Reprise Licensing

Reprise License Manager (RLM™) is operationally similar to FlexNet Publisher™. The RLM binaries are shipped with each release of Altair Accelerator software.

  1. Submit a support request at Altair Community. and provide the host ID and host name of the license server to request a license file.
    On Linux and Windows, the hostid is the Ethernet MAC address of the any active network interface card. On other platforms, it is the manufacturer's built-in hostid. 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% vovhostid
MAC:aa:bb:cc:dd:00:11
    1. After you have installed the Altair Accelerator software, the host id can also be obtained with the command vovhostid. 
      % vovhostid
MAC:aa:bb:cc:dd:00:11
    2. On Windows, you can use the command getmac to list the MAC addresses of all network interfaces. Please use the first address you see.
      Note: Do not use the Linux hostid command, which gives an incorrect result.
  2. On a Linux or Windows host use: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmhostid ether
rlmhostid v3.0 Copyright © 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved
Hostid of this machine: 0012ab34cd56
  3. Save the license from your e-mail system into a file; for example, rtda.lic
    RLM will automatically read-in any license file ending in ".lic" from the directory where it is started. This naming convention is recommended, especially when using failover, where the failover license file would be named rtda_failover.lic.
  4. Edit the file to remove any email headers that may have been inserted during transit.
  5. Change the HOST name to match that of the license server, and change the ISV line to reflect the correct path to the rtdad daemon as the software is installed on your system.
  6. If needed, the port number may be changed as well.
    The Reprise license file should resemble the following: 
    # This is a Reprise License for VOV
# Please do the following:
#   1.  Install the file in the Altair RLM license server directory.
#   2.  Modify the ISV line by replacing @VOVDIR@ with the actual path to rtdad
#   3.  Optionally, change the port number on the HOST line
#   4.  Start with: rlm -nows -c /path/to/rtda.lic >& rlm.log &

HOST bison 0002b3643927 7070
ISV rtdad ./rtdad
LICENSE rtdad host_licmon 8.25 31-dec-2017 200 sig="60PG4580K811VWQ3U4G
YXG6C13H3R2CNFRKJ8PSW08A6XGX4FRSR19BXUQ65QEBHGR14NBYV045G"
LICENSE rtdad licmon 8.25 31-dec-2017 1 sig="60Q04580J6R1C53G36DR65CAJ5
P71DQAKTVX4HV308AG15V4YV5UU9YTQN5DE506RHU5297RN07KX"
LICENSE rtdad server_nc 8.25 31-dec-2017 31 sig="60PG453MDXWPAQ6J5QCTGBMBU
ERCNTQ9WAAS5TG22M08K6BAVC774EC2MVWWNAW8HYFRFCSCRXEG"
LICENSE rtdad workloadsim 8.25 31-dec-2017 1000 sig="60P0453YVB4M1VH2FU
W54PA4NSJ3F7D0S9MS5A022HXADQWJ04J503Q62VUSYBAE1525DG779C"

Basic RLM Installation

The following procedure should be used for a basic set up of RLM licensing. Altair Accelerator software currently uses Reprise version 12.2BL2.

  1. Save the license received via email from PBS Works Support in the file rtda.lic.
  2. Edit the file to remove or comment out any email headers inserted during transit. Change the HOST name to match that of the license server, and change the ISV line to reflect the correct path to the rtdaddaemon as the software is installed on your system.

    As shipped, the ISV line is ./rtdad, which corresponds to putting the RLM binaries and license file in the same directory. If needed, the port number may be changed as well.

    The Reprise license file should resemble the following:
    # This is an example of a Reprise License for VOV
#
# Please do the following:
#   1.  Install the file in the Altair Accelerator RLM license server directory.
#   2.  Modify the ISV line by replacing @VOVDIR@ with the actual path to rtdad
#   3.  Optionally, change the port number on the HOST line
#   4.  Start with: rlm -nows -c /<output_path>/<license_file_directory>/rlm.log

HOST bison 0002b3643927 7070
ISV rtdad ./rtdad
LICENSE rtdad host_licmon 2016.09 31-dec-2019 200 sig="60PG4580K811VWQ3U4G
YXG6C13H3R2CNFRKJ8PSW08A6XGX4FRSR19BXUQ65QEBHGR14NBYV045G"
LICENSE rtdad licmon 2020.1 31-dec-2019 1 sig="60Q04580J6R1C53G36DR65CAJ5
P71DQAKTVX4HV308AG15V4YV5UU9YTQN5DE506RHU5297RN07KX"
LICENSE rtdad server_nc 2020.1 31-dec-2019 31 sig="60PG453MDXWPAQ6J5QCTGBMBU
ERCNTQ9WAAS5TG22M08K6BAVC774EC2MVWWNAW8HYFRFCSCRXEG"
LICENSE rtdad workloadsim 2020.1 31-dec-2019 1000 sig="60P0453YVB4M1VH2FU
W54PA4NSJ3F7D0S9MS5A022HXADQWJ04J503Q62VUSYBAE1525DG779C"
  3. Create a dedicated directory that contains the RLM binaries, the RLM license file, and all other RLM-related files (including the log file). The dedicated RLM directory should be placed in local storage on the license server machine, so that the machine can serve licenses without being dependent on network storage availability.
    The items that should be copied to this directory are:
    • The RLM license file, obtained from PBS Works Support
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rlm - the RLM executable
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rlmutil - the RLM utility executable (provides rlmstat, rlmreread, etc.)
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rtdad - the Altair Accelerator vendor daemon.
  4. Create symbolic links to (or copy, in the case of a Windows installation) rlmutil to provide easier access to the RLM commands:
    • rlmstat
    • rlmreread
    • rlmremove
    • rlmhostid
    • rlmver
    • rlmdown

    Copies of rlmutil may also be made, named as each utility, which will also make the various utilities available, but this uses more disk space. This is the only option on Windows, which does not support symbolic links.

  5. Start the license server by running the rlm command: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlm -nows >& rtda.log &
    or if the license does not end in .lic:
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlm -nows -c /<output_path>/<license_file_directory>/rtda.log
    Options:
    • -dlog /<output_path>/<license_file_directory>/ - enable debug log.
    • -nows - disable the RLM web server interface.
    It is recommended that you include the -nows option when starting RLM, which disables its internal web server. In this version, there is no security and any user who discovers the RLM web interface can shut down the RLM license server.
  6. To automatically start the RLM license server upon boot on UNIX systems, use the available example .bat files as a guide to create a script, and place it in the appropriate directory. Example startup files are provided in $VOVDIR/etc/boot. Choose the one that best fits your scenario.

Client Environment Setup

The most reliable method of making licenses available to clients is to set the RLM_LICENSE environment variable to the port and host of the license server, for example: 
% setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@rtdalicsrv

It is recommended that you avoid setting RLM_LICENSE to a file path, which creates unnecessary dependencies on NFS servers.

During the Altair Accelerator product installation, the administrator enters the proper setting for this variable, which is added to the client setup scripts in $VOVDIR/etc: vovrc.csh, vovrc.sh, and vovrc.tcl. One of these files is automatically sourced with each user's new shell as long as the vovsetupuser command has been executed for the user.

Verify License Server

The rlmstat utility reports basic information about the licensing. The utility searches for the existence of the RLM_LICENSE variable by default to tell it what license server to query. Optionally, the license file may be passed explicitly with the -c switch.

  • rlmstat
  • rlmstat -c 7070@rtdalicsrv
  • rlmstat -c /<Output_path>/<license_file_directory>/
To get detailed usage information, use rlmstat -a. 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmstat -a
rlmstat v3.0 Copyright © 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved

rlm status on bison (port 7070), up 7d 17:22:25
rlm software version v3.0 (build:3)
rlm comm version: v1.1
Startup time: Wed Sep 26 16:57:40 2019
Todays Statistics (10:19:56), init time: Thu Oct  4 00:00:09 2019
Recent Statistics (00:18:54), init time: Thu Oct  4 10:01:11 2019

Recent Stats         Todays Stats         Total Stats
00:18:54             10:19:56          7d 17:22:25
Messages:    1068 (0/sec)          33401 (0/sec)          612768 (0/sec)
Connections: 803 (0/sec)           24782 (0/sec)          452700 (0/sec)

--------- ISV servers ----------
Name    port Running Restarts
rtdad      36474   Yes      0
------------------------

rtdad ISV server status on bison (port 36474), up 7d 17:22:25

.... Rest of output omitted ...
To get license availability details, that is, the number of licenses not checked out, use rlmstat -avail: 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmstat -avail
rlmstat v3.0 Copyright © 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved
License availability for all products from all ISVs

ISV: rtdad
server host: bison (port 7070)
server_lm v8.25 available: 20
user_licmon v8.25 available: 400

Usually RLM manages licenses well and programs correctly check in their licenses when they exit, but sometimes you may get stranded or duplicate handles, sometimes from network glitches.

You can use the rlmremove command to revoke handles of licenses that are duplicates or that are otherwise undesirable. Remember that the port is that of the vendor daemon (rtdad) as shown by the rlmstat command, and not of the top level rlm daemon (usually 7070). 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmremove buffalo.int.rtda.com 58786 rtdad f55e
rlmremove v9.3
Copyright (C) 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

rlmremove [buffalo.int.rtda.com 58786 0] - are you sure? [y/n]: y
Note: If you receive the following message: 
remove not performed - HELLO message for wrong server (-107)

It means that you omitted the 'rtdad' vendor daemon name from the rlmremove command.

Create the RLM Server Directory

It is recommended to create a dedicated directory that contains the RLM binaries, the RLM license file, and all other RLM-related files, like the log file. It is also recommended to create this directory in local storage on the license server machine, so that the machine can serve licenses without having to mount anything over the network.

RLM can also run from within a network share, but doing so creates multiple dependencies (share server, network connection, etc.) that can reduce the availability of the license server.

  1. Create the dedicated directory as mentioned above.
  2. Copy the following items into the directory:
    • The RLM license file - obtained from Altair Support.
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rlm - the RLM executable.
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rlmutil - the RLM utility executable (provides rlmstat, rlmreread, etc.).
    • $VOVDIR/bin/rtdad - the Altair Accelerator software daemon.
  3. Optional: On UNIX systems, symbolic links to rlmutil may be created that provide easier access to the RLM commands:
    • rlmstat
    • rlmreread
    • rlmremove
    • rlmhostid
    • rlmver
    • rlmdown
  4. Optional: Make copies of rlmutil, named as each utility, which will also make the various utilities available, but doing so uses use more disk space. This is the only option on Windows, which does not support symbolic links.

Start the RLM Server

  1. To start the license server, run the rlm command: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlm -nows >& rtda.log &
  2. If the license does not end in .lic: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlm -nows -c /<Output_path>/<license_file_directory>/rtda.log
  3. Choose the appropriate options:
    • -dlog <output_path>/log_file> - enable debug log.
    • -nows - disable the RLM web server interface.

    It is recommended that you include the -nows option when starting RLM, which disables its internal web server. In this version, there is no security and any user who discovers the RLM web interface can shut down the RLM license server.

  4. To automatically start the RLM license server upon boot on UNIX systems, use the available example .bat files as a guide to create a script, and place it in the appropriate directory. Example startup files are provided in $VOVDIR/etc/boot. Choose the one that best fits your scenario.

Client Environment Setup

The most reliable method of making licenses available to clients is to set the RLM_LICENSE environment variable to the port and host of the license server, for example: 
% setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@rtdalicsrv

It is recommended that you avoid setting RLM_LICENSE to a file path, which creates unnecessary dependencies on NFS servers.

During the Altair Accelerator product installation, the administrator enters the proper setting for this variable, which is added to the client setup scripts in $VOVDIR/etc: vovrc.csh, vovrc.sh, and vovrc.tcl. One of these files is automatically sourced with each user's new shell as long as the vovsetupuser command has been executed for the user.

Verify License Server

The rlmstat utility reports basic information about the licensing. The utility searches for the existence of the RLM_LICENSE variable by default to tell it what license server to query. Optionally, the license file may be passed explicitly with the -c switch.
Note: Unlike FlexNet Publisher, the RLM_LICENSE environment variable overrides the -c command line option.
  • rlmstat
  • rlmstat -c 7070@rtdalicsrv
  • rlmstat -c /<Output_path>/<license_file_directory>/
To get detailed usage information, use rlmstat -a. 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmstat -a
rlmstat v3.0 Copyright © 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved

rlm status on bison (port 7070), up 7d 17:22:25
rlm software version v3.0 (build:3)
rlm comm version: v1.1
Startup time: Wed Sep 26 16:57:40 2019
Todays Statistics (10:19:56), init time: Thu Oct  4 00:00:09 2019
Recent Statistics (00:18:54), init time: Thu Oct  4 10:01:11 2019

Recent Stats         Todays Stats         Total Stats
00:18:54             10:19:56          7d 17:22:25
Messages:    1068 (0/sec)          33401 (0/sec)          612768 (0/sec)
Connections: 803 (0/sec)           24782 (0/sec)          452700 (0/sec)

--------- ISV servers ----------
Name    port Running Restarts
rtdad      36474   Yes      0
------------------------

rtdad ISV server status on bison (port 36474), up 7d 17:22:25

.... Rest of output omitted ...
To get license availability details, that is, the number of licenses not checked out, use rlmstat -avail: 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmstat -avail
rlmstat v3.0 Copyright © 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved
License availability for all products from all ISVs

ISV: rtdad
server host: bison (port 7070)
server_lm v8.25 available: 20
user_licmon v8.25 available: 400

Failover License Server Setup

RLM supports the notion of a failover license server, unlike FlexNet Publisher, which supports triple-redundant license servers instead. This allows for a second license server to run, monitoring the health of the primary server. If the primary server goes down (i.e. the machine is offline and unreachable), the failover server will begin serving out the licenses. If the failover capability is desired, please state so in the license request and provide the name and host ID of the failover machine. See below for more on setting up a failover server environment.

Altair discourages the use of the failover server. Instead, in case of failure of the RLM subsystem, the Altair Accelerator software allows a 5 day grace period to recover the licensing, which should be enough time to either restore the main license server or to move the license server to a new machine.

If a failover license server is to be implemented, use the following guidelines.

  1. Create the license server directory, as explained above, on the failover server host.
  2. Copy both the failover license (rtda_failover.lic) and the original license (rtda.lic) into this new directory. The original file must use a .lic extension for failover to work.
  3. Edit both license files to ensure the path to rtdad in the ISV line is correct. The port in the failover license may also be modified if so desired.
    Example of an RLM Fail-Over License
    HOST rtdafailover 001d60ed1555 9090
ISV rtdad /local/disk/rtda/license/rtdad
LICENSE rtdad rlm_failover 1.0 permanent 1 hostid=0017f230ec7a
_failover_host=rtdalicsrv sig="60P0450F3HSW4GJJAKNNMC...
...2GJNDUKJBUPFEPTR9UYK3DAWFBY3F348NC"

    The "hostid=" and "_failover_host=" values must be those of your primary server.

  4. Start the failover server: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% ./rlm -nows >& rtda_failover.log &
  5. If the original server fails and you want to use the failover server, you can use the browser interface /cgi/license.cgi to change the value of RLM_LICENSE used by both vovserver and vovtasker. Remember that you have 5 days from the failure of the original server to decide the switch to the failover server. 
    % setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@original_server:7070@failover_server
  6. To change the value of RLM_LICENSE in a running server, you can use vtk_server_setenv from the command line: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% vovsh -x "vtk_server_setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@failover_server"
The failover server will take over only if the original host is down, so it may be hard to test the failover capability. The migration to the failover server takes up to 3 minutes, during which there will be no access to licenses.
Important: For the secondary license server to take over, the primary server host must effectively be off the network, that is, shut down or with its network connection severed. The secondary host will not take over if RLM is simply not running on the primary host. Also, there must have been at least about 2 minutes where both license servers were up, so that the failover server can learn the features to be served.

Resetting RLM

To clear up all licenses served by RLM, you can stop and restart the rtdad daemon using the following sequence of commands: 
> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmdown rtdad
rlmdown v8.0
Copyright (C) 2006-2020, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved

No license line checksum errors found
shutting down rtdad - are you sure? [y/n]: y

> source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% rlmreread

Failover License Server Setup

RLM supports the notion of a failover license server, unlike FlexNet Publisher, which supports triple-redundant license servers instead. This allows for a second license server to run, monitoring the health of the primary server. If the primary server goes down (i.e. the machine is offline and unreachable), the failover server will begin serving out the licenses. If the failover capability is desired, please state so in the license request and provide the name and host ID of the failover machine. See below for more on setting up a failover server environment.

Altair discourages the use of the failover server. Instead, in case of failure of the RLM subsystem, the Altair Accelerator software allows a 5 day grace period to recover the licensing, which should be enough time to either restore the main license server or to move the license server to a new machine.

If a failover license server is to be implemented, use the following guidelines.

  1. Create the license server directory, as explained above, on the failover server host.
  2. Copy both the failover license (rtda_failover.lic) and the original license (rtda.lic) into this new directory. The original file must use a .lic extension for failover to work.
  3. Edit both license files to ensure the path to rtdad in the ISV line is correct. The port in the failover license may also be modified if so desired.
    Example of an RLM Fail-Over License
    HOST rtdafailover 001d60ed1555 9090
ISV rtdad /local/disk/rtda/license/rtdad
LICENSE rtdad rlm_failover 1.0 permanent 1 hostid=0017f230ec7a
_failover_host=rtdalicsrv sig="60P0450F3HSW4GJJAKNNMC...
...2GJNDUKJBUPFEPTR9UYK3DAWFBY3F348NC"

    The "hostid=" and "_failover_host=" values must be those of your primary server.

  4. Start the failover server: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% ./rlm -nows >& rtda_failover.log &
  5. If the original server fails and you want to use the failover server, you can use the browser interface /cgi/license.cgi to change the value of RLM_LICENSE used by both vovserver and vovtasker. Remember that you have 5 days from the failure of the original server to decide the switch to the failover server. 
    % setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@original_server:7070@failover_server
  6. To change the value of RLM_LICENSE in a running server, you can use vtk_server_setenv from the command line: 
    > source /<install_path>/<version>/<platform>/common/etc/vovrc.csh
% vovsh -x "vtk_server_setenv RLM_LICENSE 7070@failover_server"
The failover server will take over only if the original host is down, so it may be hard to test the failover capability. The migration to the failover server takes up to 3 minutes, during which there will be no access to licenses.
Important: For the secondary license server to take over, the primary server host must effectively be off the network, that is, shut down or with its network connection severed. The secondary host will not take over if RLM is simply not running on the primary host. Also, there must have been at least about 2 minutes where both license servers were up, so that the failover server can learn the features to be served.