Obtaining a License and Starting the License Server

This step is necessary only if you have a floating license. If you have a node-locked license, you can skip this step.

Before CONVERGE will run, it needs to check out a license from the license manager. The license manager runs constantly on a server and listens for requests for licenses from processes on the network. The license manager keeps track of how many licenses are checked out and how many are still available.

The license manager provided with CONVERGE is the Reprise License Manager (RLM) developed by Reprise Software, Inc. For full documentation on RLM, refer to their website at https://www.reprisesoftware.com.

Installing the License Manager

The license manager must be installed only on the machine running the license server. When prompted for the machine architecture, choose the architecture for the machine running the license manager, not the architecture of the machines that will be running CONVERGE.

The last step in the license manager installation is the creation of a script named rlmd for starting up the RLM server daemon automatically when the machine boots. If you choose to create the rlmd script, the installation procedure will prompt for a user name under whose account the license manager will start when the computer boots up. Enter a valid user name under which RLM can be run. Even though root is a valid user name, it is not necessary for the license manager to be run as root.

The RLM license manager is not included in the CONVERGE installation package. It is available for separate download from the Convergent Science Hub (https://hub.convergecfd.com/downloads).

Starting the License Manager

The main server executable necessary for running the license manager is rlm. A number of other executable utilities are placed in the rlm subdirectory. This can be found in the /<installation_directory>/<architecture>/rlm directory. Start the license manager (in the background) in this directory by typing

rlm &

When started, RLM will look for any files named *.lic that reside in the same directory. During the install procedure, a soft link to the license.lic file in the license directory was created, so RLM will see the license file. The license.lic file provided by Convergent Science indicates that the vendor-specific settings file named csci.set will also be used to handle the licensing. Once RLM starts and sees the valid license.lic file, it will use the csci.set to launch a second rlm daemon as well. If you run the ps command to see what processes are running, you should see two instances of rlm.

Some license server error codes that you may encounter when launching the client, with some potential solutions are listed in the License Server Errors section.

You must verify that the csci.set file is saved in the same directory as your license.lic file ( /<installation_directory>/<architecture>/rlm). You can download the csci.set file from the Convergent Science Hub (https://hub.convergecfd.com/downloads). Note that a login is required.

If you already use RLM to support other software or products, then you will need to ensure that there are no conflicts with the RLM and ISV server ports specified in the license file. Running multiple instances of RLM on the same server can result in the following error message: "Cannot bind webserver port 5054 exiting". You can prevent or fix any conflicts by modifying the port numbers in the license file to non-conflicting values and specifying the ports in the client machine environment variable RLM_LICENSE.

Running RLM Automatically at Bootup

Refer to the RLM User Administration Manual for setting up RLM as a service for your platform.

Updating Licenses

You can copy new licenses into the RLM folder on the license server alongside your old licenses. If you use a fixed ISV server port, then modify the license file in a text editor similar to the previous licenses. Activate the new licenses by running the reread command. The reread command will read new licenses to the RLM without stopping the RLM server. You can execute the reread command from the command from the command line by navigating to the RLM installation directory and supplying the command ./rlmutil rlmreread. You can also execute the reread command from the RLM administration webpage from a browser at the address http://<server-IP>:5054 where "server-IP" is the IP address of the license server. Note that the expiry date reported by RLM is from the earliest license. If a failover license server is configured, then make sure the new licenses are copied there as well and a reread command is issued.

Failover License Server

CONVERGE performs a license heartbeat check every 30 minutes. Therefore, an hour-long downtime will most likely terminate all ongoing simulations. If the downtime is less than 30 minutes, depending on the occurrence of the heartbeat check the server downtime may or may not affect the simulation(s).

We recommend configuring a failover RLM license to prevent simulations from being terminated by the heartbeat check. Complete the following steps to configure a failover RLM license:

1.Submit a request to generate a failover license.

2.After your request is approved, install an RLM license manager on the failover server.

3.Copy the csci.set file and all license files including the failover license file to the RLM directory of the failover license server.

More information can be found in the RLM administration guide and at https://reprisesoftware.com/docs/general/failover-server.html.

Ensure that all relevant locations where the RLM_LICENSE variable is utilized (such as client machine environment variables, job submission, scripts, bashrc, etc.) are updated to include the failover license server. For instance: RLM_LICENSE=2765@mainserver:2765@failoverserver.

Failover to copy original license files to the failover server can result in the warning message: "WARNING: Cannot find license file for FAILOVER server."