3

We are running the lmgrd license server on a bare metal linux system. From my understanding, a Linux-based lmgrd uses the MAC address of the primary ethernet board as the parameter from which the keys are generated against (as indicated by lmhostid). BTW, on a SunOS machine there is the hostid that is derived from the eeprom on the motherboard.

Ok, what we want to do is put the lmgrd licensing server on a VM. Afterall, its a heck of a waste for a single bare metal server system just to support a license server. However, it seems that the support person for the software vendor using the lmgrd licensing model says that it is not possible to operate in this manner. As there is a MAC address for the installed ethernet board, the support person would seem to be in error. To what I see, there should be no differences between the VM and the bare metal linux server.

The license keys are floating/count licenses NOT node locked license keys.

Has anybody put lmgrd on a linux VM? Has any software manufacturer providing lmgrd as their licensing model provided pushback concerning operations on a linux VM?

Thanks for your help

ADDITION: I am told that Synopsis, Ansys, Mentor are the vendors of the packages using lmgrd.

ADDITION: lmhostid returns the MAC address from only eth0! If the interface in the VM is not named eth0, then it returns nothing! It is easy to rename the interface in SuSe linux ...so no problem there.

ADDITION: We will be proceeding with getting a rekey for the VM host.

2
  • Try it and let us know! Boldly charge into uncharted waters!
    – MikeyB
    Oct 20, 2011 at 23:14
  • We have the same question. This depends a bit on the licensed products. In some cases lmgrd will call another daemon which will determine a unique identifier for license eligibility. In every case that I've seen, this identifier is either based on the MAC or on the value of hostid or lmhostid and we assume these values would be the same even if the VM moved to a different host. However, I could see a possibility where the product is expecting some value which is unique to the underlying hardware, and that could change if the VM is moved to a different machine. Oct 20, 2011 at 23:15

2 Answers 2

2

I run FlexLM, which leverages lmgrd on a Windows server in a VM for Matlab and Maple and have zero issues. Virtual adapters (typically) have their own MAC address, so the software generates the necessary values from that. I did get push back from someone at Simio, which also uses a LM that is similar. I made enough noise that they waived the restriction for me. All they had to do was issue a different license.

It's not entirely analogous to your system, but your hunch is likely right. The support person is probably only slightly above clueless. You'll probably be able to get a definitive answer if you post the software in question.

1
  • 1
    We've used FlexLM on a VM for years (oh, how I hate FlexLM though) without issue, and we did move it from a physical installation about 5 or 6 years to into a VM. I don't remember any major problems. Oct 20, 2011 at 23:48
0

I can confirm that we are running our new FlexLM server on VMware. It also helps that the (virtual) machine will never go out of warranty, and hence need a new lmhostid and therefore new licenses.

No problems as yet!

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .