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Local Float License Server Setup

This document describes the installation of the CAESES local float license server and how to setup CAESES to use the license provided by the local float server.

important

Running a CAESES localfloat server on a virtual machine is forbidden by the license agreement and the license server will fail to start. If you require this kind of setup, please contact us to find a solution for you.

The CAESES local float server provides licenses for CAESES through HTTPS-Requests. The server is developed by FRIENDSHIP SYSTEMS AG. It has a webinterface for management purposes. Alternatively, the server can be configured through a configuration file or command line arguments.

Installation​

Linux​

The LFL server is a standalone package and can be obtained from our website www.caeses.com/downloads. First, the downloaded archive needs to be extracted:

  • Open a terminal, move the *.tar file to the desired location and navigate to that location
  • Extract the file with tar xfz cases5_localfloat_Linux.x86_64.tar.bz2
  • Get the server up and running with the installation script. It will guide you through the installation process: ./install.sh

This will guide you through the installation process. Per default, the localfloat server is installed in /opt/CAESES_localfloatserver and run as a system service with a dedicated user account (caeses_localfloatserver).

Expert

The system daemon files are located at /etc/init.d/caeses_localfloatserver and /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/caeses_localfloatserver.service

If you installed the server as a system service, you can control it using the following commands

$ systemctl start caeses_localfloatserver.service
$ systemctl stop caeses_localfloatserver.service
$ systemctl status caeses_localfloatserver.service

Otherwise, the server can be started by executing ./ffloatsrv in the installation directory. Per default, the server will start as a daemon in the background, if you provide the option -e, it will run as a normal application in the foreground.

synchronized clock

The localfloat server requires a synchronized clock between client and server. This can be achieved by using a NTP timeserver on the network. Windows PCs with active internet connection have this service enabled by default.

Windows​

The license server can either be executed as a normal application or be installed as a system service. To start the server as a normal application, open a command prompt (cmd.exe), navigate to the folder <CAESESInstallationDirectory>/bin/win64 and execute the command ffloatsrv.exe -e.

If you want to start the Local Float License Server as Windows system service, you have to register the application. For this, open a command prompt (cmd.exe) as administrator (right click > Run as Administrator) and navigate to the folder <CAESESInstallationDirectory>/bin/win64 and execute the command ffloatsrv.exe -i.

You now can see the CAESES localfloat server in you Windows services (services.msc) and it can be started and stopped like any other service.

Firewall Setup​

The local float server required one TCP-Port for the communication with the clients. The default port is 5317, see the configuration chapter for information on how to change it. This port should be open for connections from the clients. Please allow outgoing connections on the client side as well as incoming connections on the server side. Also, if your computers are in different network segments (VLAN), make sure that the appropriate rules are set in your network firewall.

The webinterface is accessible at the Port 5318. This port is not required by CAESES.

The CAESES local float server uses a broadcast to announce itself to CAESES clients in the same network segment. This is done via a UDP broadcast message at port 45454. This is not required to use the server, but if the broadcast is not received by CAESES, the server address has to be specified manually.

Configuration​

You can access the webinterface of the license server using the IP address of the server and the port 5318. If you want to access the webinterface on the same machine where you installed the server, you can use the loopback address: http://localhost:5318.

Add a License​

For all license related tasks, you'll need a user account. If you do not have a user account, please follow the registration steps in the Installation Guide document.

Request a new license​

If you would like to request a license with an active internet connection, please click the "Get license from FSYS license server" button. Afterwards, you'll see a button labeled "Request license creation". This will send the request and you'll be notified via email once it has been processed.

If you do not have an active internet connection, please click the "Download license request" button and send the file via mail to license@friendship-systems.com. Please note that you need to be registered already to process your request.

After you get the notification that your license is ready, you can proceed with the steps in the section Use an existing license.

Use an Existing License​

If the localfloat server has an active internet connection, you can simply access your licenses by clicking the "Get license from FSYS license server" button in the webinterface. After you entered your user data, you can download the matching license by clicking the download button next to it.

info

If necessary, you can update the hardwaremap of the license to match the computer by clicking the "Change to this computer" button. Please note that this can only be done once every 6 months. After that period, please contact the support team at license@friendship-systems.com and explain the need for another license change.

If you do not have an active internet connection, please download the license file at www.caeses.com/license_overview and add it using the "Add license" button.

Please note that you can add multiple licenses to the license server, however if you would like to use the license also with CAESES 4, only the default license can be checked out.

Additional Configuration Options​

The following options can be set in the configuration file ffloatsrv.cfg located in the bin/Linux.x86_64 or bin/win64 folder in the installation directory:

  • hide-users - if this option is set, no usernames will be displayed on the webpage or in the CAESES clients
  • no-broadcast - if this option is set, the server will not announce itself in the network.
  • auto-license-renew - if this option is set, the renewal of the license will be performed automatically, this option is enabled per default
  • logpath - you can set a custom path for the logfile
  • ip - you can specify the IP address of the network interface the localfloat server should use, as a default the license server binds to 0.0.0.0 which means it is available on all network interfaces
  • port - the port the server should use, the default is 5317
  • webinterfaceport - the port of the webinterface, the default is 5318
  • defaultLicenseId - the default license id which only must be set if multiple licenses are added to the server and a CAESES4 client should connect to it. CAESES 4 will always use the default license.
  • restrictIp - a list of comma separated IP addresses that are allowed to connect to the server, to allow a network segment use for example 192.168.0.255.
  • hdddetection -* Linux only*: if necessary you can specify if you would like to force the use of udisks or udisks2. Usually it is not necessary to touch this settings and you should only do so if advised by the support team. Valid options are forceudisks and forceudisks2.

Obtaining the License Status​

The localfloat server allows to check for the license status via a HTTP endpoint on the webinterface port. After a GET request to /license/getAvail, a JSON response with the following keys is returned:

  • nodes,
  • usedNodes,
  • lockedNodes.

Locking of Licenses​

The localfloat server allows to obtain a lock on a license via a HTTP request. This allows to obtain a lock in a script before CAESES is started, pass the lock id to CAESES, which will then use the locked license to avoid race conditions in cluster setups. Send a POST request to /license/lock with a JSON formatted request like this (the timeout and username parameters are optional, the timeout is in seconds):

{
	"licId": "12345",
	"username": "user",
	"timeout": 20
}

If successful, a lock id is returned together with a status code 200, otherwise a status code 500 and a corresponding error message is returned. The lock id can be passed to CAESES either using the FS_LIC_LOCK environment variable or the --liclock startup argument.

Command Line Option​

All configuration options can also be specified using command line options. They take precedence over the options specified in the configuration file. You can get a list of the available options by executing the localfloat server with the option -h, a description of the options can be found in section Additional configuration options.

Additionally, there is the option -e to start the server as a normal application in the foreground instead of a daemon, the option -t to terminate the service running as a daemon (if not installed as a system service) and for Windows the options -i and -u to install and remove the service.

Troubleshooting​

If you encounter any issues during setup, please visit the Troubleshooting section of our documentation for step-by-step solutions and common fixes.