tl;dr
- must be stable and persistent, always able to maintain a constant connection with the client software
- don't use a user's personal computer as a license server
- use a currently supported Microsoft OS
- bare-metal hardware, virtual hardware, cloud hosted - all are fine
- if the hardware meets the OS specifications, it meets the license server specifications
- configure your network and firewalls to allow the client-server communication
Use an always-on, accessible server (not a user's PC)
Your license server should be on a stable, persistent system that is always on and always accessible via a stable IP address or fully qualified domain name. A user’s personal system is not a good license server, unless they are only serving licenses to themselves, in which case please consider contacting your local FlexSim distributor to exchange for a standalone license.
Operating System
Hosting FlexSim licenses requires a currently supported version of Windows (desktop or server versions are supported). FlexSim and FlexNet do not support Windows operating systems that have reached their end-of-life. See Microsoft guidance on product lifecycle.
You should perform all Microsoft Updates so that your operating system is fully patched prior to installing the license server software.
In the future we hope to allow FlexSim licenses to be hosted on Linux or Mac license servers, in addition to Windows. Work toward multiplatform is ongoing. We do not currently have an estimated timeline.
Server Hardware
If your license server hardware meets the specifications required for the chosen Microsoft OS, it will be adequate to run the license server software. Hosting licenses is generally NOT a demanding workload.
Please do not confuse these minimal license server hardware requirements with the different and more demanding system requirements for running FlexSim Simulation Software.
Cloud Hosting
Your license server could be hosted by a cloud provider or on premises, on a virtual machine, or a bare-metal OS.
Keep in mind that your license server should be a stable, persistent server that client PCs can remain connected to. If your server setup works by creating and destroying new instances of a virtual machine each time you reboot, it is NOT suitable for use as a license server. You will lose your Trusted-Storage-based FlexSim licenses when the virtual machine is terminated.
Networking, firewalls, connectivity
For the client software to remain licensed, it must maintain a constant network connection to your license server. The exact details of such a configuration are up to you.
If you want to limit client-server connections to the local network, allow access to the license server worldwide over a VPN, or make your licenses available over the public Internet, these are all decisions you must make and configure your network and firewalls accordingly such that your FlexSim client PCs can maintain a constant connection to the license server.
Further networking guidance, including information regarding firewalls and port numbers, is found in the individual instructions for lmtools or lmadmin.
