Designing ADT 2005 NLM network

We are willing to buy a bunch of new ADT 2005 software soon but this will be the first time when we use network licensing for ADT. I would like to ask you that what do you advice: to install the license server on the local domain controller (Windows 2003 Server) running 24/7, or use an old workstation (Windows 2000) only for licensing purposes. For me the first is more familiar because the Server is stable and running fine, one more service is not a problem for it, but a local ADT professional suggested the later (I don't know why).

 

Not an easy answer. It really depends on what else the W2003 server is
running, how many seats of licensed product you are running, your network
infrastructure and other factors. In general I do not usually recommend
using a non-server operating system.

--
Jerry Milana,
Autodesk Consulting

be the first time when we use network licensing for ADT. I would like to ask
you that what do you advice: to install the license server on the local
domain controller (Windows 2003 Server) running 24/7, or use an old
workstation (Windows 2000) only for licensing purposes. For me the first is
more familiar because the Server is stable and running fine, one more
service is not a problem for it, but a local ADT professional suggested the
later (I don't know why).

 

It is a workgroup with 9 ADT 2005 workstation and the server is a file server and domain controller (only for this workgroup). There is 2 gig of ram and an Opteron processor inside, so I think there are plenty of unused resources.

Anyway, I got an other suggestion, to use a separate NIC card for the license server MAC purposes, because if the server fails then its integrated solution is gone. What would you advice? How difficult/time-consuming is the re-authorization of a new MAC address with the new ADT 2005 authorization tool? Is it a problem to connect a server with one more connection to the same network? (I hope not)

 

That's a pretty good idea. You would still have to re-authorize if
the NIC blows up, but that's not all that likely.

I don't believe that the NIC has to be plugged into the network (or
even enabled...) to be used as a hardware key for flexlm.

I do wish that Autodesk would start using something like the Rainbow
Sentinel dongles as hardware keys and drop the dependence on
nic/hostname. This would make disaster recovery significantly more
simple.

Jason

 

But your NIC has to work, anyway, and every server has one. Adding a dongle
adds another several points of failure (hardware, plus software drivers)
increasing the probability of a disaster, as well as cost, and can't be
repaired by a new license file which can be transmitted over the net or
phone. It's true that the NIC doesn't have to be the one in use, so
effectively you can use it as a dongle, moving it to a new server along with
the old license file.

Distributing the licenses over several servers diminishes the impact of a
single server failure.

--Cy--

 

In my experience, this likelihood of failure (I've never had a dongle
or related driver software go south) is more than offset by the
inconvenience of having to obtain a new license file.

The 'net method is completely unusable for me (it asks for previous
version serial numbers, which I can not easily obtain using our
asseting system). If the Subscription service had a simple key
generation mechanism, this might be workable.

I have enjoyed great service from the telephone registration folks,
but it takes considerable time to have them generate a new series of
license files and then email them to me.

Both of these items assume that our outside internet connection is not
also down.

If you do this, you have to ensure that you are using the same name as
the previous server, or you will need to obtain a new license file.

True, but this increases the maintenance requirements not only for the
license server, but also for patch testing, etc.

I much prefer the model that is used by ESRI, where I can install and
test flexlm and the vendor daemon on a secondary server during my
maintenance window by simply moving the dongle. All I have to do if
the primary server fails is to move the dongle. Of course, I have to
set the workstations to check multiple servers, but this is an easy
environment variable change. This reduces the number of servers I
need to maintain, and it means that I can use a test/development
server as the secondary without having to worry about having to keep
it up (distributed) or maintaining a quorum (redundant). I could see
going with a redundant system in a larger organisation, but we're
trying to reduce the number of servers and the complexity of the
system here.

Jason

 

Jason, the statement below is not true. You can edit the hostname parameter
in the license file, just not the MAC address.

 

Oh. Wish I'd known that a couple months ago It's probably
documented somewhere, eh?

Sorry for spreading misinformation...

Jason

 

Thank you for the information I got. I decided with NLM installed on the workgroup server using MAC of a dedicated network card (unplugged from any network).

I have an other question: I read at the support FAQ's that remote location workers could connect to NLM server by VPN connections. Is it a standard TCP/UDP connection the server like IMAP or FTP protocol, or it is integrated into Active Directory structure, so it needs VPN connection? And for VPN connection is it risky to use PPTP and not L2TP/IPSec standard? Can anybody stole a license file, if we don't use the strongest security for clients? I hope we only have to keep the server secured for keeping the licenses secured.