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4.2. Network Ports and Firewalls (5.x)

Applies to:
Palisade Concurrent Network software, releases 5.x
(If you have a 6.x network, or you're using Server Manager with a 5.x network, please see the Guide for Administrators.)

Question:
Which ports does Palisade's Concurrent Network software use? How should I set up my firewalls?

Response:
The FLEXnet licensing software uses two TCP/IP ports, called the LMGRD port and the Palisade or vendor daemon port, for communications between client and server. You can allow both of them to be chosen dynamically (the typical setting), or you can specify one or both of them.

To determine which ports the server is using, run LMTools and on the Config Services tab click View Log.  In the log display, look for "(lmgrd) lmgrd tcp-port" and "(lmgrd) palisade using TCP-port".

On the server—LMGRD port:

The LMGRD port is used by the Lmgrd.exe program. All Palisade licenses on a given server share a single LMGRD port. By default, LMGRD chooses an available port in the range 27000 to 27009. However, you can specify an LMGRD port, and if you do then it need not be in the 27000 to 27009 range.

To specify or change an LMGRD port on the server:
  1. Open your license file in Notepad or similar. By default, the license file is in a folder whose name is your serial number, such as C:\Program Files (x86)\FLEXnet\Palisade\5012345. If you have a certificate license, the file name will be of the form SN5012345-20130412.lic; otherwise it will be Server.lic.
  2. Specify the LMGRD port number as a fourth field on the SERVER line of the license file:

    SERVER servername Ethernetaddress lmgrdport

    or

    SERVER servername ANY lmgrdport

  3. Run LMTools, select the Start/Stop/Reread tab, and click Re-read License.
  4. Use Notepad or similar to edit the port information in the Client.ini file, for use with future client installs. (By default, that file is in the ClientInstallers folder under your serial-number folder, such as C:\Program Files (x86)\FLEXnet\Palisade\5012345\ClientInstallers.)
If you specify an LMGRD port on the server, the clients (below) must be set to use the same port. If you don't specify an LMGRD port, the clients must not have an LMGRD port specified.  To make the necessary change on any installed clients, see Redirecting a 5.x/4.x/1.x Concurrent Client to a New Server.

On the server—Palisade port:

The Palisade port (vendor daemon port) is used by the vendor daemon, Palisade.exe. All Palisade licenses on a given server share a single LMGRD port. By default, Windows chooses an available port when the license process starts running; this could be any port, not just 27000 to 27009. In the great majority of cases, this works well. In a very few unusual setups, it may be a problem for an Internet firewall. In that case, you can specify a Palisade port that's not otherwise used on the server and add that port as an exception to the server's firewall.

To specify the Palisade vendor daemon port:

  1. Open your license file in Notepad or similar. By default, the license file is in a folder whose name is your serial number, such as C:\Program Files (x86)\FLEXnet\Palisade\5012345. If you have a certificate license, the file name will be of the form SN5012345-20130412.lic; otherwise it will be Server.lic.
  2. On the VENDOR line, add the port, like this:
    VENDOR palisade PORT=12345
    Save and close the file.
  3. Open LMTools. On the Config Services tab, click once on your Palisade service (whatever name you have given it).
  4. On the Start/Stop/Reread tab, click Stop Server and then Start Server.  Close LMTools.
There is no need to update the clients when you specify or change the Palisade port on the server.

On the server—Firewall settings:

The FLEXnet licensing service is usually able to operate through server firewalls. If your firewall is blocking communications, you can specify both ports by following the above procedures and then unblock those ports in the server firewall. As an alternative, it should be possible to list Lmgrd.exe (Macrovision LMGRD) and Palisade.exe (Palisade Vendor Daemon) as exceptions in the firewall.  You may need to restart Windows after making that change.

On the client—LMGRD port:

The LMGRD port on the clients is used to communicate with the Lmgrd.exe program on the server. If you specify an LMGRD port on the server, the clients must be set to use the same port. If you don't specify an LMGRD port, the clients must not have an LMGRD port specified.

At install time, the client installer reads the Client.ini file to obtain the server name and LMGRD port number.  The installer writes that information to the System Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\FLEXlm License Manager\PALISADE_LICENSE_FILE or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\FLEXlm License Manager\PALISADE_LICENSE_FILE.  When the end user runs the application, it looks in that System Registry key, not the .ini file, to obtain server information.

To redirect existing clients for a changed LMGRD port on the server, see Redirecting a 5.x/4.x/1.x Concurrent Client to a New Server.

On the client—Palisade port:

The Palisade port (vendor daemon port) on the client is used to communicate with the vendor daemon, Palisade.exe, on the server.  The client licensing software (PalFlexServer5.exe) chooses a port.  This is typically a different port number from the Palisade port number on the server.  There is no way to set the Palisade port number on the client.

On the client—Firewall settings:

The FLEXnet licensing service is usually able to operate through the client's firewall. If your firewall is blocking communications, you can specify the LMGRD port and Palisade vendor daemon port on the server by following the instructions above.  Then follow the directions in Redirecting a 5.x/4.x/1.x Concurrent Client to a New Server to set the LMGRD port on the client.  Finally, in the client's firewall, unblock the LMGRD port as both local and remote port, and unblock the Palisade vendor daemon port as remote port. Since you can't specify the local client port used by the Palisade vendor daemon, you can't unblock it in the client's firewall, but you can add PalFlexServer5.exe as an exception in the client's firewall.

See also: Readme Files for 5.x Network

last edited: 2014-04-07

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