Install Broker on Linux or Unix

To install the Broker on Linux or Unix, use the tar.gz archive, or the DEB or RPM package for your distribution. The steps cover distributions with systemd and distributions with other init systems. For the supported distributions and Java versions, see the system requirements.

The Broker for Linux comes in three formats. See Download the installer for where to get them:

• A tar.gz archive, for every distribution. The following sections describe it.
• A DEB package, for Debian and Ubuntu.
• An RPM package, for RHEL-family systems.

For the packages, see Install from a DEB or RPM package.

Before you begin

Confirm these prerequisites:

• Install a Java runtime (JRE or JDK) on the machine: Java 11 or higher, or Java 8. Java 9 and 10 aren't supported. For the supported distributions, see the system requirements.
• Plan one Broker per license server. One Broker can monitor several license managers on its own machine, but each additional license server needs its own Broker.
• Confirm that you have the authorization file for this Broker.
• Confirm network access from the Broker machine to your license manager server and to the internet (port 443). If the Broker can't reach the internet directly, connect it through an HTTP or HTTPS proxy, with optional credentials. See Proxy Configuration.

Prepare the tar.gz installation

To prepare the tar.gz installation:

1. Download the Broker for Unix/Linux. See Download the installer.

2. Extract the archive OpenLM_Broker_<version>.tar.gz to a folder of your choice.

   <version> stands for the build number in the archive name. The archive extracts into a folder named openlm-broker.

3. Open settings.sh in a text editor.

4. Set JAVA_HOME to the path of your Java runtime (Java 11 or higher, or Java 8).

   settings.sh holds the variables the Broker needs. The shipped file leaves JAVA_HOME empty. Don't end the JAVA_HOME path with a slash.

   To run the service under an account other than root, set BROKERSRVNAMEUSER to that account, and give that account ownership of all the files in the openlm-broker folder.

   To run more than one Broker instance in parallel, give each instance its own BROKERSRVNAME.

   The shipped file:

   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   # Edit this file and customize service name in order to install multiple Broker services in parallel
   BROKERSRVNAMEUSER="root"
   BROKERSRVNAME="openlm_broker_$BROKERSRVNAMEUSER"
   BROKERSRVNAMEFILE="$BROKERSRVNAME.service"
   
   #Change JAVA_HOME to point at installation folder
   [[ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]] && JAVA_HOME=

5. Save the file. Then continue with the section for your init system.

Install Broker as a service (systemd)

On a system with systemd, install the Broker as a service that starts with the machine:

1. Install the Broker service:

   sudo ./broker.sh install

2. Check the status of the Broker service:

   sudo ./broker.sh status

3. Connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform, as described in Connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform.

4. (Optional) On a machine with a desktop environment, open the local configuration tool:

   sudo ./broker.sh config

After you connect the Broker, add its license managers, as described in Detect the license managers. To configure the Broker in a browser, see Broker UI.

Run Broker as a background process (no systemd)

On a system without systemd, start the Broker as a background process:

sudo ./broker.sh start

To open the Broker configuration tool:

sudo ./run_brokerconfig.sh

Then connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform, as described in Connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform. The restart in that section uses stop and then start, because restart needs systemd.

Install from a DEB or RPM package

To install the Broker with your distribution's package manager, download the DEB or RPM package from the Downloads page, and install it.

On Debian/Ubuntu systems:

sudo dpkg -i openlm_broker_<version>_amd64.deb
# If dpkg reports missing dependencies, resolve them with:
sudo apt-get install -f

On RHEL-family systems:

sudo rpm -ivh openlm_broker_<version>.x86_64.rpm

A package installation differs from the tar.gz archive in three ways:

• The files go to a fixed folder, /opt/broker. Run the configuration scripts from that folder.
• The RPM package sets JAVA_HOME in settings.sh from the first java on the PATH. On a machine with more than one Java runtime, check that it picked the one you want.
• The package registers and starts the systemd service, so you don't run ./broker.sh install.

After a package installation, import the authorization file and detect the license managers, as described in Connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform and Detect the license managers.

Broker.sh commands

Manage the Broker service with these broker.sh commands:

Command name	Description	Requires systemd
install	Installs OpenLM Broker as a service using systemctl enable	Yes
uninstall	Deactivates an already installed OpenLM Broker instance from starting as a service	Yes
start	Starts the OpenLM Broker service	No
stop	Stops the OpenLM Broker service	No
restart	Restarts the OpenLM Broker service	Yes
status	Displays the current status of the OpenLM Broker service	No
config	Opens the local Broker configuration tool	No

Run a command in this format:

sudo ./broker.sh <command>

broker.sh checks for systemd and runs the matching script. On a machine without systemd, the three commands that require systemd print the usage line and exit without acting. Use stop and then start in place of restart.

Connect the Broker to OpenLM Platform

Import the authorization file you generated for this Broker with auth_import.sh. Do this on every installation, with or without systemd, and with a tar.gz archive or a package. Until you import it, the Broker doesn't appear under Pending Brokers.

1. Copy the downloaded authorization .json file to the folder where OpenLM Broker is installed.

2. Import it as root:

   sudo ./auth_import.sh <authorization-file>.json

   The import runs in the background and writes its result to logs/auth_import_nohup.log in the Broker folder, not to the terminal. Check that file for the line Saving broker.xml.

3. Restart the Broker to load the credentials:

   sudo ./broker.sh restart

   On a machine without systemd, restart is unavailable. Stop and start the process instead:

   sudo ./broker.sh stop
   sudo ./broker.sh start

4. In the OpenLM Platform, approve the Broker, as described in Verify the connection.

Connect to a self-hosted OpenLM Platform

To connect the Broker to a self-hosted OpenLM Platform, generate the authorization file in your own OpenLM Platform and import it as in the previous steps. The file carries the address of your OpenLM Platform. If you use the Broker UI instead, select OpenLM Cloud Account on Broker Initial Setup, because that option is the one for OpenLM Platform. Local OpenLM Installation is for OpenLM SLM. Then select Import Broker Authorization File.

If the Broker machine doesn't trust the certificate of your OpenLM Platform, import the certificate first. See Import a TLS certificate for the Broker. To check the connection, select Check Connectivity on the OpenLM Servers screen of the Broker UI.

Detect the license managers

To add the license managers on the machine to the Broker configuration, run detect.sh as root. It finds the ports of supported license managers and adds them to the configuration file.

The script works in one of two ways:

• With no configuration file, it creates one with the license manager ports it detects as open on the machine.
• With an existing configuration file, it adds any missing ports to that file. It first copies the original into a broker.xml.backup folder next to it, under a timestamped name such as broker.xml.2026-08-24T153045123, so repeated runs never overwrite an earlier backup.

Run it in this format:

sudo ./detect.sh <file-name>.xml

Replace <file-name>.xml with the name of the configuration file. The script updates the file you name. It doesn't merge it into broker.xml. The Broker service reads only broker.xml, so another file name has no effect until you rename the file or copy it over broker.xml. To update the Broker configuration directly:

sudo ./detect.sh broker.xml

To configure the same set of ports on many license servers, copy the broker.xml from a Broker machine that is already configured, and import it with detect.sh. If a broker.xml already exists on the target machine, rename the copied file first:

sudo ./detect.sh brokerAddon.xml

Check the Broker

After the installation, approve the Broker in OpenLM Platform, and then connect and approve its license managers, as described in Verify the connection. To upgrade the Broker, see Upgrade the Broker. If the Broker doesn't appear under Pending Brokers, see Why doesn't the new Broker appear in Pending Brokers?.

Next step

Continue to Connect your first license manager. Then continue to Install Workstation Agent to collect activity data from end-user machines.