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Sunday, January 30, 2011

FlexNET Publisher - A License to Network (Part 2) - Getting the License

“Here in Hollywood you can actually get a marriage license printed on an Etch-A-Sketch.”
Dennis Miller

This weekend, I've decided  to continue last week's post, FlexNET Publisher - A License to Network.  For the purpose of this blog post, I'm going to use the steps for a single server.  There are also distributed and redundant servers, but I'll talk about those in a future blog.

So last week, I talked about how what FlexNET is, next, how do I get a license? 

Before you do anything, you'll need to know these things.   Autodesk will want that information before they give you the license.
  1. Serial Numbers for your network enabled Autodesk products
  2. The Hostname for the machine that will host your license
  3. The Ethernet/MAC/Physical Address for your machine, which is the 12 digit number assigned to your network card.  It has the format XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
  4. Your company information
First thing to do, is take your license server, and obtain the ethernet address and hostname

There's several ways to do it, but I usually get it by going to a command prompt, and typing "ipconfig /all"  (without quotes).

Typing "ipconfig /all" in the command prompt

You can find that info in the screen that results.  You'll usually see more than one ethernet address. Any one assigned to a physical card will do.  I do however, usually avoid any wireless cards, because wireless cards are sometimes disabled, and I've seen this disable any licenses assigned to it.

Finding your information
Now, I'll need to obtain my license from Autodesk. There's a couple of ways to do this, one is to go via the web at the following link on the Autodesk website.  You can also call 1-800-551-1490, and follow the prompts to have your license issued.

The other option is to contact your reseller, such as KETIV.  They can help answer questions, and facilitate obtaining your network license.

Once you've obtained your license you can set up your network license.  I'll create a post on that next week.  Erin Gavlick has created a fantastic tech tip too!  You can find that on the KETIV website.

So I'll see you next week for the next step! 
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9 comments:

  1. Guillaume MASSART9:51 AM

    Could it be possible to have some kind of software or web application to see the state of the licenses?
    Which are taken, by who for how many times?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jonathan Landeros10:15 AM

    LMTools, which installs with the license manager, can give you a snapshot of which licenses are currently in use (check the server status tab).

    For more detailed information

    SAMreport Lite also comes with the License Manager, and can give more detailed reports, but it's pretty basic.

    I haven't used this one myself, but I've heard good things about JTB World's FlexReport, for more detailed reporting.

    You can find it at the link below:
    http://www.jtbworld.com/jtbflexreport/index.htm

    I hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Guillaume MASSART12:37 AM

    Is it possible to install the samreport lite on each workstation?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jonathan Landeros7:12 AM

    The reports are generated at the server, and SAMReport issues usage reports for all the stations using that report. So I've never seen a case where it's been put anywhere else.

    That' being said I believe it's possible to put it on a workstation, but you'd still have to access the report generated on the server.

    Additionally, SAMReport Lite does need a license to run. Granted the license is free, but that would mean getting the free license for every workstation.

    Ultimatley, I'm not sure you would see much advantage by installing it on every workstation, opposed to keeping SAMReport Lite on the server.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Guillaume MASSART4:10 AM

    Could be fine to have access to a txt file or xml file, just to have an idea of who has the licence and which one. When I am out of the office, I can't know who have one or not...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jonathan Landeros8:02 PM

    If you're just looking for a snapshot of the current licenses in use. You could also remote into your server and check the "Status Enquiry" tab in LMTOOlS.

    Just a thought. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Guillaume MASSART12:18 AM

    The problem is that the licence server is on the files server of the company, so no way to have access :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4:53 AM

    Hi,
    I have some queries regarding Flexnet publisher module. Can you please help me to solve this. Queries are as follows:
    1. How to create a new user in Flexnet publisher suite?
    2. If a user is registered in Flexera can we fetch its data from them?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jonathan Landeros8:36 AM

      Anonymous,

      I'm afraid I'm not familiar with "creating new users". I've only used it to manage licenses via a license file (and controlled them using an options file).

      I'm also not quite sure what you mean by "retrieving user data". But assuming your looking for license usage, I've used (and like) JTBFlexreportLT found at www.jtbworld.com.

      There is also a purchase version, but I haven't used this one.

      Delete