Boris FX Licensing – Floating Licenses

Floating Licenses

Floating licenses give the flexibility to run Boris FX software on any supported machine connected to your LAN within your facility, limited by the number of licenses you own. It requires you to have a dedicated license server machine separate from the machines to run the Boris FX software.

This section will walk you through the process of installing floating licenses. Installing node-locked licenses does not require the use of the license manager.

Floating licenses – How It Works

A floating license allows central administration of your license deployment, avoiding the need to manually activate and deactivate our software on every machine, which is particularly beneficial for large facilities.
Configuring a new machine to use your floating license server is very straightforward and requires no Internet connection.

Similarly, replacing a failed machine can be done without needing to contact technical support for the license to be released.

How do I Install the Floating License Server?

Boris FX uses the Reprise RLM License server for floating licenses. You can download the license server from the Boris FX website. See the steps below.

Floating licenses are easy to set up if you are familiar with configuring network services, but if you need any help with the process, please contact support: Submit A Request

Note: To configure a license server you must have Administrator (or root) privileges.

Installing Floating Licenses with Online Activation

Download the RLM License Manager from the download section here: RLM License Server
Run the License Manager file then follow the installation prompts.
Open a Web browser and go to: http://SERVERNAME:5054/goforms/activate with SERVERNAME being the name of the license server.
Click BEGIN License Activation.
Enter activation.genarts.com in the ISV activation website field and click Next.
Enter genarts in the ISV field.
Copy and paste your Activation Key license that you received from your license email into the License activation key field. Then, click Next.
Your Ethernet address will auto-populate in the License Server or Node-lock hostid field. Accept the auto-populated Ethernet address.
Enter the number of licenses that should be locked to this server in the License count (for floating licenses) field. Or just enter 0 to assign all licenses to the specified server. Click Next and a default license location will auto-populate in the License File to create or edit field.
Accept the default license location and click Next.
On the Activation Request Data screen, verify all the information you have entered, and click REQUEST LICENSE.
On the License Activation page, click on Restart License Server.
Then, on the Reread/Restart Servers page, click on Reread/Restart and the license server should now be set up.
To confirm that the Boris FX license server is working, go to http://SERVERNAME:5054 with SERVERNAME being the name of the server, and click Status on the top left-hand corner.

genarts should appear under the ISV Servers and it will say Running: Yes.

Installing Floating Licenses with Offline Activation

When you cannot install the license via an Activation code (normally where the server is not connected to the Internet), you can manually install your license.

On a machine with Internet access, download the RLM License Manager from the download section here: RLM License Server
Install the License Manager on both the machine with an Internet connection and the offline server you intend to run on.
Note that you will use the online machine to get the license for your offline server.
On the online computer, open a web browser and go to: http://SERVERNAME:5054/goforms/activate with SERVERNAME being the name of the license server.
Click BEGIN License Activation.
Enter activation.genarts.com in the ISV activation website field and click Next.
Enter genarts in the ISV field.
Copy and paste your Activation Key license that you received from your license email into the License activation key field. Then, click Next.
The Ethernet address of the machine you are on will auto-populate in the License Server or Node-lock hostid field. You will need to overwrite it with the Ethernet address of the offline license server. To find the Ethernet address on the offline license server:

For RLM Server v13 and newer:
Windows: Go to Start > Boris FX RLM Server > Get RLM HostID
Mac: In a console type: /Library/Application Support/BorisFX/rlm/GetHostid.py
Linux: In a terminal type: /usr/borisfx/rlm/hostid_wrapper.py
For older versions of RLM Server:
Windows: Go to Start > GenArtsRLMServer > Get RLM HostID
Mac: In a console type: /Library/Application Support/GenArts/rlm/Get Hostid.py
Linux: In a terminal type: /usr/genarts/rlm/hostid_wrapper.py

The command above will print out the results.

Get the first mac address from the first line: Hostid of this machine.
Enter the mac address into the online License Server or Node-lock hostid field.
Enter the number of licenses that should be locked to this server in the License count (for floating licenses) field. Or just enter 0 to assign all licenses to the specified server.
Click Next.
A default license location will auto-populate in the License File to create or edit field. Replace the default location to a location that you can easily write to and access the file, such as your Desktop or the Downloads folder.
Click Next.
On the Activation Request Data screen, verify all the information you have entered, and click REQUEST LICENSE.
On the License Activation page, click on Restart License Server.
Then, on the Reread/Restart Servers page, click on Reread/Restart.
Transfer the License File onto the offline license server and save the License File to the RLM directory.

For RLM Server v13 and newer:
Windows: C:\Program Files\BorisFX\rlm
Mac: /Library/Application Support/BorisFX/rlm/
Linux: /usr/borisfx/rlm/
For older versions of RLM Server:
Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\GenArts\rlm
Mac: /Library/Application Support/GenArts/rlm/
Linux: /usr/genarts/rlm/

Open the License File in a text editor and edit the file with your offline server’s Hostname.
Open a Web browser on the offline server, go to http://localhost:5054, and click on Restart License Server.

This completes the License server setup.

To confirm that the Boris FX license server is working, go to http://SERVERNAME:5054
with SERVERNAME being the name of the server, and click Status in the top left-hand corner.

genarts should appear under the ISV Servers and it will say Running: Yes.

Now that everything is installed and activated, you no longer need the RLM server installed on the temporary online computer. you can remove it at this time.

Updating the License File

Copy the license file to the RLM license directory.

Mac: /Library/Application Support/GenArts/rlm
Win: C:\ProgramData\GenArts\rlm
Linux: /usr/genarts/rlm

Updating The License Using the RLM Web Interface
- Go to http://localhost:5054/
- Click on Reread/Restart
  or
Updating The License Using The Command-Line

Mac: ./rlmreread [license file].lic
Linux: ./rlmreread [license file].lic
Windows: rlmreread [license file].lic

Installing the Floating License on a Client Machine (Manual Install)

If you haven’t yet installed the server license, follow the instructions above in How do I Install the Floating License Server. Once you have the server license installed, perform the following steps to get the client license running.

Install Floating Client License Using a License File

Install the Boris FX software on the client machine.
Get the host line from the server license, which looks like this: HOST ServerName EthernetAddress PortNumber. For example, HOST camelot 00000000042e 5053
Create a new file in a text editor called borisfx_client.lic. The file name is not important, as long as the .lic extension exists.
Paste in the HOST line into the client license file and press enter to create a new line.
You can either keep the server Mac address in the client or replace it with the word “any”. See example below.

HOST camelot any 5053

Save the file to the appropriate location.

Windows: C:\ProgramData\GenArts\rlm
Mac: /Library/Application Support/GenArts/rlm/
Linux: /usr/genarts/rlm/

Start the Boris FX software.

Your client machine is now connected to the license server.

Install Floating Client License Using an Environment Variable

If you want to point to a license file via an environment variable, use genarts_LICENSE. It uses the usual RLM syntax, e.g:

genarts_LICENSE=5053@server-name

genarts_LICENSE=/path/to/file.lic

You can also set up the RLM environment variable to read all .lic files in a directory:

genarts_LICENSE=your/rlm/directory

Note: The genarts in the environment variable name must be lowercase.

Install Floating Client License Using the Silhouette License Window

Silhouette users can use the Silhouette License Window to enter the floating client license.

Install Silhouette on the client machine.
Get the host line from the server license, which looks like this: HOST ServerName EthernetAddress PortNumber

For example, HOST camelot 00000000042e 5053

Start the Silhouette standalone or apply the plug-in.
Select Use floating license server in the License window.

Enter the PortNumber and ServerName from the server license in the Server field in the following format: port@ServerName. In the server license example above, you would enter: 5053@camelot
Click OK.

Your client machine is now connected to the license server.

Installing Render Licenses

This section will discuss the installation of floating render licenses and how they differ from standard interactive floating licenses.

Render Floating Licenses vs Interactive Floating Licenses

A render license is a specific floating license that only allows project rendering.

When you are using a floating license, it is broken into two parts: the interactive portion and the rendering portion.

If you open the Boris FX software (and a license is available), enter the interactive portion.
If you have the Boris FX software closed and use the command-line renderer, you are utilizing the rendering portion.

If the interactive license is in use elsewhere or missing, the Boris FX software GUI will become unlicensed, and attempting further work may encrypt your project if you choose to save. If you have no interactive floating licenses available to render with, additional render licenses can be helpful to let you free up interactive licenses elsewhere.

Workflow For Render Licenses – Example 1

To help illustrate the Render License workflow, let’s look at the following situation:

5 floating licenses (interactive)
10 render licenses (render only)
There is only 1 user

The license server is operating with both sets of licenses.

If only one person is using the Boris FX software on the network, there are 4 interactive and 10 render licenses available to use.
If only one person is using Boris FX software on the network, they would have 15 render machines available for use, including the one they were working with.
If another person started working and all machines were in use for rendering, their version of the Boris FX software would be unlicensed, as there would be no available seats.

Workflow For Render Licenses – Example 2

To illustrate the Render License workflow, let’s look at another situation.

5 floating licenses (interactive)
10 render licenses (render only)
There are 5 users

The license server is operating with both sets of licenses.

5 people are working on the Boris FX software.
If another user tries to work on a 6th machine, the Boris FX software will open unlicensed, because all interactive licenses are in use.
They open an existing project (or render from the command line), and they will be able to render because all render licenses are available.

Now, what if one person wants to send off a render to the network?

If 5 people are using the Boris FX software on the network already, there would be 11 render machines available for use including the one the user was presently working with.
If another person stopped working in the Boris FX software, the interactive license would be released, and a new machine would then be free to either use for work (interactive) or render (non-interactive) by another user.

Installing Render Floating Licenses

The installation of a render license is the same as that of a standard interactive floating license. See Floating Licenses for a complete guide.

Troubleshooting Floating Licenses

As with any software, problems may arise during the installation process. Please take a moment to read our troubleshooting section and check for common errors.

If you continue to have issues installing, our support team will help you figure this out. Please submit a request with your order number in the request.

Verify Server License Has Been Successfully Installed

Check that your license exists on the Server.

For RLM Server v13 and newer:
Windows: C:\Program Files\BorisFX\rlm
Mac: /Library/Application Support/BorisFX/rlm/
Linux: /usr/borisfx/rlm/

For older versions of RLM Server:
Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\GenArts\rlm
Mac: /Library/Application Support/GenArts/rlm/
Linux: /usr/genarts/rlm/

Verify a License Server Software is the Latest Version

Check to make sure your License Manager is up to date.

Verify the Firewall is Not Running Between the Server and the Client

If your organization needs to run a firewall, you will need to check if the ports for the RLM server are open for use.

Check That the Software Version Matches the Activation Code

Check your purchase order to make sure everything matches version-wise. It may be that you don’t have the correct version of the Boris FX software installed from our download section. This is especially important for legacy software.

Check Conflicting Licenses Installed In Licensing Folder

If you have more than one of the same product licenses installed on the server or client machine, check to make sure they are not expired licenses. While rare, sometimes these licenses can conflict with any current ones you have on your system.

The Client Does Not Connect Or See The Server Host Name

If your client machine does not connect to the server based on the server name, try replacing the server name with the IP address of the server instead in the license file. You can easily do this via the License Manager or a text editor.

When In Doubt, Check The Log

The RLM Diagnostic log will pinpoint common license server issues.

Go to the RLM server’s web interface.
From the server machine go to http://localhost:5054 or from another machine use http://servername:5054, replacing server name as appropriate.
On the left side, click on Diagnostics.
On the Diagnostics page, click on Run Diagnostics and Output File will tell you where the rlm diagnostic file will be saved.

Check Your Firewall Settings

Ensure you are not restricted to using certain ports due to a firewall or other admin permissions. When in doubt, temporarily turn your firewalls off during the installation and then turn them back on when you are done.

Check Your Host Name Settings

If your client machine cannot connect to the server, you may have a networking issue. Try changing the server name on the client machine to the IP address of the server instead when entering the port@host, or check to see if your host has .local appended to the end of it.

Sometimes The Best Solution Is To Start Again

You might roll your eyes at this one, but try uninstalling, restarting your machine, and installing the software again from scratch. Make sure you follow the installation directions exactly. It sounds redundant, but sometimes it’s a great way to troubleshoot what is going on with your machine.

When All Else Fails…Contact Us

Please submit a request with your order number in the request. Our support team is happy to help you fix any floating license issues you encounter.

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