Installation Questions
Can I install FNP on a dual boot workstation
Definition dual boot workstation
A dual boot workstation is currently the set-up of two boot instances on the workstation with
- Hypervisor and VM setup for the one instance
- Bare metal setup for the other instance
This setup is available for the following workstations:
- Z640
- Z4G4
- Z4G5
Question: Can I install FNP on a dual boot workstation?
Short answer:
- answer for Z640 and Z4G4: Yes
- answer for Z4G5: No
Reason for the denial for Z4G5: the FNP license server software is not supported on RHEL9, neither on the hypervisor nor on the bare metal operating system. The only possibility is to install the license server on the VM. With PDB 703.0 officially the installation on the VM is allowed. PDB 703.0 the hypervisor will provide a static MAC address for the VM, so if it needs to be re-installed, the same static MAC address will be used for the newly installed VM. A rehosting of the licenses is then not necessary.
Three use cases for Z4G5:
- If the licenses are needed on both instances (first instance with hypervisor / VM, second instance with RHEL9 bare metal), a central license server needs to be used. Here it is recommended to use FNE or FNX for installation. Advantage for FNE / FNX is that customer can do the rehosting himself/herself.
- If the licenses are only needed on the hypervisor / VM instance only
, an FNE or an FNX license server can be installed on the VM. With PDB 703.0 the host ID of the VM will not change with a VM re-installation. Advantage for FNE / FNX is that customer can do the rehosting himself/herself. Installation of an FNP server is also possible, but then a rehosting might be charged. - If the licenses are needed on the bare metal instance only , you can install an FNE license server on the bare metal system (FNX is also possible, but probably not needed - if SmarTest can use FNE client, it is good to install a native FNE server instead of an FNX server).