Set Up a License Server on Linux

For this procedure, you must be the account manager for the SnapGene licenses in order to download the install files for the FlexNet Server.

Login to https://www.snapgene.com/my-account/ to manage your shared license.

Enter the email address and password for the account manager.

The original password was sent in an email immediately after purchase. If you have lost the password, click Lost Password to obtain a new password by email.

The SnapGene team will provide a server installation file. Download the file FLEXnet_GSL_linux.tgz from your account page at http://www.snapgene.com/support/myAccount and save it.

Select a location for the directory of server files. In this example the parent directory is /usr/local. Commands are preceded by ">>":

Create a parent directory if it does not already exist.

Move the tar file to the parent directory:  

>> mv FLEXnet_GSL_linux.tgz /usr/local

Change to the parent directory:

>> cd /usr/local

Unpack the archive file:

>> tar xzf FLEXnet_GSL_linux.tgz

This creates the directory /usr/local/FLEXnet_GSL_linux, which contains all the server files including an INSTALL file with these instructions.

If you have already unpacked the tar file before opening this file, you may simply move the directory FLEXnet_GSL_linux to the desired location.

Import the SnapGene Vendor Daemon license provided to you by the SnapGene team by running the following command:

>> /usr/local/FLEXnet_GSL_linux/lmadmin -import /path/to/FlexNet_SnapGene.lic -force

You should only need to import the license once.

Start the server using the script in the server directory. DO NOT EXECUTE THIS COMMAND AS ROOT:

>> /usr/local/FLEXnet_GSL_linux/startServer

This script may be executed at startup. The corresponding stopServer script will stop a running server.

The server must be started on the command line, but once started can be controlled from the web interface.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT 32-BIT LIBRARIES: If starting the server throws an error such as:

/lib/ld-lsb.so.3: bad ELF interpreter:

or:

./startServer: ./lmadmin: not found

then your system is missing some 32-bit libraries. These libraries are obtained by installing the relevant lsb-32 package for the operating system variant. On most Redhat installations the package in question is named redhat-lsb or redhat-lsb.i686.

On Ubuntu 64-bit install linux standard base using :

sudo apt-get install lsb

To administer the server, point a browser to localhost:8090.

Click the Administration link at the top right of the window.

To sign in, type the default User Name: admin and Password: admin, then click Submit.

To change the password, type the old and new passwords, then click Save.

To review the current SnapGene license usage, click the Dashboard link, then click Concurrent. The number of licenses in use (and available) will be shown in the In Use column.  

The dashboard shows license usage.

The FlexNet server directory also includes a number of tools for administration of the server and licenses (these should not be needed by most users): lmborrow lmdiag lmdown lmhostid lminstall lmpath lmremove lmstat lmswitch lmutil lmver

The SnapGene license server uses two TCP ports for communications with SnapGene clients and with the SnapGene license server. If the computer running the license server restricts access to ports the you will need to open specific ports on the server computer Firewall.

License Server Configuration Ports

By default the Flexnet Server will use TCP ports in the range of 27000 - 27009 for client-server communications. We recommend you open all ports in this range on your server firewall.

If you require use of a specific port (for example, if other software already uses a port in the range  27000 - 27009), then this can be configured via the Flexnet Publisher Dashboard. To do this, on the Dashboard click Admin then select Server Configuration.