FNP License Renewal

Subtopics

  1. User profile
  2. Entitlements
  3. Renewing your licenses
  4. Downloading licenses
  5. Viewing license information and reporting
  6. Managing entitlement and license server aliases
  7. Downloading the data for license comparison
  8. License Renewal Comparison Tool

FNP License Renewal

Advantest licenses are purchased on a perpetual basis. However, you must physically renew your FlexNet (FNP) license keys on an annual basis using the web-based Advantest License Renewal Portal. All FNP perpetual licenses expire on 31st March the following year.

Note: FlexNet Embedded licensing (FNE) does not require annual license key renewal. If you want to simplify your license management, consider migrating to FNE licensing. If you choose to migrate from FNP licensing to FNE licensing, existing FNP perpetual licenses are converted to FNE permanent licenses. For more details, contact your Advantest representative.

During the month of March of the year following your initial license activation, you must renew FNP licenses. You will also need to repeat the license renewal during March in each subsequent year.

To assign an entitlement and initiate the license renewal process, you need the Entitlement ID, which is stated on your entitlement certificate accompanying each purchase. If you lose or misplace an entitlement certificate, contact your Advantest sales representative for a replacement copy.

1.jpg

User profile

After signing in to the Advantest Licensing Renewal Portal, you can access the User profile page, which displays information about your Advantest License Renewal account.

About this task

You can display the following information about your Advantest License Renewal account:

Before you begin

Sign in to the Advantest License Renewal Portal.

Procedure

To display information about your Advantest License Renewal account, click your user name at the upper-right of the License Renewal Portal.

Entitlements

While your company can hold several entitlements, acquired with different purchases, only a subset of those entitlements may be assigned to your user account. To see your assigned entitlements, sign in to your user account at the Advantest Renewal Portal and click the Assign Entitlements link.

An entitlement assigned to you can also be co-assigned to other user accounts, for example, to a general company user account. A hover text (see below) displays the name of all additional user accounts which have that entitlement co-assigned. If an entitlement is assigned to more than one user account, other users can also view and renew the licenses of that entitlement.

Note: If your company has several users managing entitlements, for example, for different sites, you must make a strategic decision on the internal ownership of entitlements.

To avoid later conflicts, the internal ownership for the entitlements must be clear before starting to assign entitlement certificates.

When the ownership changes, due to system movement or other reasons, make sure the change is also reflected in the entitlement assignment on the renewal portal.

The entitlement ID is the key to all assignments and license renewal activities. Entitlement IDs are case sensitive. To assign an entitlement to your user account, you must be able to identify the entitlement that you want to assign, either from the ID or the alias. The first part of the entitlement ID (before _OID_), which is typically the Advantest order number, is usually sufficient to identify and select an entitlement and move it to the "My assigned entitlements" table.

Example

2.png

The Assign entitlement page is divided into two lists of entitlements.

Displays a list of entitlements that are assigned to you.

Available entitlements

Displays a list of entitlements that are available but not assigned to you.

The entitlements listed in the table on the right have been purchased by your legal entity.

You can use these lists to:

  • Check whether entitlements booked under your legal entity are appropriately assigned to your user account.
  • Assign and remove entitlements to and from your user account.

The Assign entitlements page also provides additional information about the entitlements:

paper.png - The entitlement has activatable items.

blank.png - The entitlement does not have any activatable item. These entitlements do not need to be renewed.

human.png - The entitlement is assigned to other users. A tooltip lists all user names.

i.png - The entitlement does not belong to any of your assigned organizations (legal entities).

att.png - The entitlement is not assigned to any customer. Typically all entitlements should be assigned to a customer.

Assigning an entitlement

When an entitlement is assigned to your user account, you get the rights of that entitlement, with all its licenses.

About this task

Note: The main prerequisite for all renewal activities is that you have assigned the appropriate entitlement IDs to your user account.

Entitlements are identified using entitlement IDs. You find the entitlement ID in the upper-right corner of the entitlement certificate that accompanies each purchase.

3.png

CAUTION: The entitlement ID is the security key to your licenses. Do not make the entitlement ID public. If other users have the entitlement ID, they can assign it to their account and assume ownership of the license.

To assign an entitlement to your user account, complete the following procedure.

Before you begin

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Assign entitlements tab.

    The Assign Entitlement page opens.

  2. From the Available entitlements list, select the entitlements that you want to assign to yourself.

    You can also use the Select all and Unselect all buttons to simplify selection.

  3. Click Assign.

    The list on the left shows those entitlements you assigned to your user account. The list also shows whether an entitlement is assigned to you only, or to others as well. In this case the human.png icon is displayed. Hover text displays the names of the other users.

Results

The selected entitlements are now assigned to your user account and appear in the list on the left.

If you have the complete entitlement ID, you can assign an entitlement that belongs to another legal entity, for example, licenses for systems leased from a leasing company, to your user account using the Add new entitlement ID button. This entitlement appears in the Assigned Entitlements list on the left, but not in the list on the right.

4.png

Removing an entitlement assignment

When you remove an entitlement assignment, it is no longer assigned to your user account. You will not be able to retrieve or renew the licenses of this entitlement, or view its renewal status.

About this task

You may need to do this if somebody else has since been assigned as the entitlement owner, for example, when a system is moved to another site.

To unassign an entitlement from your user account, complete the following procedure.

Before you begin

Before you remove an entitlement ID, make sure you do not need to access the entitlement in the future.

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Assign entitlements tab.

    The Assign Entitlement page opens.

  2. From the My assigned entitlements list, select the entitlements that you want to unassign from your account.

    You can also use the Select all and Unselect all buttons to simplify selection.

  3. Click Unassign.

Results

The specified entitlements are no longer assigned to your user account and removed from the list on the left.

Renewing your licenses

Renewing your licenses enables to keep using them.

About this task

A license is based on several parameters:

You can check these settings and adjust Host IDs and the amount of licenses per host to your current environment.

When renewing your current licenses, you have two options:

Before you begin

Before you can review and change your current license data, sign in to the Renewal Portal and make sure that you have entitlement IDs assigned to your user account.

Procedures

Simple renewal

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Renew licenses tab.

    The Renew licenses - server overview page opens.

  2. For the server that you want to renew, click Renew licenses.

    The Renew licenses - assign to server page opens.

  3. Click Simple Renewal.

    Note: The Simple Renewal button is deactivated if there have been any renewals on the selected license servers.

     

    The License Renewal Summary window is displayed for the selected license server, listing the entitlement IDs, associated product descriptions, the existing license counts and the number of licenses to be renewed.

    Note This is the last chance to cancel the action. Ensure that the license renewal summary is correct before using the Generate button.

  4. To create the new licenses, click Generate.

  5. If the data entered is correct, click Continue.

  6. After you have renewed all your licenses on a particular license server, download these licenses and install them on your license servers.

Advanced renewal

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Renew licenses tab.

    The Renew licenses - server overview page opens.

  2. For the server that you want to renew, click Renew licenses.

    The Renew licenses - assign to server(s) page opens displaying the existing license information for all entitlements that are hosted on the selected license server.

    There are two main actions that you may execute:

    • Specify an additional or alternative license server to manage the renewed licenses.
    • Specify the number of licenses to be assigned for each license and each license server, if you have the license management split over more than one server.

  3. To get an overview of the entitlements, the licenses servers that manage them and the license details, click Advanced Renewal.

    Note: The Advanced Renewal button expands the table showing the licenses.

  4. Optional:

    You can change the view of the table to show either the product names or the entitlement IDs by toggling the link:

    Change to Entitlement ID View / Change to Product View

    To sort any table column alphabetically or numerically, click the header of the column.

    To find a particular product or entitlement ID, enter a string corresponding to the required entitlement ID or product in any of the filter fields below the column headers and press Enter. The list of products or entitlement IDs is filtered to display only those items that include the specified filter string.

  5. For each entitlement that needs licenses to be renewed, assign the license count for each associated server. Change the managing license server, if required.

    If you want to split the license count across more than one license server, complete the following additional steps:

    1. Select a server that is to manage one or more new licenses and enter the required license count for that server.

      If the entered license count is less than the total required, the Split Line button is activated. The Split Line button and other functions are active when you leave the number field (click in another field or outside of the field).

      If the number in the count field exceeds the maximum license count, the number box is highlighted in red. You can display an error message tooltip for any assignment errors.

      If you want quickly specify the same values as used last year and/or move the licenses to another license server, use the Assign Server and License Count up to Last Years Count button. This is helpful if most values are to remain the same and you want to edit only a few license counts. This function can only be used before specifying any changes.

      To select an additional server, click Split Line.

      From the new menu, select an additional server and enter the required license count for that server.

    2. If you want to add a new license server, select Enter new server.

      The Add new license server window opens. Enter the name of the new server and specify the server type.

      Click Apply.

    3. Enter the required license count for the new license server. If you want to remove any pending changes, click Reset.

    Note: Any newly-added server is stored if you associate a license with it. If you do not use it and leave the page, the new server is not saved and must be added again if required.

  6. To generate a license renewal summary, click Generate License ....

    Note: If you enter a different license server or a higher count as last year, a warning summary window is displayed.

    5.png

     

    If the information entered is correct, click Continue to generate a license renewal summary.
  7. Click Generate License to create the new licenses.

    Note: This is the last chance to cancel the action. Please ensure that the license renewal summary is correct before using the Generate License button.


    After you have renewed all your licenses on a particular license server, download these licenses and install them on to your license server.

Non-activated licenses

Non-activated licenses are:

If non-activated licenses are available, the Renew license - server overview page displays the entry Non-activated items at the bottom of the list:

6.png

To open the page displaying the non-activated licenses, from which you can activate or renew the licenses, click the Activate licenses button.

After you have activated or renewed a license to a license server, you can view these licenses in the Renew license - server overview page by selecting the associated license server.

Note: To split a non-activated license, first select the license server and then enter the count.

Results

All selected licenses are renewed and can be installed on the license server after you have downloaded them.

What to do next

Proceed with Downloading licenses

Downloading licenses

You must download the licenses that you have renewed and install them on your license server.

About this task

You can download the licenses that you have renewed in one of two ways:

  • Download directly to your computer
  • Email to your registered business email account

To download available license files, complete the following procedure.

Before you begin

You must have already renewed licenses and generated the associated license files for download.

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Download licenses tab.

    The Download license files page opens.

  2. Select the license servers for which you want to download the newly generated license files.

    License servers that have available license files are identified by dark checkboxes.

  3. Select how you want to have the license files delivered by checking the associated checkbox:

    • Download as ZIP-file directly to your computer.
    • Email to your registered business email account.

      You can select both options.

      Note: You must select at least one of the options to activate the Get license button.


      Click Get license.

      When downloading the ZIP file, the File Download window opens. Select Open or Save.

      Open - the ZIP file is opened in the associated compression application.

      Save - The Save As window opens where you can specify the destination location for the licenses ZIP file.

      When requesting the ZIP file to be sent by email, an email containing the license ZIP file is automatically sent to your specified email address.

Results

The selected licenses are received in a ZIP file. The licenses within the ZIP file are sorted alphabetically by organization and license name.

Viewing license information and reporting

The Overview and Reports page helps you to get an overview about the status of your product licenses and entitlements that are assigned to your user account. The following preconfigured reports are included:

You can also use the export tools available from the Overview and Reports page to create simple reports in Microsoft Excel or CSV formats.

Even outside of the renewal period, the Reports page gives you an overview about your licenses (only perpetual, renewable licenses).

Creating a report

You can run any of the preconfigured reports to get information about the status of your licenses.

About this task

You will run one of the available preconfigured reports:

  • Entitlement by organization report
  • Product by organization report
  • Product by server report
  • Splitted entitlements overview

To create a report about your licenses and entitlements, complete the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Reports tab.


    The Overviews and Reports page opens.

    7.png
  2. Using the Download csv file with renewal data button, a csv file is generated with all license renewal data to your assigned entitlements, which you can save to a location of your choice. The report is based on the information available in the files Renewed.csv and To-Be-Renewed.csv from the License Renewal Comparison Tool with additional information, including alias data, user assignment information, and renewed-by information.

    Alternatively, from the menu, select the report that you want to display:

    • Entitlement by organization report
    • Product by organization report
    • Product by server report
    • Splitted entitlements overview

      The selected report results are displayed in collapsed form, listing the products or entitlements, the total number of licenses, and the percentage of those licenses that are renewed and up to date.

  3. Optional: To show or hide the report details, use the Expand All and Collapse All buttons.

  4. Optional: Enter a search string in the filter field and press Enter. The report result is filtered to display only entries containing the specified string.

    Note: The reports available from the menu show you a percentage for the current renewal states. The percentage is calculated with respect to the renewal/activation levels from the previous year. For example, If you have 10 license products on a license server and you renew 8 of them on the same license server, the Product by server report shows 80% of items renewed (8 of 10). If you move the remaining two license products to another license server, the first license server completion status will remain at 80% even though you might actually be finished with the renewal tasks. Conversely, if you renew and activate more license products on a license server than were installed last year, the completion status will display a value over 100%.

Results

The selected report shows you the renewal completion status for the entitlement IDs assigned to your user account.

What to do next

You can export the report results to a file in Microsoft Excel or CSV format.

Exporting a report

You can export the results of the preconfigured license reports. The reports show you the renewal completion results related to the entitlement IDs assigned to your user account.

About this task

You export the displayed report results to a file in Microsoft Excel or CSV format.

To export the displayed report, complete the following procedure.

Before you begin

Make sure that the report results that you want to export are displayed.

Procedure

  1. In the Reports tab of the Advantest Renewal Portal, make sure that the report results that you want to export are displayed.
  2. To select the format of the report file to be exported, click Excel or CSV.
  3. Download and save the report file to your computer.

Results

The selected report results are saved to a file in the selected format and downloaded to your computer or storage location.

Managing entitlement and license server aliases

Entitlements and servers can be assigned aliases (alternative, easily-recognizable names).

About this task

Assign an alias for an entitlement or a server and add associated information, such as contact data.

To assign an alias to an entitlement ID or a server ID, complete the following procedure.

Before you begin

You must first identify the server or entitlement to which you want to apply an alias.

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the Manage aliases tab.

    The Alias Management page opens.

  2. Depending on the type of alias you want to create, select Entitlement alias or Server alias.

  3. Optional: Click the header of any table column to sort it alphabetically or numerically.

  4. For the chosen entitlement or server, enter an alias and contact information (typically email address).

    Note: The license server alias is also used to identify the license server in the license download file name. So that the license server name is correctly included in the download file name, use only the following characters: 0-9, a-z, A-Z, -, "." (fullstop), "," (comma), and _.


    Any other characters are replaced with _ in the license file name.

    For license servers, you can also enter:

    • Location information to make it easier to find the license server system.

    • License file header information for each license server:

      If you define a license header, this license header is taken for the renewed licenses instead of the standard license header:

      SERVER this_host host

      VENDOR socbu

      USE_SERVER

      To open the Edit License File Header window, click + New. Enter header information as appropriate for your selected license server in the value field and click Update.

      For example:

      SERVER v93t001 dd12fe34aa65 27050

      VENDOR socbu

      USE_SERVER

    Note: The alias information is a global value. Any user who is assigned an entitlement ID is able to change the alias information. Therefore, it is recommended to agree a local procedure for alias handling, for example, only change aliases as a result of significant external changes such as contact information changes. Therefore, the rightmost columns show the user name and date of the last change.

  5. Repeat these steps for all other entitlement IDs and server IDs for which you want to create aliases.
  6. Click Save.

Results

The selected entitlements and servers are now identified by their aliases. The alias name is used on the other Renewal Portal pages as the primary name. The original value is either listed beneath the alias or displayed in a tooltip. The contact info and location field are not displayed on other Renewal Portal pages and is only available for you and your Advantest representative.

Downloading the data for license comparison

The License Renewal Comparison Tool supports you in the annual license renewal process by providing you with two summary CSV files (Renewed.csv and To-Be-Renewed.csv) that list the already renewed licenses and the still-to-be-renewed licenses. The two files helps you maintain and overview of the current status of the Advantest License Renewal Portal's records.

About this task

To download the two summary CSV files for the license comparison tool, complete the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Advantest Renewal Portal start page, select the License Comparison tab.

    The License Comparison Download page opens.

  2. Click Download file for license comparison tool.

  3. Save the License-Comparison-date.zip file containing the (Renewed.csv and To-Be-Renewed.csv) files.

Results

You have downloaded the Renewal Portal data files you need to load in the license comparison tool:

License Renewal Comparison Tool

Subtopics

  1. Installing and updating the Comparison Tool
  2. Executing a comparison
  3. Managing files to compare
  4. How to proceed in case of discrepancies
  5. getOrderNumbers tool

The License Renewal Comparison Tool supports you in the annual license renewal process.

The tool allows you to compare the license inventory of your license servers with the License Renewal Portal's download records. These portal downloads (Renewed....csv and To-Be-Renewed....csv) show which licenses were already renewed, and which licenses still need to be renewed.

You must have visited the License Renewal Portal and your license servers before running the License Renewal Comparison Tool, so that those inputs to the tool are already available.

The License Renewal Comparison Tool displays the download records, the license inventory of your license servers, and any mismatching in a tabular format. Having all this information in one place will make any licensing discrepancies visible.

License Renewal Comparison Tool

Installing and updating the Comparison Tool

The License Renewal Comparison Tool is written in Java and can be run on a PC running Microsoft (MS) Windows, or on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) workstation, including a V93000 system controller or an RHEL workstation serving as a FLEXlm license server.

About this task

Note: Every year, starting 2017, Advantest will provide an updated license product list. You must install this list before using the License comparison Tool.

The installation and start procedures differ between Microsoft (MS) Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Once installed, you can run the Comparison Tool in on-line or in off-line mode in either environment.

Before you begin

Download the installation files for the Comparison Tool from the Advantest web page as follows:

Go to: www.advantest.com/licensing and go to Download License Comparison Tool and GetOrderNumbers Tool.

Download the installation package appropriate for your computer operating system. The available packages are:

  • MS_Windows_Installation_Package_64bit
  • MS_Windows_Installation_Package_32bit
  • Linux_Installation_Package_for_RHEL5

Note: Also download the getOrderNumbers tool appropriate for your system controller operating system. You will need this file later. The available tools are:

  • GetOrderNumbers_Tool_0.91_for_RHEL5
  • GetOrderNumbers_Tool_0.91_for_RHEL7
  • Products_with_features.csv

Note: Check the date on the webpage to make sure that you have the latest version of the Products_with_features.csv file.

9.png

You can download the installation files for the Comparison Tool from the Advantest web page or via the start page of the License Renewal Portal.

  1. To download the tool from the Advantest web page sign on to the Advantest Software Center and go to: Other Software > Active Tools and Files > Licensing > LicensingTools.
  2. Download the appropriate tool for your operating system and the products_with_features.csv file.

Procedures

MS Windows installation and start:

  1. Execute the RenewalComparison.exe file. The installation wizard appears.

  2. To complete the installation follow the instructions.

  3. Save the new Products_with_features.csv file to the following location:

    64 bit: c:\Program Files(x86)\Advantest\Renewal

    32 bit: c:\Program Files\Advantest\Renewal

  4. To start the Comparison Tool on a PC click

    Start > All Programs > Advantest > Advantest License Renewal Comparison Tool > Renewal.bat

    The welcome window with further information appears (see below).

RHEL installation and start:

To install the Comparison Tool on RHEL you must have superuser rights.

  1. Open a Terminal Window and switch user (su) to superuser (root).

  2. Change to the directory where you saved the RenewalComparison*.bin file.

  3. To execute the installation package type

    ./RenewalComparison_el5_x86_64.bin

    This unpacks the installation wizard and launches it.

  4. To complete the installation follow the instructions.

  5. Save the new Products_with_features.csv file to the following location:

    /opt/93000.Renewal/bin

  6. To close the installation wizard click Done.

  7. Exit the superuser mode.

  8. To start the Comparison Tool type

    /opt/93000_Renewal/bin/startComparisonTool

Results

The Comparison Tool starts with the welcome window which provides further information.

10.png

What to do next

If you have the files required for a comparison click OK. If not, click Cancel and restart the Comparison Tool once you have the required input files.

License Renewal Comparison Tool

Executing a comparison

The License Renewal Comparison Tool helps you to make any licensing discrepancies visible by comparing the license status of your license servers against the status of the Advantest License Renewal Portal.

About this task

The tool prompts you to load several input files and automatically compares them against each other and a list of Advantest products and features. You can run the tool on a Linux workstation or on a PC running Microsoft Windows.

Before you begin

Before starting the Comparison Tool, you must have downloaded the required portal files from the License Renewal Portal. In addition, you must have run the getOrderNumbers tool on your license servers.

Note: Check the date on the webpage to make sure that you have the latest version of the Products_with_features.csv file.

Before you start a comparison you must have the following files ready:

  • Portal download file of already renewed licenses (Renewed-*-date.csv)
  • License server inventory file or files (*.txt) generated by the getOrderNumbers tool.

The following file is optional:

  • Portal download file of still to be renewed licenses (To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv)

If you Do not have the required input files you cannot complete the comparison.

Advantest recommends to collect all these files in a single directory. This will ease the task. For details see Managing files to compare.

Procedure

  1. Start the Comparison Tool (see How to install and start the Comparison Tool).

  2. Follow the instructions and load the following files:
    • the portal download file of renewed licenses (Renewed-*-date.csv).
    • optionally, the portal download file of still to be renewed licenses (To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv).
    • the license server inventory *.txt files generated by the getOrderNumbers tool.

Results

The Comparison Tool's processes and compares all these files against the data displayed in the Product Number Key tab (see below). The process may take a few seconds. When done, the tool displays the result in up to seven tabs. Per default the Matched tab shows up in the foreground.

11.png

The tabs of the tool contain the following data:

  • Product Number Key:

    Maps Product IDs, Product Descriptions, and the relevant Licensing Model. This data is required to map the features of the license inventory files with the product numbers in the portal download files.

  • Renewed_In_Portal:

    Lists all licenses that were already renewed and also shows if there is any remaining data.

  • To_Be_Renewed_In_Portal:

    Lists all licenses which still need to be renewed. Advantest recommends to use this download data from the License Renewal Portal as it provides insight, in case the renewal process does not run as smooth as expected.

  • License_Server_Output:

    Lists all licenses found by the getOrderNumbers tool on the license servers.

  • Matched:

    Lists those entitlements that were renewed and could be located on the license servers. These entitlements require no further effort.

  • Renewed_Entry_Without_Server_Entry:

    Lists any entitlements that were renewed but have no matching entry in the License Server inventory data. These could have been rehosted or never installed on the license servers. Any entry here represents a discrepancy and requires further investigation.

  • Server_Entry_Without_Renewed_Entry:

    Lists any entitlements found in the License Server inventory data, but not found in the License Renewal Portal. Again, any entry here represents a discrepancy and requires further investigation.

What to do next

You can save the data of any tab in a spreadsheet format. To save a tab move it to the foreground and click Save As.... See also How to save resulting files.

If there are any discrepancies, that is, any entries in the Renewed_Entry_Without_Server_Entry or Server_Entry_Without_Renewed_Entry tabs, please proceed as outlined in How to proceed in case of discrepancies.

License Renewal Comparison Tool

Managing files to compare

The License Renewal Comparison Tool requires the following input files:

Optionally, you can load the portal download file of still to be renewed licenses (To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv).

The comparison tool processes these files against the data in the Product Number Key tab. This data is provided with the yearly updated version of the tool (see How to install and start the Comparison Tool).

License server inventory .txt files

In most cases you will have a single license server inventory file (getOrderNumbers output file).

This is the case if your licensing setup consists of a single FLEXlm license server, if it is a three-license-server redundancy configuration, or for multiple independent license servers in a network. For these configurations you will have one license server inventory file showing the installed licenses for all license servers.

Only in case of multiple license servers in independent networks you will have one license server inventory file per network. In this case you must run the getOrderNumbers tool on a server in each network.

You must use a .txt file name extension for each file, for example license-inventory-server01.txt.

Renewed-*-date.csv files

You must visit the License Renewal Portal before running the Comparison Tool. The portal allows you to download a record file which lists the already renewed licenses (Renewed-*-date.csv).

To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv files

The License Renewal Portal also allows you to download record file of still to be renewed licenses (To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv). This file as it provides insight, in case the renewal process does not run as smooth as expected.

Collect in single directory

The License Renewal Portal writes both .csv record files into a License.zip file. For further processing you need to extract them.

Advantest recommends to create a single directory or folder, for example verigy-license-renewal-year, and collect all these files in this directory. If all input files are available in your local file system, you can run the Comparison Tool stand-alone in off-line mode.

The directory of your collected input files may look as follows:

verigy-license-renewal-2009/license-inventory-server01.txt
verigy-license-renewal-2009/Renewed-*-date.csv
verigy-license-renewal-2009/To-Be-Renewed-*-date.csv

License Renewal Comparison Tool

How to proceed in case of discrepancies

The Advantest License Renewal Comparison Tool helps you to compare the license status of your license servers against the status of Advantest's license database (reflected in the Advantest License Renewal Portal).

About this task

Solving these discrepancies may be a tedious task. The recommendations below can only be on a general level, as every situation will be different.

Any discrepancies will be listed in the Renewed_Entry_Without_Server_Entry or Server_Entry_Without_Renewed_Entry tabs of the Comparison Tool.

The recommended procedures differ depending on where the unmatched license was found.

Before you begin

Make sure your input files are up-to-date and reflect the current status.

Make sure you have all input files, especially in case of multiple license inventory files.

Procedures

Renewed_Entry_Without_Server_Entry tab:

An entry in this tab means, an entitlement was renewed in the license database, but was not found on any of your license servers. The reason could be one of the following:

If none of the above applies, please contact your Advantest representative.

Server_Entry_Without_Renewed_Entry tab:

An entry in this tab means, a license was found on one of your license servers, but was not renewed in the license database. The reason could be one of the following:

If none of the above applies, please contact your Advantest representative.

What to do next

Once the discrepancy is solved, make sure both your license servers and the license database are up-to-date.

License Renewal Comparison Tool

getOrderNumbers tool

The getOrderNumbers tool provides you with a complete list of the licenses installed on your license servers. This output is one of the files required by the License Renewal Comparison Tool and helps you with the annual license renewal process.

CAUTION: Do not run the getOrderNumbers tool under user root. This can lead to longer execution times.

Note: Prerequisite: FLEXlm license server software version: ≥ 11.9.1.1.

Note: The getOrderNumbers tool is available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 7. Use the version applicable to your operating system version.

You can run the getOrderNumbers tool either on one of your license server hosts or on any of the SmarTest clients.

Sign on to the Advantest Software Center and go to: Other Software > Active Tools and Files > Licensing > LicensingTools > getOrderNumbers

To install the tool, extract it and copy it to a host in your network, for example at /home/my_name/license-renewal-tools/getOrderNumbers.

Once you copied the file, make sure it is executable.

For the recommended three-license-server redundancy configuration or for multiple license servers within a network, you need to run the getOrderNumbers tool only once, either on one of the license server hosts or on a SmarTest client host.

If you have license servers in multiple independent networks, you must run the getOrderNumbers tool in each network.

Example

For example, for a three-license-server redundancy configuration, the output is one license server inventory file showing the installed licenses for all three servers:
15.gif