You should have already completed all preceding steps found in the article Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmtools, including all those under the headings "Preparation and Prerequisites" and "Activate licenses to your license server".
Your license server will communicate with client PCs using two executables, the lmgrd.exe licensing service and the flexsim.exe vendor daemon.
This article shows how to add exceptions for these applications through Windows Firewall. If you have additional firewalls or network appliances that need to be configured, please check the section Port Considerations at the end of this article
Allow an app through Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall allows you to specify certain applications that will be allowed through different network types. If you're not sure about firewalls and networking, be sure to contact someone in your organization that administers these things.
You will need administrator privileges on your license server to add firewall exceptions.
Open the Allowed apps interface
Click the Start button or press the Windows key, then type Firewall into the search box. Choose the option to Allow an app through Windows Firewall.
If you don't see that option, you can choose the option Windows Defender Firewall at the top of the search results. This will open the Windows Defender Firewall topic the Control Panel. There you can choose Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall in the side panel:
Add a firewall exception for lmgrd.exe
In the Allowed apps window, click the Change Settings button, then the Allow another app… button.
In the Add an app window that opens, click the Browse… button. Navigate to extracted license server downloads. Double click lmgrd.exe to choose the file.
Click the Network types… button.
Check the boxes for the various network types that the firewall should allow. We recommend allowing your FlexNet licensing to communicate across all network types, but contact your server or network administrators if you're not sure.
Click Okay to close the Choose Network Types window.
Back on the Add an app window, click the Add button.
Add a firewall exception for flexsim.exe
Repeat the steps above for flexsim.exe:
- Click the Allow another app… button.
- Browse… to your extracted license server downloads. Select flexsim.exe.
- Click Network types… and choose the appropriate networks to allow access to lmgrd.exe. These should be set to the same settings chosen for lmgrd.exe, and you can usually allow all network types - domain, private, and public.
- Click the Add button.
- Click OK to close the Control Panel window.
Port considerations
You may need to allow communication through other firewalls or network appliances, depending on your network topology and specific licensing plans for how and from where client PCs will connect to the license server. Usually for such firewalls or devices you will configure inbound and outbound port exceptions to allow your license server communications to pass through.
A FlexSim license server has its ports defined in a flexsim.lic license file, specified when you configured your FlexSim_Licensing service.
Our default ports are as follows:
- lmgrd.exe - licensing service - port 26914 - TCP
- flexsim.exe - vendor daemon - port 56914 - TCP
There is a chance you specified custom your port numbers. If you're not sure you can check your flexsim.lic license file. Read more about FlexSim's license file and default vs custom port numbers in our article FlexSim's license file.