FlexNet

Deadline
1

I am looking into integrating our Autodesk licensing into FlexNet. Has anyone done this (with Deadline also in FlexNet) and found any issues I should be aware of before continuing? Autodesk seems to think that I would just need to combine their license text into the existing license file and it will just work.

Any advice is appreciated.

Joel Howden
MBA Productions

2

Hello,

Yup, that is exactly what you would do. If you are on Windows, just make a new service in the config services tab of lmtools and you should be good to go.

3

Thanks Dwight for the reply.
Having some technical issues and I just want to head things off. Autodesk is saying that I need to install the “latest” version of FlexNet (available from their website, of course). I am unable to install this as there is already a version installed. Can I use a different version of FlexNet with the Deadline license (i.e - uninstall the current version, combine the license files, install new version, make service, everyone happy!)? I am assuming their tech support (whenever I actually hear back from them) will say that I have to use their version. Does Deadline care about version of FlexLM? Just trying to be proactive and prepared. I assume others do this so it may be a no brainer, just dont want things to break unless I know they will first…

Joel Howden

4

Although you can combine Flexlm licenses to potentially run under one flexlm process/daemon(service), I just would never do this in production. Here’s a few reasons/thoughts, based on some life experiences if it helps:

  1. There have been cases and in very recent times, where for instance, Autodesk have informed the community that you must use the latest point release of Flexlm to license a 2015 product and they release a new build/version of their FlexNet based license server. This latest version of Flexlm actually isn’t compatible with some older versions and only on certain OS platforms…and so…begins the pain…users scream, IT guys start to bang heads together.

  2. Keep each license system separate. Keep all software vendors happy and comply for official support. :slight_smile: If the lmgrd process goes down for any reason, it only takes 1 license system potentially with it and not my Maya, Nuke, 3dsMax, etc as well. Run each license system as a separate service/daemon. Then you can configure each one slightly differently, if you so wish. Sysadmin maintenance in the future, including restarts, also means you only need to touch 1 license system, lowering risk of screwing other things up.

  3. If you have more than 2 license systems, then consider the serious use of multiple machines (can be virtual and I would highly recommend it). FlexNet’s 2-way or 3-way license server redundancy setup is very old school and actually has a couple of deadly circumstances you can get yourself into, if you approach IT maintenance such as a reboot or update incorrectly. It’s sooo much easier to just use much newer technology in terms of let VM’s take the strain and just one a 1-way flexlm license server setup. (see my next comment about DRS/live migration)

  4. If using virtual machines, you can tie MAC address based licensing to a fixed MAC address that is available to a VM machine and take advantage of the flexibility and redundancy that VM’s provide. As an example, I normally cite VMware’s DRS system for dynamic failover, which is proven to work in production to allow a live migration of a VM license server between 2 different physical machines, without killing client connections. Neat stuff.

  5. For software vendors that need a physical dongle/USB thing to tie their licensing system to, that’s fine, buy their USB dongles, but plug them into a USB hub, which can be seen across the network to your VM cluster, has redundant power & redundant NIC’s. These things kick ass - digi.com/products/model?mid=3609
    Buy 2 of these, fully mesh them - PDU’s & NIC’s, plugging into multiple independent power supplies - mains/APC battery and all your license headaches with VRay, PFTrack, etc dongles go away over night :slight_smile:

  6. Because your now running VM’s and these USB hubs, it’s cheap as chips, to build primary and secondary license servers on different VM’s, ensuring that no 2 x VM’s co-exist on the same HOST physical server at the same time.

In terms of FlexNet installing, the different vendor installers normally allow you to install into different locations and can each co-exist on the same system but in different directories.