Connecting a Client to a License Server

After you set-up a license server, you must configure clients to connect to the license server. Once this is done, the client will be able to use the server's licenses to launch the product.

  1. Launch License Wizard—see Starting the License Wizard.

    The License Wizard launches and displays the Welcome Screen.

  1. Click Activate License.

The Activation Options screen appears.

  1. Click Use License Server.

The Server Activation screen appears.

  1. Click Connect to Server.

The Server Activation - Shared License screen appears.

  1. In the License Server Address field, enter the hostname or IP address of the license server.

  1. If the license server is configured to use a specific port, type in the port number in the Port field. Otherwise, type in ANY.

  1. Click on Connect.

    NOTE If you are on Windows, you will be prompted to grant administrator privileges to License Wizard twice in a row. If you are on macOS, you will be prompted to give administrator privileges to License Wizard once.

    Congratulations! Your Toon Boom product is now properly connected to your license server. Provided that your license server has the appropriate license and is properly configured, you should now be able to launch your product.

  1. Click on Finish to close the License Wizard.

You can also connect a client to a server manually by writing the configuration file yourself. This can be useful if you want to script the client configuration or if you want to do it in a command line.

To configure a client manually, you need the following information:

  • The hostname of the license server.
  • The port used by the license server, if specified.
  • The port used by the vendor daemon, if specified.

By default, the ports used by the license server and the activation daemon are not specified and they will automatically select ports when they are launched. So, unless you configured the license server to use specific ports, you only need the hostname of the license server.

The client configuration file is in a specific location depending on the client platform:

  • Windows: C:\flexlm\license.dat
  • macOS or GNU/Linux: /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/license.dat
  1. Open a Command Prompt with administrator privileges.

  1. In the command prompt, type in the following command to install the license validation (anchor) service:

    > C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]\win64\bin\LicenseWizard.exe --console --install-anchor-win

  1. Enter the following commands to create and edit license.dat:

    > mkdir C:\flexlm

    > copy con C:\flexlm\license.dat

  1. Enter the following text:

    • If you have not configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 ANY VENDOR toonboom USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the IP address or hostname of the license server.

    • If you have configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 <license server port> VENDOR toonboom PORT=<vendor daemon port> USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the hostname or IP address of the license server, <license server port> with the port which the license server is configured to use, and <vendor daemon port> with the port that the vendor daemon is configured to use.

  1. Press Ctrl + Z to close the text input and save the file.

    At this point, you should be able to launch the software. If the software fails to activate, make sure that the configuration is accurate and that the license server is properly configured.

NOTE The client configuration file should have the same content for each client that needs to connect to the same license server. Hence, you can speed up the configuration of client machines by copying the file onto each client.
  1. Open a Terminal.

  1. In the terminal, type in the following command to install the license validation (anchor) service:

    > sudo /Applications/Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]/[Product Name].app/Contents/Tools/LicenseWizard.app/Contents/MacOS/LicenseWizard --console --install-anchor

  1. Enter the following commands to create and edit license.dat:

    $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/flexlm/licenses

    $ sudo vi /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/license.dat

  1. Press the i key to enter insert mode and start editing the file.
  1. Enter the following text:

    • If you have not configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 ANY VENDOR toonboom USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the IP address or hostname of the license server.

    • If you have configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 <license server port> VENDOR toonboom PORT=<vendor daemon port> USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the hostname or IP address of the license server, <license server port> with the port which the license server is configured to use, and <vendor daemon port> with the port that the vendor daemon is configured to use.

  1. Press Esc to exit insert mode.
  2. Type in :wq and press Enter to save and quit.
At this point, you should be able to launch the software. If the software fails to activate, make sure that the configuration is accurate and that the license server is properly configured.
NOTE The client configuration file should have the same content for each client that needs to connect to the same license server. Hence, you can speed up the configuration of client machines by copying the file onto each client.
  1. Open a Terminal.

  1. In the terminal, type in the following command to install the license validation (anchor) service:

    > sudo /usr/local/ToonBoomAnimation/harmony[Edition]_[Version]/lnx86_64/bin/LicenseWizard --console --install-anchor

  1. Enter the following commands to create and edit license.dat:

    $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/flexlm/licenses

    $ sudo vi /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/license.dat

  1. Press the i key to enter insert mode and start editing the file.
  1. Enter the following text:

    • If you have not configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 ANY VENDOR toonboom USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the IP address or hostname of the license server.

    • If you have configured your license server to use specific ports:

      SERVER <server name> 0 <license server port> VENDOR toonboom PORT=<vendor daemon port> USE_SERVER

      Replace <server name> with the hostname or IP address of the license server, <license server port> with the port which the license server is configured to use, and <vendor daemon port> with the port that the vendor daemon is configured to use.

  1. Press Esc to exit insert mode.
  2. Type in :wq and press Enter to save and quit.
At this point, you should be able to launch the software. If the software fails to activate, make sure that the configuration is accurate and that the license server is properly configured.
NOTE The client configuration file should have the same content for each client that needs to connect to the same license server. Hence, you can speed up the configuration of client machines by copying the file onto each client.