The OpenLM License management tool provides two capabilities; One is the extraction of license statistics and license usage reports. The Other is the capability to either save and close or suspend idle licensed processes. This document goes into the details of these features.
How to use this document (Please read …)
The process of retrieving idle licenses is quite simple, but there are many details and configurations of secondary importance. For that reason we’ve put the main points of interest: “Suspend and Resume” & “Save and Close” in the beginning, with reference to other paragraphs in this document.
List of Contents
“Suspend and Resume” idle applications
“Save and Close” an Idle application (Extensions)
Controlled Workstations
The OpenLM Agent software module
Process to license link
License retrieval policy
Extension dedicated functions
Editing the default license release options
“Suspend and Resume” idle applications
The basic idle process management method is the “Suspend and Resume” method. This method detects an idle process, identifies its respective license, releases the license into the common license pool, and “freezes” the application until the license is reclaimed. This method is a global one, intended for all sorts of licensed applications. At the time of writing this revision (Rev 1.0) the “Suspend and Resume” method is supported for FLEXlm licensed applications only.
In order to configure OpenLM to automatically retrieve idle licenses in the “Suspend and Resume” method, the administrator needs to do the following steps.
1. Install the OpenLM Agent on the workstation (see “Installing the Agent” below)
2. Make sure the product is monitored (see “Process to license link” below).
3. In the “Edit process” / “Add process” window click the drop-down menu near the “License release method”. Select ‘Suspend’ (See “License retrieval policy” below).
4. Make sure the “Enable License release functionality” parameters are correct and click ‘Save’ (See “License retrieval policy” below).
5. Restart the OpenLM Agent (‘Start’ → “All Programs” → ‘OpenLM’ → ‘Agent’ → ‘Restart’) in order for the new Agent policy to take affect. Alternatively, you could wait for end users to restart their computers.
“Save and Close” an Idle application (Extensions)
Another idle process management method is the “Save and Close” method. In this method, an idle station is identified, the user’s work is saved, and the application is actively shut down altogether, not just suspended (as opposed to the “Suspend and Resume” method).
The location of automatic saving is configurable, so the saved session does not necessarily override the current project. See the “Extension dedicated functions” section below.
At the time of writing this revision (Rev 1.0), the “Save and Close” feature is reserved for three specific licensed application vendors: ESRI (vendors of ArcGIS), Autodesk (vendors of AutoCAD), and MathWorks (vendors of Matlab). These applications are named by convention “Extension Supported” applications.
In order to “Save and Close” idle applications:
1. Close the “Extension enabled” application (ArcGIS / Matlab / Autodesk).
2. Install the OpenLM Agent on the workstation (see “Installing the Agent” above). Make sure the OpenLM extension has been installed (See “Verify the OpenLM extension installation” above).
3. In the “Edit process” window (or identical “Add process” window for new processes) click the drop-down menu near the “License release method”. Select ‘Extension’.
4. Make sure the “Enable License release functionality” parameters are correct
5. Click ‘Save’.
6. Restart the OpenLM Agent (‘Start’ → “All Programs” → ‘OpenLM’ → ‘Agent’ → ‘Restart’) in order for the new Agent policy to take affect. Alternatively, you could wait for end users to restart their computers.
If license retrieval by “Save & Close” does not work, please refer to this troubleshoot.
Controlled Workstations
Workstations are labeled as ‘Controlled’ when they fulfil two conditions:
1. An OpenLM Agent is installed and running on these stations
2. Both the License Server and the Agent report drawn licenses of “Extension Supported” applications.
Controlled workstations facilitate the “Save and Close” method of license retrieval. The indication of workstations as ‘Controlled’ is a green check mark on the ‘Workstations’ window in the EasyAdmin web application:
The OpenLM Agent software module
The OpenLM Agent module interfaces the managed application directly. The Agent must be installed in the end user’s computer, In order to apply either one of the application management features mentioned above (“Suspend and Resume” or “Save and Close”).
Installing the Agent
The OpenLM Agent may be downloaded from the ’Downloads’ section of the OpenLM site. During the installation process, follow these steps:
1. Go through the standard download forms and procedures (Run the installation, read and accept the License Agreement etc.)
2. If an Extension Supported application (e.g. ArcGIS, Autocad, Matlab) was identified as installed on the computer, the “OpenLM Extensions” dialog window will appear.
The user may either:
-
Select to install the appropriate software extensions, thus enabling OpenLM to treat an idle application in the “Save and Close” method. The application (e.g. ArcGIS) needs to be closed in order to install the OpenLM extension successfully.
-
Select NOT to install the appropriate software extensions, thus ruling an idle application to be treated in the “Suspend and Resume” method, even though it is an “Extension Supported” application.
3. Towards the end of the installation process, the “Agent Configuration” dialog window opens. Type in the OpenLM server with which the Agent is required to connect, and click the ‘Apply’ button.
Verify the OpenLM extension installation:
ESRI Desktop ArcGIS: Click the “Customize” tab → Select “Extensions”. Confirm that “OpenLM Arcgis Extension” appears in the Extensions list.
Autodesk: The Save and Close mode is supported for any Autodesk software application. In Autocad Map 3D for example, type in the “OLM” command at the bottom of the AutoCAD window. If the OpenLM Agent extension was installed, you should get a message such as depicted below:
If the Extension is not installed, an Error message should appear, stating that the “OLM” command is not recognized.
Process to license link
In order to apply license harvesting to an idle application, the application’s process needs to be linked to its respective license. In order to do so:
1. Open the OpenLM Easyadmin tool and press the Easyadmin start button. A selection menu pops up.
2. Select Administration. The “Administration” window appears.
3. Select the Process / Features icon. The “Process features” window appears:
4. If the process you wish to monitor is not already in the list of processes, it will need to be added manually:
4a. Click the Windows ‘Start’ button.
4b. Select “All Programs” → ‘OpenLM’ → ‘Agent’ → ‘Tools’ → “Processes List”. The following ‘Processes’ table window appears.
4c. Find the required process and copy its exact format name (case sensitive !).
4d. In order to add the new process to the currently managed processes’ list, click the green ‘Add’ icon in the Process List frame, on the top right – hand side of the “Process features” window. The “Add process” window appears. (For processes that already exist in the process list, select them and click the ‘Edit’ icon. An identical “Edit process” window will appear)
4e. Type in the required data:
-
The “Process name” as obtained in item 4c above, e.g: ArcMap.
-
A verbal description of the managed process, and
-
The application’s Vendor name as appears at the license file. e.g.: ARCGIS
5. Check the ‘Enabled’ box.
6. Back in the “Process features” window (above), add features to the selected application.
6a. You may do that one feature at a time by clicking the ‘Add’ green ‘+’ sign on the bottom-right corner of the “Process features” window.
6b. You can also choose to do so automatically by clicking the “Add Vendor” green ‘+’ next to the ‘Add’ sign.
After completing the process described above in paragraphs 1 through 6b, the Active Agent is ordered to monitor the managed process.
License retrieval policy
Licenses are retrieved according to the configurations made in the “Add process” / “Edit Process” window.
1. Open the OpenLM Easyadmin tool and press the Easyadmin start button. Select ‘Administration’. The ‘Administration’ window appears.
2. Select the Process / Features icon. The “Process features” window appears.
3. Select a specific Process, and click the ‘Edit’ button. The “Edit Process” window appears:
System resource thresholds
These numbers are thresholds used for determining whether the monitored application is idle.
The default values shown should not be changed unless explicitly instructed by OpenLM’s support team. Changing these values inappropriately can harm the OpenLM system’s performance.
-
Check the “Enable license release functionality” box.
-
% Processor time (Default: 2): This is the CPU usage percentage threshold over which the application is considered active. The software will only be closed if its use of the workstation’s processor time is lower than the percentage shown
-
I/O Data operations / sec (Default: 2): Similarly, this is an I/O threshold over which the application is considered active. The software will only be closed if the number of disk operations per second is lower than the value shown.
-
User usage (Default: 0.1): The processor utilization for user-mode processes on the workstation.
“Enable License release functionality” parameters
These parameters determine the policy for license retrieval, once they have been labeled ‘idle’.
-
Start releasing licenses after usage rate of (Default: 80): Licenses will only become candidates for retrieval only if more than the defined percentage of licenses are in fact being checked out.
-
Idle time license release threshold (Default: 15 min): Idle licenses will only be considered for retrieval if they had been idle for more than the defined period.
Extension dedicated functions
The Active Agent window’s “Extension Dedicated” label contains several functions that are OpenLM extension specific, i.e. intended solely (at the time of writing this revision, Rev 1.0) for managing Matlab, ArcGIS and Autodesk applications. The “Extension dedicated” tab incorporates three bars entitled:
-
Handling extensions,
-
Software items that will not be saved nor reported when closed
-
List of Directories for which projects will not be saved when closed
Note: OpenLM recommends keeping the extension dedicated preferences at their default values, as this should be considered an advanced users’ section.
Applying extension dedicated functionality
1. Open the OpenLM Easyadmin tool and press the EasyAdmin start button (On the bottom left corner of the Easyadmin window). A selection menu pops up.
2. Select ‘Administration’. The ‘Administration’ window appears:
3. Select the Active Agent icon. The “Active Agent” window appears:
4. Select the extension dedicated tab:
Folder to save closed projects:
Specify the folder in which the automatically closed projects will be saved.
Overwrite existing projects
-
Checked (Default): The same filename is used for project saving each time the application is detected as idle and closed.
-
Unchecked: Each recurrence of an idle application closing event brings about the creation of a new copy of the saved project.
Show extension list at software start up (for ArcGIS only):
-
Checked: The application’s extension list is shown when the application is restarted after detected as idle and closed. This is useful for manually prompting users to confirm their usage of a certain extension.
-
Unchecked (Default): The application’s extension list is NOT shown when the application is restarted after detected as idle and closed.
Turn off licensed extensions at shutdown (for ArcGIS only):
-
Checked (Default): Extensions that require licenses are closed together with the idle application. This requires the user to obtain a license for the extension when restarting the application.
-
Unchecked: Extensions that require licenses are NOT closed together with the idle application.
Turn off custom extensions (for ArcGIS only):
-
Checked (Default): Extensions that do NOT require licenses are closed together with the idle application. This requires the user to obtain a license for the extension when restarting the application.
-
Unchecked: Extensions that do NOT require licenses are NOT closed together with the idle application.
Application’s behavior when extension passes usage threshold (for ArcGIS only)
There are two methods of operation to deal with an event in which an application was NOT compelled to close according to the Active Agent’s preferences, but a licensed extension that is embedded in that application WAS compelled to close. These two optional operations are either turning off the extension, or shutting down the application altogether.
Software items that will not be saved nor reported when closed
This bar lists a number of objects that would not be saved when the application is closed ; e.g.: ArcCatalog.exe is a file browser which holds no substantial data at its own right, and therefore is not saved. Click on the Add button to add more objects to the list.
List of Directories for which projects will not be saved when closed
This bar lists directories onto which no changes would be made upon application automatic closure. This is intended for projects that should keep the same static information every time they are started. Click on the Add button to add more objects to the list.
Editing the default license release options:
Open the OpenLM Easyadmin tool and press the Easyadmin start button (On the bottom left corner of the Easyadmin window. Select ‘Administration’ and “Active Agent”. The “Active Agent” window appears:
This screen holds all default parameters for handling idle processes (specified also in the “Process features” window). Note that all the changes applied here will be applicable to all your future processes. Current processes can be changed specifically in the “Process features” window by selecting a process and clicking the ‘Edit’ button.
