Shared License Server and Failover Support. Shared License Configuration

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1 Shared License Server and Failover Support The shared license server support feature included in Ascent Capture 7.0 allows system administrators to designate a primary site to handle licensing requests from one or more additional Ascent Capture sites. The key benefits of this capability are: Shared licenses. All license requests can be handled by a primary server. Optionally, license server traffic can be distributed evenly between two or more servers, improving network performance. Failover protection. Backup license servers can handle license requests when the primary license server is unavailable. Shared License Configuration Multiple Ascent Capture sites can share a combined license by directing all licensing requests to a single license server running on a primary site. Using this method streamlines your system by directing all licensing requests to a single location, rather than having to maintain individual licenses at various locations. To configure a primary license server 1 Install Ascent Capture at your primary site. (Refer to your Ascent Capture Installation Guide for instructions.) During the installation, you must include a license hardware All volume and station licenses are included on this single hardware ACConfig.xml file to point all licensing for the site to the license server at the primary site. The following code shows an example of how the licensing portion of the ACConfig.xml file should be modified for the primary site and all the additional sites: <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= PRIMARY_LICENSE Kofax Technical Note - June 8,

2 Where: PRIMARY_LICENSE represents the name of the computer hosting the primary license server. The ServerTimeout value is optional, but recommended. Failover Protection Configuration You can provide failover protection for your Ascent Capture license system by designating additional license servers as backups in case the first license server is not responding. This allows an Ascent Capture site to continue functioning even if the regular license server cannot be reached. To configure failover protection 1 Install Ascent Capture at your primary site for each computer that will serve as a license server. (Refer to your Ascent Capture Installation Guide for instructions.) During the installation, you must include a license hardware key for each server. ACConfig.xml file for each site to point all licensing to the main license server, as well as listing all other backup license servers in order of descending priority. The following code shows an example of how the licensing portion of the ACConfig.xml file should be modified for the primary site and all the additional sites: <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= PRIMARY_LICENSE <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= BACKUP_LICENSE_1 <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= BACKUP_LICENSE_2 Where: PRIMARY_LICENSE represents the name of the primary license server. If, for any reason, this server becomes unavailable, all license requests will be immediately forwarded to BACKUP_LICENSE_1. If this backup license server 2 Kofax Technical Note - June 8, 2005

3 is unavailable, the license request is forwarded to BACKUP_LICENSE_2, and so on. The order of the license servers in the ACConfig.xml file always determines the order that the servers are queried. The ServerTimeout value determines the time, in seconds, the license request will wait before moving on to the next backup license server in the list. Example Configuration The following example configuration combines both the shared license and failover support options. This kind of configuration helps improve overall network performance by splitting license requests between two or more license servers. This system minimizes server traffic to any single license server. You can also reference all license servers in the configuration file to provide failover protection. To combine shared license and failover support 1 Install Ascent Capture at your primary site for each computer that will serve as a license server. (Refer to your Ascent Capture Installation Guide for instructions.) During the installation, you must include a license hardware key for each server. ACConfig.xml file for each site so that license requests are distributed evenly among all your license servers. For example, let s say you have two license servers and ten additional sites that will be using those two servers for licensing requests. You could configure the sites by modifying the license portion of the ACConfig.xml file for 5 of the sites to the following: <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= LICENSE_SERVER_1 <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= LICENSE_SERVER_2 Kofax Technical Note - June 8,

4 Then, for the remaining 5 sites, modify the license portion of the ACConfig.xml file to the following: <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= LICENSE_SERVER_2 <Service Key= Licensing\Licensing Service Host= LICENSE_SERVER_1 All license requests will be balanced between the two servers, and each server provides failover protection for the other. Network Requirements The shared license server feature uses unfiltered TCP/IP information to pass requests from all client computers to the license servers. Firewalls that intercept TCP/IP packets and potentially block certain information are not supported. The license server host name must be resolved from all clients on all sites that directly use the license server. Other sites may only reference a license server if it is installed in a client/server configuration. The license server on a standalone Ascent Capture installation cannot accept licensing requests from a different computer. Also, standalone installations of Ascent Capture may not share a local license. Note Unreserve any licenses reserved by ACI Server remote sites before uninstalling a server in a shared license server configuration. Security The configurations described above assume the license servers are accessed over private wide area networks. There are no security measures used in this configuration beyond the single-site deployment (one primary site with one license server). For instance, there is no support for Internet-style security mechanisms such as HTTPS or client certificates. 4 Kofax Technical Note - June 8, 2005

5 Installing the License Service on Client Workstations For large installation sites, it is possible to run the license server on a workstation that is not your Ascent Capture server. For example, you may want to use your Scan or Recognition Server client workstation as a license server. This is often done to reduce network traffic to your primary Ascent Capture server. To use a client workstation as a license server, you must install and run the Ascent Capture License service. To install the Ascent Capture License service on a client workstation 1 On the client workstation, run ACLicSrvCfg.exe. This file can be found in your Ascent\Bin directory. The default installation location is C:\Program Files\Ascent\Bin. 2 The Enable Licensing Service interface will display. Figure 1-1. Enable Licensing Service Interface 3 Select User Name. 4 Assign a logon account to the service by entering a User Name, Password and Domain. Click OK to install the service. Kofax Technical Note - June 8,