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Failover license server installation, upgrades and updates

Installation procedure for a failover FlexNet Embedded license server arrangement to provide activated licenses. Applicable to fresh installations, and applying upgrades to add major functionality and patch updates installing the latest packages on an existing server.

About this task

Note: It is possible to set up an emergency FNE license server, listed at the end of the client.conf file. In an emergency where the normal license servers are inaccessible, install the emergency licenses on the emergency license server. All clients automatically connect to the emergency FNE license server.

Note: If you are upgrading an existing installation, a running license server is automatically stopped as part of the new software installation.

The following procedure is applicable to installation, upgrades and updates. However, associating the servers (step 2), registering the primary server (step 3), and synchronizing the servers (step 4) are only required for initial installation. These steps should be omitted for upgrades and updates.

Note: During updating, the installation script can be called without any options. All installed packages are detected automatically and updated if applicable.

Before you begin

A redundant FNE failover setup consists of two servers; the primary production system and the failover standby system. If the primary system stops working, for example, due to a hardware defect, the failover system assumes the production workload and handles all requests. The period of each failover substitution is limited to a maximum of 5 days. During these 5 days, you must repair and recommission the primary server or set up a new server.

Note: If the failover system goes down while the primary system is handling the production workload, there is no mandatory time limit for getting it running again. However, during this period there is no redundancy backup.

For mixed FNE-FNP environments, also refer to Mixed FlexNet Embedded and FlexNet Publisher licensing and Set up a three-license-server redundancy configuration

  • Make sure that the system hosting the FlexNet Embedded license server host system meets the hardware and operating system prerequisites. For details and check procedures, see FlexNet Embedded license server setup.
  • To be able to detect any license server problems early, we strongly recommend that you plan to include the FNE license servers in your availability monitoring setup. SmarTest cannot inform you about the failure of a license server.

Procedure

  1. Install the license server software on the primary server, the failover server, and for mixed FNE-FNP environments, on the FNP tertiary server.

    Follow the instructions described in the appropriate topic linked below:

  2. ❗ Not for upgrades or updates : Associate the failover FNE license server with the primary FNE license server, using a user other than root, on the primary server execute the command:
    /opt/flexnetls/socbu/fne-failover-setup <secondary-hostname>.<domain>

  3. ❗ Not for upgrades or updates : Register the primary FNE license server with the Advantest Licensing Back-Office:

    register-fne-server <Unique_Activation_ID>

    For details see Registering the license server.

  4. ❗ Not for upgrades or updates : Synchronize the FNE license servers:

    For FlexNet Embedded license servers that are connected to the internet, an automatic synchronization should occur immediately. If this is not the case, you can perform a sync-fne-server action on the license server.

    For FlexNet Embedded license servers not connected to the internet, registering the servers from the primary server (uploading the registration-request-file to the Advantest Licensing Back-Office) provides you with a downloadable license container file.

    Unpack and apply the license container file to the primary AND the failover systems using the following command on each license server:

    register-fne-server <unpacked zip-file>

    For full details see Registering the license server.

  5. On the primary license server check the status of the failover system:

    /opt/flexnetls/socbu/fne-failover-status


    The following displays an example of the status output:

    4.png

  6. Activate the licenses to the new FNE license server. For details, see Activating licenses or Downloading licenses as appropriate for your environment.

Results

The FNE primary and secondary license servers are installed, synchronized and licenses are activated.

To check if an FNE license server is running:

/usr/bin/fne-status or /usr/local/bin/fne-status

If the FNE license server is running, the following type of output is displayed:

* advantest-fne-server.service - Flex Net Embedded license server adapted for Advantest
Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-05-20 11:08:14 CEST; 3 days ago
* advantest-fne-server-viewer.service - Advantest Flex Net Embedded License Server Viewer
Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-05-20 11:06:48 CEST; 3 days ago
* advantest-fne-proxy.service - Advantest FNP2FNE proxy
Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-05-20 11:07:36 CEST; 3 days ago

To check that the installation is complete, open a browser to view the FNE Server Viewer from the primary FNE license server system:

http://<serverName>:7077

Click on link Features.

You should see the licenses activated to your license server.

Check the connections of the primary and failover FNE license server systems with:

  • http://<fne-server-hostname>:7070/api/1.0/health
  • http://<failover-fne-server-hostname>:7070/api/1.0/health

Note To uninstall the FNE License Server and FNE Server Viewer, execute the command:
sudo yum remove advantest-fne-server advantest-fne-server-viewer

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