi.lm  (scrolling dialogue version) 

License file is called license.dat 
License file is located in $DGIHOME/license directory 
FLEXlm programs being used are located in $DGIHOME/license directory (This is the default location for DGI-distributed programs.) 
Single SERVER line in license.dat file 
$DGIHOME variable set for the person running the utilities 
Must be logged in to the license SERVER machine

Start the license daemon 
Stop the license daemon 
Reread the license file after changes to FEATURE/INCREMENT lines 
Check the status of the license daemon 
Check for the license and vendor daemon processes 
Check the license log (prints out last 100 lines) 
Run diagnostics on the license.dat file 
Obtain hostname and system ID information

The only difference is that "evlm" cannot be run unless EarthVision is immediately available (i.e., EarthVision is not started via a customized startup script) to the person using the utilities. 
 

10. The license daemons do not seem to restart when I reboot my system. Why?  

Most likely, when the installation of EarthVision was made, the section in the Site Administrator's Guide, "Setting the Automatic License Startup" was not successfully completed. It requires that $DGIHOME/license/dgi.netlicense be edited to include the true value of DGIHOME, then the following script must be run as root: 
 

% $DGIHOME/license/license_daemons  

 Common Flex Commands

All of these require being logged into the license SERVER. 

Start the daemons:  

% cd location_of_license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmgrd -c ./license.dat >> NLChostname.log &

Shut down the daemons:

% cd location_of_license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmdown -c ./license.dat 

Daemons can be killed with the UNIX "kill" command but never use "kill -9" on daemons. 
 
Reread a license file when changes have been made only to FEATURE or INCREMENT lines: 

% cd location_of_license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmreread -c ./license.dat 

Check the status of the license daemons (ENHANCED method reports checkout information): 

Basic
% cd location_of_license.dat 
$DGIHOME/license/lmstat -c ./license.dat 

Enhanced 
% cd location_of_license.dat 
$DGIHOME/license/lmstat -a -c ./license.dat 

Run full diagnostics on a license file (tries to check out each FEATURE):  

% cd location_of_license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmdiag -c ./license.dat 

Get the FLEXlm host ID for the local server:  

% $DGIHOME/license/lmhostid 

Force a check in of a particular license (requires an enhanced "lmstat" to get FEATURE, USER, HOST, DISPLAY information): 

% cd location_of_license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmstat -a -c ./license.dat 
% $DGIHOME/license/lmremove -c ./license.dat FEATURE USER HOST DISPLAY 

Check that the license daemons are really running:  

% ps -aef | grep lmgrd 
% ps -aef | grep dgi_nlcd 

Check the last 100 lines of a long log file

% tail -100 log_file_name 

Check the version of the FLEXlm license daemon:  

% $DGIHOME/license/lmgrd -v 
 

Other Sources of FLEXlm Information
 

The Site Administrator's Guide has an extensive listing of error messages and possible solutions. 

The Globetrotter FLEXlm web site is a good source of FLEXlm information as well as offering other products to manage licensing at larger sites. 

http://www.globetrotter.com 

 
[Home] [Corporate] [Events & News]
[EarthVision] [Support] [Services] [Contact Us]

Last updated:  March 22, 2007