Introducing the new License Platform for V93000 Tester

Content

1. Motivation and customer benefit
2. Terminology, technology, and a common approach
3. Efficient license management: Renewal & changes
4. Customer self-rehosting 24x7
5. Overview - New features: FNP vs. FNE or FNX
6. High-level migration sample
7. As-is architecture cases
8. Target architecture options: FNE or FNX
9. Migration decision path
10. Migration option-matrix
11. Migration chart
12. Migration roadmap, milestones, and next steps
13. FNE/FNX license server requirements
14. FNE/FNX network settings

15. Migration Schedule Proposal

16. Project status summary report: Sample

Motivation and customer benefits

Motivation:

Advantest has put a new license application into operation from the 3rd party vendor Revenera, formerly
Flexera.

Customer benefits with the new license platform - technical perspective:

• Drastically reduced license management efforts for renewal & changes: automated online process or simple file handling on the HTTP level
• Once activated, contract licenses are automatically renewed with the annual renewal
• Self Service for license rehosting
• State of the Art tool with optimized GUI user-interface

Further customer benefits - commercial and operational points:

• Free off-charge migration; - lead and support from Advantest with a professional project team and
  established processes
• A double set of licenses during the migration transition phase facilitates a smooth transition and eliminates
  technical failures and risks to a great extent.

Terminology, technology, and a common approach

Terminology and technology differences:

• The currently installed legacy license platform is called ‘FLEX NET PUBLISHER’ or FNP
  
  
• The new license platform is called ‘FLEX NET EMBEDDED’ or FNE
  
  
• Difference: FNE and FNP license servers are entirely different tools. FNE uses regenerative (replacement) licensing, whereas FNP uses iterative licensing (via dynamic license pools). 

Common approach:

• As for older client tester tools (Smartest versions <7.6), which are not migratable to FNE, a so-called Proxy license platform solution becomes necessary; the acronym hereto is FNX
  
  
• The Proxy license platform can handle all the Smartest releases from FNE and FNP license types; this ‘mixed’ or ‘hybrid’ approach is the most applicable customer solution. See the graphic on the right-hand side.

The Proxy Server efficiently converts the new license binary data format into the older binary data format for SmarTest 6/7 when a request is sent from the tester client.

Efficient License Management: Renewal & Changes

With FNE/FNX license management means:

• With an online connection to Advantest’s back-office server, zero efforts for annual license renewal are necessary
  
  
• Without an online connection, all transfers from the back-office server will be done within a single file

Customer Self-rehosting 24x7

Customer self-rehosting of test tool licenses from site A to site B and vice versa
*also works for FNE platforms or in combination: FNX/FNE

Overview - New features: FNP vs. FNE or FNX

High-level Migration Sample

Critical points for migrations:

• For production migration without interruption, a new set of Servers / or virtual machines is required; - or at least for a workaround, a temporary Server set
• For the Customer, an individual new or new server architecture solution will be proposed by Advantest experts, derived from the as-is architecture, i.e.(single Server vs. failover, online vs. offline, new FNE vs. FNX Server; - for more details, see next slide
• Selective existing licenses need to be migrated from FNP to FNE format
• With the parallel migration approach, a smooth switchover of individual tester clients is possible

As-is architecture cases

Target Architecture Options: FNE or FNX

Migration Decision Path

Migration Option-Matrix

Migration Chart

1. Solution Engagement, Timeline Proposal and Customer Timeline Commitment

• Advantest presents migration motivation with technical guidelines
• Advantest proposes project timeline
• Customer gives feedback on a suitable/agreed timeline

2. As-is architecture identification and Target architecture determination

• Customer checks its current setup, configuration, and SmarTest versions
• Customer decides on its target solution and communicates it to Advantest

3. Provisioning new HW and Configuration

• Customer sets up required HW and network configuration and confirms its readiness
• Customer downloads and installs new License Server Application SW
• And does a 1st. registration at Advantest’s Portal, where he receives a 1st dummy license for testing
• Customer fills out license data migration form and provides it to Advantest

4. Provisioning new License Database

• Advantest runs the license data migration process, and parse data to safeguard error-free database

5. Implementation of new License Database

• Customer loads new License database into target systems
• And does, in case of an error, an exception handling with Advantest support

6. Verification

• Customer runs a new Configuration File for FNE or FNX tester clients
• And checks the functioning of the new setup

Migration Roadmap, Milestones, and Next steps

FNE/FNX license server requirements

Hardware minimum configuration:

• Quad core CPU, 8 GB RAM
  
• Free hard disk space
  o Primary & Failover FNX Server: 12GB (FNE) + 12GB (FNX/FNP)
  o Tertiary FNP Server (incl. FNP2FNE proxy software): neglectable (< 100MB)
  o Local license server with FNE/FNX on system controller as Hypervisor / VM set-up: 5GB (FNE) + 5GB
  (FNX/FNP)

Operating system minimum configuration:

• Red Hat Linux 7.2 or newer
  
• Root access for installation
  
• Java 8
  
• License server must use fully qualified hostname (command hostname -f must not return localhost)

Tester Controllers suitable for local license servers:

• Z4 G4, Z640, Z620

FNE/FNX Network Settings

Project Status License Migration Sample

Project Status Summary: Sample