Overview

This guide provides an overview and best practices for deploying our FlexNet Floating Licenses. At this point you would have received an email from us that a FlexNet license was deployed for your organization.  This article contains the step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring the license server components and the FlexNet license files. 

See Revenera’s 'FlexNet Publisher License Administration Guide' for detailed installation and operation instructions.

 

 

Table of Contents

• Files Needed
• Hardware
• Server(s)
• Vendor Daemons
• Network
• Installation Instructions
• Loading License Components to your Licensing Server
• Configuring your nTop Licensing Server
• Exporting Usage Data
• End-User Instructions for Starting up nTop
• End-User Instructions for Starting up nTop Automate
• Troubleshooting Tips

Before We Begin

Files Needed

Before getting started you will need the nTopLM MSI file for configuring your license server. You can download the file by clicking this link. Once you install the MSI file it will create a folder that contains the tools you will need for the steps outlined in the following sections. The default installation location is inside the nTopology program folder as shown below.

Hardware

The FlexNet Floating License requires a FlexNet license server to operate. When selecting a license server: 

• We generally recommend not running any additional vendors' license managers or other software from this server in order to optimize the server performance.
• All files used in conjunction with the license manager software must be located on a disk that is physically local to the server computer(s).
• The license server(s) must have a high-speed, reliable Ethernet connection.
• Computers that experience extremely high levels of network traffic or processing lag due to high CPU and/or I/O usage are poor candidates for license servers. 
• Do not use computers that are frequently rebooted. 
• The license server machine(s) must have a static IP address.

Server(s)

Choose a server model:

• Single Server: 1 license file installed on one server. 
• Distributed Servers: Multiple license files installed across multiple servers.
• High-Availability Triad. Licenses are installed on one server, plus two backup servers.
  • You must specify a primary server and two redundant servers.

We recommend that you configure multiple single servers instead of a redundant (triad) configuration. If one of the single servers becomes unavailable, then only a portion of your license becomes unavailable, rather than all of them. A redundant-server configuration will add additional network communication overhead, resulting in reduced server performance. When a redundant triad is configured incorrectly, you will lose all of the inherent benefits of redundancy. 

If the Triad is your choice for server setup, please consider these specific configurations: 

• Choose three machines of the same platform type (currently only Windows support available).
• All three servers should be on the same subnet in the same physical location. 
• Install the license file and entire licensing directory on each of the three license servers. 
  • Not configuring the servers in this manner defeats the purpose of having redundancy as the server holding these files becomes a single point of failure.

Vendor Daemons

We generally recommend not hosting the nTop FlexNet Floating License with other FlexNet Publisher Vendor Daemons on the same server. However, the system does work on license servers that host other vendors' daemons. For optimal performance with multiple vendor daemons on 1 server please ensure: 

• The license server(s) and your network environment have suitable bandwidth appropriate for the total number of product clients served by all vendor daemons. 
• We do not support combining the license files from multiple vendor daemons in order to run a single LMGRD. 
• Revenera states that multiple machines, each running one lmgrd, one vendor daemon, and using one license file is the optimal configuration: 
• The license files for each vendor are independent of one another. 
• Each server machine can be maintained separately. If one machine goes down, the other machines continue to serve licenses for their vendors.
• Each server has its own debug log.

Network

The primary network settings to configure the nTop FlexNet Floating License System are the TCP/IP port settings: 2080, 27000-27009 are the default port(s) for FlexNet Publisher. These settings should only be adjusted in exceptional circumstances, such as to avoid using the same ports as other applications/services on your network. 

Our licensing MSI provides local service and network service permissions on installation. Additionally, you should configure any virus scanners, firewalls, and WAN optimization software to allow the various components of the nTop Floating License System to run & also communicate on the allocated ports. You can edit the license file to use precise port numbers or entirely different port numbers - if necessary.

Wi-Fi Connections

We do not recommend connecting your license server to your network with a wireless connection as they are simply less stable, less reliable, and transfer speeds are 10X slower than ethernet. 

VPN

We do not recommend connecting your license server to your network over a VPN due to transfer speeds compared to an ethernet connection.

Installation Instructions

nTop User Dashboard

Now it's time to download your license files. To do this, you will need to visit the nTop user dashboard located at https://app.ntop.com. Please use the account you created with us to login. 

Note that the nTop user dashboard is your central location to manage users, teams and licenses for your entire organization if you have the Org Admin privileges. You can learn more about the Org Admin role here.

Generating nTop FlexNet License Files 

Below you can see a snapshot of a typical Licenses tab for an Organization. If you had sent us your Host ID(s) ahead of time, the grey "Set Host ID(s)" icon should be blue. Clicking this will automatically download your license file.

However, if you haven't sent your Host ID(s) in advance, you can follow the steps below to obtain your Host ID and generate your license files.

Obtaining your Host ID

Please follow the instructions in this article to obtain your Host ID. 

Onboarding License

If you purchased the nTop Onboarding Package, you will need to download additional license files. The onboarding license will allow for unlimited users during your onboarding period. You can choose to install both license files on your FlexNet licensing server.

 

Loading License Components to your Licensing Server

Now we need to use the other tools that were included in the nTopLM MSI that we downloaded previously. We will need the following license server components:

• lmtools/lmutil
• nTop License Manager 
  • lmgrd
  • lmadmin
• nTop Vendor Daemon
  • ntoplm.exe

Once you have the nTop FlexNet Floating license file(s), you will need to add the server address (and port if running several products from the server) to the file in order to load and run it successfully. Please follow the steps below to add these to the file:

• Run your servers on a supported operating system on a stable network. Avoid restarts, unless necessary, as they can interfere with continuity of serving floating licenses to your end users.
• Your server(s) should communicate with ports 2080 and 27000-27009. These are the default ports the system uses. Although these ports are configurable, changing them may cause conflicts with other applications.

Configuring your nTop Licensing Server

• Open LMTOOLS, navigate to 'Config Services'.
• Name the Service, we recommend “nTopLM”.
• Browse and load lmgrd.exe.
• Browse and load the License File.
• Check the 'Use Services' box.
  • Note: We recommend this option because you can set it up to restart automatically upon reboot of the license server
• Click 'Save Service'.

Starting Up Your Server 

• Navigate to Start/Stop/Reread tab.
• Click 'Start Server'.
• You will see a success or error message in the bottom left hand corner of the window.

Server Status Inquiries

To check the status of your server, navigate to the 'Server Status' tab

• Click 'Perform Status Enquiry'.
• Check number of licenses issued for 'ntop_full' and "ntopcl_full". These numbers should match the count of licenses purchased.

Now your license server is setup and ready for use by End Users in your organization. Please share the ''Server Address' with all eligible users.

Exporting Usage Data

To export your usage data, please review the information in the "Managing the Options File" chapter in the 'FlexNet Publisher License Administration Guide.'

 

End-User Instructions for Starting up nTop

As an end user, when you start up nTop for the first time, navigate to the License Settings button.

Enter the license server address (and port - if necessary), which your Org Admin should have shared with you, and click Apply. 

If a license is available, nTop will start up. If all licenses are checked out, you will receive the message shown below.

 

End-User Instructions for Starting up nTop Automate

nTop Automate should work the same way as nTop. Enter the server address following --license in Command Prompt or Powershell along with the Server Address similar to the step above, and it should log you in.

ntopcl --license PORT@HOSTNAME

 

Troubleshooting Tips

• Ensure you're running lmtools as an administrator.
• The server line in the license file should be set up: server + host + hostID, and then port.
• The "this_host" in the license file must be the license server's IP address or the hostname if using DNS resolution