AWS Licensing with FreeFlyer

September 3, 2021

Whether you are setting up a flight dynamics microservices pipeline to automate your constellation’s daily operations or moving your flight dynamics analysis tools to a more secure and distributed architecture, FreeFlyer allows you to set up Cloud workflows easily in AWS.

Flight Dynamics System Pipeline in the Cloud

Figure 1: Example Flight Dynamics System Pipeline in the Cloud

How to Set Up Your License Server in AWS

FreeFlyer on AWS requires the use of a FreeFlyer network license, which must be hosted on a network license server. To get started setting up your license server, you will need to download the Network Licensing folder, VM Licensing Service folder, and the License Information Utility from the Miscellaneous section of the FreeFlyer Downloads page (https://ai-solutions.com/restricted/freeflyer-downloads/).

FreeFlyer Downloads Page

Figure 2: FreeFlyer Downloads Page

Once you have downloaded the proper files from our website, the next step is to configure your license server. Depending on the base AMI (Amazon Machine Image) you are using for your EC2 instance, follow our Network Licensing instructions for configuring a license server in either Windows or Linux environments. It should be noted, FlexNet requires Java to run the lmadmin installer. If you do not have Java installed on the instance, download and install JRE version 1.6.0+.

If the EC2 instance being used for the license server is a non-desktop (headless) instance, you can set up a tunnel in your PuTTy configuration to allow your instance to connect with your local machine so you can then access the licensing server GUI from your local machine. To do this, simply set your tunnel in PuTTy as 8090 and your source as http://localhost:8090. In the terminal, run curl http://localhost:8090 and continue configuring your license server following the instructions in the help file. On your local machine, if the tunnel was set correctly, you will be able to navigate to http://localhost:8090, sign in, and configure the server.

To extract the information needed to license your AWS instance, there are a few short steps you must follow:

  • First, follow the VM Licensing Service instructions in the FreeFlyer help file to install the Licensing Service on the EC2 instance that will act as the license server. Installing the VM Licensing Service allows FlexNet to pull out the Elastic IP address (AMZN_EIP) which is used for the license.
  • Next, navigate to the FreeFlyer License Administration Tools folder (located in the Network Licensing folder that you downloaded), and run the command below to report the Elastic IP: lmhostid -ptype AMZN -eip

Once you have determined the Elastic IP address, the only other information needed to generate the license file can be reported using the License Information Utility. Run the License Information Utility on the EC2 instance that will act as the license server, then, copy the reported data along with the Amazon Elastic IP and send that information to the FreeFlyer licensing team (fflicense@ai-solutions.com).

License Information Utility GUI

Figure 3: Output from the License Information Utility GUI

License Information Utility via command prompt or terminal

Figure 4: Output from the License Information Utility via command prompt or terminal

After receiving your license request, our licensing team will generate a Network License based on the Amazon Elastic IP address. To use your new license file, follow the instructions in the FreeFlyer Help file describe how to connect to a network license in Windows or Linux. To do this, you can navigate back to the License Server GUI or follow the commands for connecting with FF.exe. Once your license is successfully loaded in, you should see the number of licenses that can be activated on the license server dashboard! Now you’re all set to begin using FreeFlyer inside an AWS instance!

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