License File Management (LFM)

Open demo in a new tab

Use License File Management (LFM) to view, edit, validate, and deploy license files for your license servers. With LFM, you can test changes in a draft without affecting the active file, validate them before you push, track every change, and keep license servers in sync.

Before you begin

Confirm these prerequisites:

• Your Brokers are installed and reporting. LFM lists license files collected from Broker Hub, so no files appear until they report.

To open LFM, select Navigation (the grid icon in the OpenLM Platform header), then Licenses and Features, then License File Management.

For related tasks, see License Servers and Alerts.

What you can do with LFM

LFM supports the following tasks:

• View all license files: see every license file in one place. LFM collects license files from Broker Hub and shows the current version.
• See the parsed contents: LFM parses FlexLM and RLM files and lists each feature, vendor, version, license type, dates, quantity, and key alongside the raw text.
• Read files in a code-style editor: FlexLM and RLM files open with syntax highlighting, visually separated server and feature blocks, and hover cards that summarize each feature.
• Work safely with drafts: create a draft, edit the license text, and save changes without touching the active file.
• Catch mistakes as you type: while you edit a draft, LFM validates the text in the background and underlines problems inline, before you push.
• Validate before you push: run a pre-validation check on a draft to catch syntax, feature, host name, port, and server-availability problems before deployment.
• Compare versions and export the results: compare a draft with the deployed file, or any two stored versions, and export the comparison to a CSV file.
• Deploy changes with control: push a draft to one Broker or to all Brokers in a triad cluster.
• Track full history: review every event for a license file, including drafts, deployments, deactivations, and deletions.
• Synchronize with SLM: keep license files linked to the correct SLM server name automatically, including triad configurations.
• Stay informed: get alerts if deployments fail or if a draft is rejected.

How LFM works

The following list describes how LFM handles deployment, parsing, editing, and history:

• Without triad: Deploy changes to a single Broker.
• With triad: Deploy the same license file to all three Brokers for redundancy. If one server fails, the others continue to serve licenses.
• Draft-first workflow: You always work with drafts before pushing changes to production.
• Feature parsing: LFM parses each FlexLM and RLM file so you see a structured feature list, not only raw text.
• Smart editor: LFM displays FlexLM and RLM files in a code-style editor with syntax highlighting, hover summaries, and live validation while you edit a draft.
• Pre-validation: Run a check on each draft for common issues before it reaches the Broker.
• Automation: LFM integrates with Broker Hub and communicates over Kafka to send updates.
• SLM synchronization: LFM can keep license-file to license-server links in sync with SLM, including triad members.
• Audit and alerts: LFM stores full change history and integrates with audit and alert services.

Note

LFM detects files that you change directly on the local machine. The Broker sends updates to Broker Hub on a regular interval, so LFM stays in sync.

View license files

To see a license file, open it from the list. LFM automatically retrieves license files from Broker Hub. For each file you can see:

• The current file text and a parsed list of its features.
• The full update history (drafts, deployments, deactivations, deletions).
• Whether a draft exists, and how the draft compares with the original file.

Parsed license features

To check which features a license file contains, open the file and read its parsed features. LFM parses the contents of FlexLM and RLM license files and stores the extracted features alongside the raw text.

The following image shows the parsed features of a selected license file:

Parsed Features panel for a selected license file

For each file, LFM lists:

• Feature name
• Vendor
• Version
• License type
• Start date
• Expiration date
• Quantity
• Key

When you compare two versions of a file, LFM classifies every feature as New, Changed, Removed, or Unchanged. This helps you confirm that a draft does what you expect before you push it. For more information, see Comparing versions.

Note

Parsing supports FlexLM and RLM license file formats.

License file editor

To read a FlexLM or RLM license file, open it in the file content panel. The panel displays the file in a code-style editor with these features:

• Syntax highlighting: Keywords (SERVER, VENDOR, FEATURE, and INCREMENT for FlexLM, and HOST, ISV, and LICENSE for RLM), dates, quoted strings, and comments are color-coded.
• Visual blocks: The server block and each feature block are marked with a colored accent bar, so the structure of the file is visible at a glance.
• Hover summary cards: Hover over a feature block to see the parsed record (feature name, vendor, version, expiration date, and quantity) without decoding the raw positional fields.
• Code-editor conveniences: Line numbers, block collapse and expand (folding arrows in the gutter), a minimap on the side of the panel, and in-editor search (Control+F, or Command+F on macOS).

The following image shows a hover card for a feature block in the editor:

Hover over a feature block to see its parsed summary card

The Displaying drop-down list at the top of the panel switches between two views:

• Original file: A read-only view of the file as last reported by the Broker.
• *Draft: The draft text. If you can edit the draft, the panel is labeled Editable Draft Text and adds live validation. If you can't edit the draft, for example because the file's Broker is not connected or the draft is already pushed, it opens read-only.

Note

LFM shows files in other formats (for example OpenLM Generic, LUM, or DSLS) as plain text, without highlighting or validation.

Create a draft

To edit a license file without changing the active file, create a draft:

1. Open the license file you want to modify.

2. Select Create New Draft.

3. Switch Displaying to *Draft.

4. Edit the license file text.

   LFM saves your changes automatically as you edit.

Live validation while you edit

To find problems before you push, edit the draft and watch for underlines. While you edit a draft, LFM validates the text in the background using the same rules as the pre-push validation. LFM underlines problems such as mistyped keywords, malformed lines, and host name mismatches inline as you type, so you don't wait until you push. Hover over an underlined range to read the messages.

The following image shows live validation messages on a draft:

Live validation underlines problems in the draft and explains them on hover

Note

Live validation applies to FlexLM and RLM drafts, and runs only when Internal validation before pushing a license file is on in the Settings page.

Comparing versions

To compare a draft or stored versions of a license file, open the Compare Draft File dialog from either place:

• Compare a draft with the deployed file: With a draft displayed, select Compare Draft. The dialog compares the deployed original file with the draft, and you can push the draft directly from the dialog.
• Compare stored versions: Open a file's update history and select the Compare icon on an event that stores a text snapshot. The dialog compares any two stored versions (File A and File B), or a stored version against the Currently deployed file.

The File Display Mode drop-down list switches how the comparison is shown:

• Text: A side-by-side diff of the raw license text, with added and removed lines highlighted.
• Parsed Features: A table of the parsed features, with column pairs for each compared side (Original and Draft when comparing a draft, A and B when comparing history versions).

The following image shows the Text mode:

Text mode: side-by-side diff of the deployed file and the draft

The following image shows the Parsed Features mode:

Parsed Features mode: feature-level comparison of the deployed file and the draft

The following image shows a comparison opened from the file history:

Comparing a stored version from the file history with the deployed file

Export comparison results to CSV

To save the comparison as a CSV file, for example to attach the diff to a change request or filter it in Excel, select the export button (tooltip: Export Parsed Features) next to the Search field. The export has these characteristics:

• The export always contains the Parsed Features comparison table, regardless of the display mode selected.
• Each feature is exported with a Status column (New, Changed, Removed, or Unchanged), followed by the same columns as the on-screen table. Column labels use Original and Draft for draft comparisons and A and B for history comparisons.
• Dates follow your date-format settings, and empty values export as the same placeholders the table shows ("No start date", "No quantity", and so on).
• The file name reflects what was compared: <license file name>_<export timestamp>.csv for a draft comparison, or <license file name>_<File A date>_<File B date>_<export timestamp>.csv for a history comparison (if Currently deployed is selected, today's date is used).
• The file is UTF-8 encoded and opens correctly in Excel.

If the comparison has nothing to export, LFM shows "There are no comparison results to export."

Pre-validate a draft before pushing

Before you push a draft to the Broker, run a pre-validation check. LFM runs three groups of checks against the draft and returns a list of messages, each tagged with a severity.

The following image shows errors found during pre-validation:

Push Draft File dialog with errors found during pre-validation

Checks that pre-validation runs

Pre-validation runs the following groups of checks:

• Structural checks: The file is not empty, the format is recognized, and required keywords are present. For FlexLM, LFM looks for SERVER, VENDOR or DAEMON, and at least one FEATURE or INCREMENT line. RLM files are checked against their format-specific keywords.
• Semantic checks: Host name matches the configured server, port matches, features parse cleanly, feature names are present, and features are not expired or about to expire. FlexLM-specific checks also flag duplicate FEATURE lines, PACKAGE entries without a matching FEATURE or INCREMENT, and zero or negative feature quantities.
• Server checks: When SLM synchronization is on, LFM checks that the target server is reachable and reports triad members linked to the file.

Severity levels

Each message has one of the following severities:

Severity	Meaning
Error	A problem that likely causes the Broker to reject the file. Review and fix before pushing.
Warning	A potential issue, such as a feature that expires soon or a duplicate FEATURE line. Review, but you can still push.
Info	Contextual information, such as the reported server status or detected triad members.

Tip

Turn on SLM synchronization to check service availability and triad information. Without it, LFM skips the server checks.

Pre-validation does not block a push. It shows likely problems early so you can decide whether to push, edit, or cancel.

The same checks also run continuously while you edit a draft. For more information, see Live validation while you edit.

Note

Pre-validation supports FlexLM and RLM file formats.

Deploy a draft

To push a draft to your Broker or triad, follow the steps for your setup.

Deploy a draft to a single Broker

If your Broker is not in a triad, follow these steps:

1. Open your draft.
2. Run pre-validation and review any errors or warnings.
3. Select Push Draft.

The draft replaces the old file on that Broker.

Deploy a draft to a triad

If your Broker is in a triad, follow these steps:

1. Open your draft.

2. Run pre-validation.

   The triad members linked to this file appear as Info messages.

3. Select Push Draft.

The draft replaces the file on all three Brokers in the cluster.

Warning

For triads, file paths must match across all Brokers. If file paths differ, the deployment fails.

Deployment notes

Keep these points in mind when you deploy:

• Broker status: LFM does not check whether Brokers are up before sending. After the push, LFM reports any failures through the update history and alerts.
• Error handling: If a Broker cannot apply the file, the error appears in the deployment response, and LFM records it in the file's update history.

Synchronize license files with SLM

LFM can keep the link between a license file and its SLM-managed license server in sync automatically. When the setting is on, LFM:

• Resolves the correct SLM server name for each license file from its host and port.
• Updates the license file's server linkage when SLM data changes.
• Detects triad configurations and records each member's status (UP, UNKNOWN).

Turn on SLM synchronization

Turn on SLM synchronization to:

• Show the live SLM server name and status for each license file.
• Support triad deployment, where the same license file is pushed to all members of a triad.
• Run the server-availability and triad checks during pre-validation.

The following image shows the Settings page with SLM synchronization on:

Settings page with SLM synchronization on

When SLM synchronization is on, the License files page displays a banner confirming that license files are attached to servers automatically. The following image shows the banner:

License files page when SLM synchronization is active

Note

After you turn on synchronization, the initial sync runs in the background. The time to complete depends on the number of license servers and license files in your environment.

Update history

To audit a license file, open its update history. LFM automatically records each change to the file, with a status, a timestamp, and a note.

The following image shows the File History panel:

File History panel for a selected license file

Events that LFM records

LFM records three categories of events:

• License file lifecycle: When the Broker first reports the file, when you update its text directly on the host, when an incoming update matches the stored content, and when the file is deactivated or deleted.
• Draft lifecycle: When you create, edit, delete, or push a draft, and when a deployment succeeds or fails.
• Server data updates: When the file's linked server identity changes, for example after an SLM synchronization run.

For deployment-related events, the history note explains what happened, for example whether the push targeted a single host or every member of a triad, and the reason for any failure.

Details of each history entry

Every history entry includes:

• Event: The type of change, such as Draft created or Draft deployed successfully.
• Event date: When the change happened.
• Note: A short description of the action or error. Hover over the event name to read it.

For three license file lifecycle events, LFM also stores a snapshot of the license text at that moment, so you can inspect the historical content of the file. The events are when the file is first reported, when its original text changes, and when it is deleted. These snapshot events show a Compare icon that opens the version comparison dialog, where you can compare the stored text with any other stored version or with the deployed file.

Uses of the history

Use the history for these purposes:

• Audit and compliance: See what changed, when, and by which path (Broker update, draft push, deletion).
• Troubleshooting: Trace a failed deployment back to the draft, the Broker response, and the surrounding events.
• Customer support: Reconstruct the timeline of an issue from the file's events instead of correlating logs by hand.

Update a vendor license file

To update a vendor license file, follow these steps:

1. Open the license file in LFM.

2. Review the parsed feature list to confirm what is active.

3. Create a draft.

4. Edit or paste the new license text.

   Fix anything that live validation underlines. LFM saves your changes automatically.

5. Compare the draft with the deployed file.

6. (Optional) Export the comparison if you need to share it.

7. Run pre-validation and review any errors or warnings.

8. Push the draft.

   If you have a single Broker, the file updates directly. If you have a triad, the file updates across all three Brokers.

9. Open the file's update history to confirm the deployment status, and review alerts for any failures.