Floating License Guide#

JangaFX Floating Server#

Important

This guide will work for EmberGen 1.2.7 and above, LiquiGen 1.0.6 and above, GeoGen 0.5.4-beta and above, LiquiGen 1.1.2 and above.

If you are running a version below any of those specified, please refer to Legacy Floating Server

Download#

Software	Version	Download link
EmberGen	1.2.7 or above	Windows (x86/x64) / Linux (x86/x64)
LiquiGen	1.0.6 or above
IlluGen	1.1.2 or above
GeoGen	0.5.4-beta or above

Overview#

The floating license server is a program that can hand out leases to clients running JangaFX products. A lease is a license that is acquired for the duration of a user session or until the user manually releases the lease. The floating server needs to be activated using a floating license that permits the server to hand out a given number of leases.

Launching the Server#

The server is a command line program that requires some arguments for configuration. On Windows, you can use the Windows command prompt cmd and on Linux pretty much any shell program like bash.

In the following, anything within angled brackets <...> is a placeholder and anything within square brackets [...] is optional and may be omitted. Three consecutive dots ... indicate that an argument may be used multiple times. Parentheses () are used for grouping and are not part of the command.

For example, given --port <port_number>[:<lease_limit>]..., the following versions are valid:

--port 3942
--port 3942:7
--port 3942 --port 2493:2

The program can be launched in several different ways:

jfs <OPTIONS> (see Options)

Launch the server with the options described in the next section.
jfs deactivate --product <name>

Deactivate the specified product.
jfs gen-activation --product <name>:<key> <path>

Use this for offline activation and deactivation. This allows the floating server to run on a machine without an internet connection. The gen-activation command generates an “activation file” at the specified <path>. This file can be uploaded here to obtain an “activation response”. The path to the response file can then be used in the --activation-file option when running the server on order to activate it.
jfs gen-deactivation --product <name>:<key> <path>

Generates a “deactivation file” which can be uploaded here. There is no response file in this case and the server is deactivated immediately after the upload.
jfs service <SERVICE_COMMAND> (see Running as a Windows Service)

Options#

At least one --product or --activation-file option is required. All other options are optional.

Option	Description
`--port <port_number>[:<lease_limit>]`	UDP port to listen on. (Default: `3942`) Optionally, a limit on the number of leases handed out on this port can be specified. This option can be used multiple times to listen on multiple ports with potentially different lease limits on each port.
`--max-connections <n>`	The maximum number of connections to the server. (Default: `2047`)
`--product <name>:<key>`	The name of the product to activate and the license key separated by a colon. The following product names are valid: `suite` `illugen` `embergen` `liquigen` `geogen` `vectoraygen` This option can be used multiple times to activate and hand out leases for multiple products.
`--activation-file <path>:<key>`	The path to an activation file obtained from license0.jangafx.com/activate after uploading an activation request. The license key is separated by a colon from path. This option can be used multiple times to activate and hand out leases for multiple products.
`--log-file <path>`	The path to a file where the server will record log messages. If omitted, the server writes to standard output unless running as a service on Windows where the default log file is `log.txt` in the same directory as the executable.

Running as a Windows Service#

On Windows, the license server can be run in the background as a Windows service named jangafx-floating-license-server. The service subcommand is used to manage this service. When running as a service, the log file can be used to inspect the activity of the server. By default, this will be a file named log.txt in the same directory as the executable.

jfs service install <OPTIONS> (see Options)

This command will install the service to run with the provided options. These are the same options used to run the server directly. The installed service will expect the executable to be located at the same path it was at the time of installation. If you move the executable to a different directory, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the service to update its path. The service will be configured to run on system startup.
jfs service uninstall

Uninstall the service. If you would like to change the options used when the service was installed, you will have to first uninstall the existing service.
jfs service start

Starts the installed service in the background.
jfs service stop

Stop the installed service.
jfs service status

Check if the service is running.

Client quick start guide#

Hint

To open the License Manager in your software navigate as Help > License Manager

The License Manager allows connecting/disconnecting to the license server as well as acquiring/dropping a lease on demand
Using the License Manager
- Enter server details under the tab for your license type, and connect to the server
- After connecting to the server, you can safely close the license manager tab
- The software will automatically acquire a lease after connecting to the server
- The software will automatically drop a lease on exit
- You can manually acquire and drop leases from the license manager
Using an environment variable
- Create an environment variable with the appropriate name and server details
  
  Name according to your product key:
  
  Suite: JANGAFX_SUITE_SERVER
  
  EmberGen: JANGAFX_EMBERGEN_SERVER
  
  LiquiGen: JANGAFX_LIQUIGEN_SERVER
  
  IlluGen: JANGAFX_ILLUGEN_SERVER
  
  GeoGen: JANGAFX_GEOGEN_SERVER
  
  Value: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:YYYY or example.com:12345
  
  The software will automatically acquire a lease if the environment variable is set
  
  The software will automatically drop a lease on exit
Additional lease information:
- A lease that is not dropped due to a crash or disconnect from the server can be re-acquired and extended by the same machine upon reconnecting
- A lease that is not dropped due to a crash or disconnect from the server cannot be used by anyone else until the lease time is over
- Leases cannot be “borrowed” (used offline, for extended periods of time)

Legacy Floating Server#

Download#

Software	Version	Download link
EmberGen	1.2.6 or below	Windows / Linux / MacOS
LiquiGen	1.0.5 or below	Windows / Linux / MacOS
IlluGen	1.1.1 or below	Windows / Linux / MacOS
GeoGen	0.5.3-beta or below	Windows / Linux / MacOS
Elemental Suite	see above	Windows / Linux / MacOS

Quick start guide#

Activate: TurboFloatServer.exe -a="<your key here>"
- Online activation uses port 80 (HTTP) or port 443 (HTTPS)
- For offline activation, see Offline activation below
Deactivate: TurboFloatServer.exe -deact
Start: TurboFloatServer.exe -x
- This will run the server without installing a service.
Install: TurboFloatServer.exe -i
- This also starts the Windows service, named TurboFloatServer-5260, TurboFloatServer-6575, or TurboFloatServer-6576
- This will require admin privileges
Uninstall: TurboFloatServer.exe -u
- May require admin privileges
Configure: TurboFloatServer-config.xml
- Connection port, thread count, lease length, logs, grace periods, and proxies
- The server will listen for lease requests on the configured port (default port 13)

Offline activation#

If you need offline activation, please contact us at support@jangafx.com and follow the steps below.

There are two steps to offline activation. You will send an activation request and receive a response:

Generating the activation request
- Pass in the product key and location for the activation request XML file
- TurboFloatServer.exe -a="ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP-QRST-UVWX" -areq="C:\Location\To\Save\ActivationRequest.xml"
Using the activation response * After submitting the activation request to us and receiving the activation response, you can activate the TurboFloat Server * TurboFloatServer.exe -a -aresp="C:\Location\To\ActivationResponse.xml"

Logs#

Detailed logs about connections and leases go into the tfs-log.txt file
Running the server using the -x flag, will show these messages directly in the console
You can configure the log level using the TurboFloatServer-config.xml configuration file
- notification: records when leases are created, removed, expired, and other nonessential, but possibly interesting information. This level also includes all other level outputs (warning, error).
- warning: records things that are wrong with your configuration or other things that need to be fixed. This level also includes the next level of output (error).
- error: records when TurboFloat Server fails to do things it needs to do. For example, failures to load configuration data, failure to process data, etc.
- none: No log file will be written

Troubleshooting#

For detailed information, and instructions for other platforms, visit https://wyday.com/limelm/help/turbofloat-server

If the information below doesn’t solve your problem, and you require any further support, please contact support@jangafx.com

The software can’t acquire or maintain an active lease#

If the license manager has connected to the license server, but the lease status in the license manager and in the software don’t match, you will need to close both the software and the license manager. Afterwards, reopen the software to acquire a lease.

Also, make sure that if you are trying to use the license manager to connect to the server, there are no environment variables named as described prior in this documentation.

Error connecting to the license server#

Some networks may be configured to block port 13. If you’re having trouble connecting to the license server, try to change this port to something that is allowed on your server.

Using different paths#

TurboFloatServer.exe assumes TurboActivate.dat and TurboFloatServer-config.xml are located with the server executable
Use -pdets and -config to pass custom paths:
- TurboFloatServer.exe -a="Your Key" -pdets="YourTurboActivate.dat" -config="Config.xml"

Failed to uninstall the server#

In case of error message: * Failed to remove this service from the Windows Firewall. 0x80070057

Try manually deleting the firewall rules in Windows Defender before trying to uninstall once more.

The rules will be named: <software> 1.x floating license server where <software> can be EmberGen, LiquiGen, IlluGen or GeoGen.