Autodesk COMBUSTION-4 Network Guide - Page 11

Network Configuration Models ❚❘❘ Distributed Server Model The distributed server model is the preferred method of installing combustion in a network environment. The distributed server model allows you to place (distribute) the AdLM on more than one server. This lets you split your software licenses between multiple servers. The servers can be located at different sites, if necessary. The distributed server model gives you more network tolerance. Since the software licenses are split among multiple servers, licenses can still be granted should one of the servers fail or run out of licenses. In addition, a distributed server requires less system administration than a redundant server model. However, if a server fails, some licenses are not available. This drawback can be resolved by adding the lm_license_file environment variable to each client workstation. To create a deployment using the distributed server model, you install the AdLM on each server you want to configure. This model requires a unique license file for each server. See License File. Once the network installation is complete, you install combustion on each workstation. The client installation creates a combustion.lic file on the client workstation that identifies which license server the client communicates with to obtain a network license. The client workstation tries to obtain a network license only from the server that was configured when the AdLM created the deployment location from which the client was installed. Adding the lm_license_file environment variable to each client workstation is necessary if you want to have license carryover. This is a key strength of the distributed server model. It allows the client workstation to automatically obtain a license from another server in the distributed server pool if one server should fail or run out of licenses. For example, if you installed a distributed server pool of two servers, each server has a license file for five combustion licenses. You then create six client installations that use the default combustion.lic file pointing to the first server. If all the licenses on the first server are in use, the sixth workstation that tries to obtain a license from the server will be denied, even when the second server in the pool has five available licenses. You have two options to get the sixth workstation a license: • Edit the combustion.lic file so the sixth workstation looks exclusively to the second server for its license. Note: Using this method does not give you the benefit of network tolerance. • Add the lm_license_file environment variable to all the workstations so the AdLM can access any available licenses on either server. See License File Parameters. Note: If the combustion.lic file and the lm_license_file environment variable are both used, the environment variable takes priority. Redundant Server Model With the redundant server model, you must use three servers to authenticate a single license file. One server acts as the master, while the other two provide backup if the primary server fails. If all three servers are active and functioning properly, all software licenses are available to client workstations. A redundant server model does have some drawbacks you need to consider: • A redundant server model should be maintained by a dedicated system administrator. • At least two servers must be functional in order for client workstations to obtain licenses. If two servers fail, client workstations cannot get licenses. 7