Adding Firewall Exceptions for the License Server
If the license server has a firewall enabled, it is likely that attempts from clients to connect to it will be blocked. If you do not need to enforce security at the machine level on your license server, you can disable your firewall to rule it out as a possible cause of issues. Otherwise, you can add exceptions to its rules to allow clients to connect to it.
There are two approaches to allowing clients to connect to the license server through the firewall:
- Adding firewall exceptions for the license server executable files: lmgrd and toonboom.
- Setting up your license server to use specific ports, and adding firewall exceptions for these ports.
While the default Windows firewall supports both methods, the default macOS firewall only supports adding exceptions for specific executable files, and the default GNU/Linux firewall only supports adding exceptions for specific ports.
To configure your license server to use specific ports, see Configuring a License Server Manually.
- If you add exceptions to the firewall for the license server binaries, you will need to add new exceptions for the latest version of the product every time you upgrade the version of the product.
- If you do not configure your license server to use specific ports, lmgrd will use the first available port starting from port 27000 and toonboom will use the first available port starting from port 53000.

- Open the Windows Control Panel:
- On Windows 7: Open the Start menu and select All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Control Panel.
- On Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows11: Open the Start menu and, in the programs list, select Windows System > Control Panel.
- Click on System and Security.
- Click on Windows Defender Firewall.
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Click on Advanced settings.
The Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security window opens.
- In the list to the left, select Inbound Rules.
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In the Actions list to the right, select New Rule.
The New Inbound Rule Wizard appears.
- Under What type of rule would you like to create?, select Program, then click on Next.
- Under Does this rule apply to all programs or a specific program?, select This program path:.
- Click on Browse...
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In the Open dialog, browse to and select lmgrd.exe, in the following location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]\win64\bin\lmgrd.exe
- Click on Open.
- Click on Next.
- Under What action should be taken [...], select Allow the connection and click on Next.
- Under When does this rule apply?, check the network types over which clients will attempt to connect to this server, then click on Next.
- In the Name field, give the firewall rule a recognizable name, such as Toon Boom License Manager Daemon or lmgrd.
- Click on Finish.
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Repeat all of these steps, but for the Toon Boom Vendor Daemon, which is named toonboom.exe and is at the following location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]\win64\bin\toonboom.exe

- Open the Windows Control Panel:
- On Windows 7: Open the Start menu and select All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Control Panel.
- On Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows11: Open the Start menu and, in the programs list, select Windows System > Control Panel.
- Click on System and Security.
- Click on Windows Defender Firewall.
-
Click on Advanced settings.
The Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security window opens.
- In the list to the left, select Inbound Rules.
-
In the Actions list to the right, select New Rule.
The New Inbound Rule Wizard appears.
- Under What type of rule would you like to create?, select Port and click on Next.
- Under Does this rule apply to TCP or UDP?, select TCP.
- Under Does this rule apply to all local ports or specific local ports?, select Specify local ports.
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In the text field, type in the port number used by the license server daemon, followed by a comma, then the port number used by the vendor daemon.
NOTE The port numbers for the license server daemon and the vendor daemon can be specified in the license server configuration file—see Configuring a License Server Manually.
- Click on Next.
- Under What action should be taken [...], select Allow the connection and click on Next.
- Under When does this rule apply?, check the network types over which clients will attempt to connect to this server, then click on Next.
- In the name field, name the rule Toon Boom License Server.
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Click on Finish.

- In the top menu, open the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
- Select Security & Privacy.
- In the bottom-left corner, click on the Lock icon. When prompted, type in the username and password of an account with administrator privileges.
- Click on Firewall Options...
- Under the rules list, click on the + button.
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In the Browse dialog, browse to and select the lmgrd executable, in the following location:
$ /Applications/Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]/[Product Name].app/Contents/Applications/LicenseWizard.app/Contents/bin/lmgrd
- Click on Add.
- Click on the + button again.
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Browse to and select the toonboom executable, in the following location:
- Click on Add.
- Click on OK.
$ /Applications/Toon Boom [Product Name] [Version] [Edition]/[Product Name].app/Contents/Applications/LicenseWizard.app/Contents/bin/toonboom

- Open a terminal.
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Type in the following commands to add the ports used by the license server to the list of open ports:
$ sudo iptables -I INPUT -m state --state NEW -p tcp -m tcp --dport <license server port> -j ACCEPT
$ sudo iptables -I INPUT -m state --state NEW -p tcp -m tcp --dport <vendor daemon port> -j ACCEPT
$ sudo service iptables save
$ sudo service iptables restart

- Open a Terminal.
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Type in the following commands to add the ports used by the license server to the list of open ports:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=<license server port>/tcp
$ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=<vendor daemon port>/tcp
$ sudo firewall-cmd --reload