Build Oxygen Floating License Server on AWS EC2

[hau]

Hi everyone,

Good day!

I am plan to build Oxygen Floating License Server on AWS EC2 ubuntu with auto-scaling group. I am plan to use Ansible and Packer to build AMI and use terraform for deploying that AMI. Oxygen Floating License Server should be have auto-scaling group (only 1 server now) behind load balancer and Route53 for redirection.

My main questions are:

• Is it possible for this use case? If yes, please help on the below question as well.
  During installation, I saw we need to input credential for admin and user. How can we apply that on Ansible?
  In case current Floating License Server is failed or upgraded to the new one, do we need to contact sales department to deactivate the binding to the failed server?

Any help is very much appreciated. If you need any more details, I'll do my best to provide them. Thank you and all the best.

[adrian]

Hi,

Yes, it's possible, but please note the Oxygen HTTP License Server - Machine requirements:

* The machine signature used for activating the license key is calculated from the network interfaces of the machine, server installation folder and server port. None of these should change after activating the license key.
* An important requirement is that the network interfaces must remain unchanged (do not add/remove/modify any NICs) after activating the floating license key. Note that this doesn't prevent you from changing the IP address.
* When installing Oxygen HTTP License Server in a virtual machine environment, make sure the virtual machine is configured to use static MAC addresses, before activating the license key.

So, first and foremost make sure the AWS VM itself only has NICs with static MAC addresses.
I've found a few discussions on stackoverflow on how to accomplish this:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/556 ... 2-instance

During installation, I saw we need to input credential for admin and user. How can we apply that on Ansible?

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Ansible. I'm guessing it's possible, but don't know enough about it to provide assistance.

In case current Floating License Server is failed or upgraded to the new one,

Prior to the license server instance being upgraded or moved (or if it has failed), you should contact our support channel by email, support@oxygenxml.com and request an activation reset for that particular license key. Note that our support team will need the SGN of the license key (or the key itself) or other information that can help us identify that specific license key.

Regards,
Adrian

[hau]

Hi Adrian,

Thank you so much for your answers!
Let me apply this solution! If any questions, I will reach out you!
Have a nice day!

[adrian]

Hi again,

One aspect that I forgot to mention, although it's mentioned in the docs, is that Docker is currently not supported. If you install Docker on the same machine where the license server instance is, it will break the activation due to the virtual network interfaces. Reactivating it will not be very useful as the machine signature will change at each restart (virtual network interfaces change a lot).

Regards,
Adrian

[hau]

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for clearly explantation!

I have one question. As I run the bash licenseServer.sh on locally, it must be input Admin username, password and confirm password (User as well) then service can be installed successfully. That is interactive mode. I am plan to use Ansible, so is it possible to install without interactive mode? Or arguments for input Admin and User to the scripts (for example, licenseServer.sh -admin Admin -adminpass 123 -user User1 -userpass 456).

Could you please advice on this?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

[adrian]

Hello,

When you run licenseServer.sh/.bat, it checks if a file named passwords.properties exists in that folder. If the file does not exist, it proceeds to interactively ask for the usernames and passwords and then creates that file with the provided info.
So, what you can do is to run the script manually once in interactive mode and copy the generated passwords.properties file that stores the credentials. You can then reuse this file when you deploy the license server. The file needs to be copied back to the license server installation folder prior to running the licenseServer.sh/.bat script to start it.

Regards,
Adrian

[hau]

Hi Adrian,
Thank you for quickly response!

I have one question about NICs with static MAC addresses. In case of we have 2 ENIs (Elastic Network Interface) attached to EC2 instance with static MAC addresses. One is primary network interface, second is additional network interface. The secondary network interface can be attached/detached to new EC2 instance if the first one failed. The secondary network interface will be keep even the EC2 instance terminated and use to attach to the new one.

The question is "Is it possible we can install license to second network interface? If yes, please help to advice on this solution?"

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

[adrian]

Hi,

The machine signature for the standard activation is calculated at the time when the license server is started and takes into account all NICs connected at that time. If you connect or disconnect a NIC, the machine signature changes, so, if the license server is restarted, it will report a machine signature change and the activation will be lost. So, no, you cannot have two different licenses or activations on the same instance.

If you want to have a backup of some kind for the license server, you are better off keeping a second VM instance with another license server that is activated with a backup license (different license key) for the NICs of that instance. We allow that and you can request a license key for the backup server on our support channels.

There is also a different method of activation for the license server that uses other means than the NICs, but you'll have to contact us privately on support@oxygenxml.com for more details.

Regards,
Adrian