Installation Guide for Windows

Configuring Redundant License Servers

If a large number of licenses are governed by a single license server, failure of the server become a serious problem. To prevent problems, you may want to set up redundant servers so that, if one server goes down, the license manager can still function.

In the redundant server configuration, three systems are designated to be license servers. All three systems must be running at the time the license manager is started. However, once the license manager is running, only two systems need to be running at any time; this is called a quorum. Once the daemons are up and connected on all three machines, only two machines are needed for a quorum; the loss of any one machine will not cause any licenses to be revoked

Setting up a Redundant Installation

Perform these steps to configure a redundant installation:

1. Choose the systems that you intend to use as servers. When choosing servers, keep in mind:
• The servers should be able to handle the network traffic associated with license management. A primary server must be chosen. This is the system to which clients connect first and which receives the majority of the network traffic. The primary server is the first server listed in the License File. If this system fails, the next server listed in the License File becomes primary.
• The servers should be running supported versions of their operating systems.
2. Request a License File from The MathWorks.

1. Once you have chosen the servers, determine the host IDs of each server and provide them to The MathWorks when you request your License File. The MathWorks will generate an appropriate License File. The following example shows a License File that supports redundant servers. Note that the License File lists three Host IDs.

   • # BEGIN-------cut here-------CUT HERE-------BEGIN
     # MATLAB license passcode file for use with FLEXlm.
     # LicenseNo: 12345         HostID: 00034660893e
     #                          HostID: 00053327865e
     #                          HostID: 00470635883e
     INCREMENT TMW_Archive MLM 14 01-jan-0000 0 8D50540DG9BCDD33692C \
       VENDOR_STRING="b" HOSTID=DEMO SN=12345
     INCREMENT MATLAB MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 DE40F3ADB9CC7490132D \
       DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
     INCREMENT SIMULINK MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 7D20159D87373CBCA3E0 \
       DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
     INCREMENT Identification_Toolbox MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 \
       5DC0F5FD10FDEB2F830B DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
     # END---------cut here-------CUT HERE-------END
     

3. Install the license manager on the three server systems in the redundant configuration. During each installation, the installer processes the License File, adding SERVER and DAEMON lines. For example, on the system named pooh, the processed License File might contain these lines.

• SERVER pooh 08002be68759 27000
  DAEMON MLM /usr/local/matlab7/etc/lm_matlab
  

4. Edit the processed License File, $MATLAB/etc/license.dat, on each server, so that each License File contains SERVER lines for all three license servers. During an installation, the installer only adds one SERVER line to the License File. Do not copy the DAEMON lines; the License Files should contain only one DAEMON line. Note in the following example that the License File contains three SERVER lines and one DAEMON line.

• # BEGIN-------cut here-------CUT HERE-------BEGIN
  # MATLAB license passcode file for use with FLEXlm.
  # LicenseNo: 12345         HostID: 00034660893e
  #                          HostID: 00053327865e
  #                          HostID: 00470635883e
  SERVER pooh 00034660893e 27000
  SERVER piglet 00053327865e 27000
  SERVER rabbit 00470635883e 27000
  DAEMON MLM /usr/local/matlab7/etc/lm_matlab
  INCREMENT TMW_Archive MLM 14 01-jan-0000 0 8D50540DG9BCDD33692C \
    VENDOR_STRING="b" HOSTID=DEMO SN=12345
  INCREMENT MATLAB MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 DE40F3ADB9CC7490132D \
    DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
  INCREMENT SIMULINK MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 7D20159D87373CBCA3E0 \
    DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
  INCREMENT Identification_Toolbox MLM 14 01-jan-0000 10 \
    5DC0F5FD10FDEB2F830B DUP_GROUP=UH SN=12345
  # END---------cut here-------CUT HERE-------END
  

5. Put a copy of this edited License File in the $MATLAB\flexlm folder on all of the systems in the redundant configuration.
6. Start the license manager on each system in the redundant configuration and wait for the license manager daemons on the three systems to synchronize with each other. This may take a few minutes.

1. If, for some reason, the license manager daemons do not connect, take the daemons down on each machine, and rerun the procedure. Network traffic can affect synchronization, so it may require several attempts to establish a proper connection.

7. Set up the client systems that access the redundant servers.

1. To ensure that client systems can switch servers in the event of a failure, you must create an environment variable named MLM_LICENSE_FILE on each client system. FLEXlm reads this environment variable to determine which License Files to use. On client systems, specify the hostname and port for all the servers in the redundant configuration. Use a semicolon to separate the names. For example,

   • port@server1;port@server2;port@server3
     

   Alternatively, you can specify the License files when you start MATLAB on a client, using the -c option with the matlab command. To do this, right-click on the MATLAB icon on the desktop and choose Properties. In the Target field of the Properties dialog box, add the -c option to the command. For example,

   • D:\MATLAB7\bin\win32\matlab.exe -c 
             port@server1;port@server2;port@server3 
     

Running MATLAB with Other FLEXlm Applications

Running the Installer Noninteractively