Get Started with ControlCenter

  1. To begin using ControlCenter, click on its tab in the Monitor web interface.
    This brings up the ControlCenter cockpit. The cockpit is where high-level license server management can be performed. This includes starting, stopping, and issuing license reread requests to license servers. Upon first access, the cockpit will be empty.
  2. To begin ControlCenter setup, click the Setup menu option, then click Initialize Repository.
    This creates and initializes the CVS repository that is used to store multiple versions of licensing files.


    Figure 1. ControlCenter setup before CVS initialization

    A box will appear at the top of the page that contains the output of the initialization.

  3. If unsuccessful, check the output for any corrective actions and try again. If successful, a green check will replace the button:


    Figure 2. ControlCenter setup after CVS initialization
  4. Each daemon that is to be managed by ControlCenter will need to be configured. To get started with the configuration, move to the Create Configuration File Templates section and choose the appropriate scenario.
    The first scenario is used to create templates for all existing monitors. The second scenario is used when create a new license server that is not yet being monitored. Again, the output from this step will be shown at the top of the page:


    Figure 3. ControlCenter setup after creation of the templates
  5. Once the templates have been created, click Back to Server Overview to be taken back to the cockpit. From here, a tag can be chosen for further configuration:


    Figure 4. ControlCenter cockpit
  6. Select a tag by clicking on its name in the table.
    In the example below, the "RTDA-RLM" tag was clicked. This brings up the Server & File Control page, which shows the information for the license server instance that the tag represents:


    Figure 5. Tag Details page showing the RTDA-RLM tag
    The configuration template for the RTDA-RLM tag that was generated in the above step, licmon.swd/licmgr/RTDA-RLM_licmgr.tcl, is shown. The configuration can be edited and saved from within this page. The configuration utilizes the LICMGR_JOB procedure, which is used to register parameters for the given license server. The parameters include the following:
    • HOSTS: show the host on which the license server instance is running. This is normally one or three hosts. Multiple hosts should be separated by a space.
    • DIR: the directory in which the license server instance is to be started. This is normally a single directory, but could be a list of directories if HOSTS refers to a triplet and the directory is different on each of the different hosts. If the HOSTS line shows more than one host, then the first directory is used for the first host, the second for the second host and so on. If there are less directories than hosts, then the last directory is used for each host in excess to the number of directories.
    • LOGDIR: The default location for license manager job logs is the directory specified by the DIR setting described above. If another location is desired for these logs, specify the absolute path with the LOGDIR setting.
    • START: the command to start the daemon. This command will be executed in the directory specified above. This command can be empty if the start capability is not wanted.
    • STOP: the command to stop the daemon; this command will also be executed in the directory specified above. This command can be empty if the stop capability is not wanted.
    • REREAD: the command to force a reread of the license file. This command can be empty if the reread capability is not wanted.
    • FILES: this is a list of paths relative to the directory DIR. Normally this is the license file and the options file, but the list may also include other files. These are the files that can be fetched and deployed by LicManager. The list can be empty if file fetching and publication capabilities are not wanted.
    • OWNER: the user that owns the license daemon. Ideally, this should be the same user as the owner of Altair Monitor, but in many cases this must be a different user. This user exists in the remote system(s) specified in the HOSTS line. If left empty, it is assumed that the owner is the same as the owner of Altair Monitor.
    • MANAGERS: the users of Altair Monitor that have authorization to perform license management tasks. If left empty, it is assumed that the only manager is the same as the owner of Altair Monitor.
    • COMMENT: a general-purpose comment field that can be used to communicate status between team members.
    • ENABLED: a flag to enable the processing of the configuration file. To enable the configuration, set the flag to 1.
  7. ControlCenter will try to fill in reasonable defaults for those tags that are already being monitored by using Altair Monitor's tracked data. Once the configuration is appropriate for the tag being setup, click the "Save" button, which saves the configuration and creates the jobs for starting, stopping and rereading the daemon, as well as the fetch and publish jobs for each managed file specified in the configuration.
  8. The LicManager functionality, such as starting and stopping the daemon as well as fetching and deploying of files, depends on the availability of "LicManager Agents" running on the remote hosts. Agents are discussed in the next section. Once agents are configured and running, the cockpit can be used to start/stop/reread, and the Server & File Control page can be used do the same, as well as to perform file transfer to and from the license server:


    Figure 6. File transfer
  9. Each configured licensing file can be fetched from the remote host by clicking on the "Fetch" button. The file is staged from the remote host into the CVS repository.
  10. If a new license file has been received from a vendor, ControlCenter can be used to import the file (click "Import") by either uploading the file or pasting it into a form.


    Figure 7. File import
  11. Click Deploy to stage the licensing file to all configured license server hosts.
  12. Once a file has been fetched or imported, it can be quickly viewed by clicking View, or it can be edited via the Edit button. From the edit screen, multiple versions can be managed. When a change is made and saved, the changes can be checked into the CVS repository. By default, the latest version (the "head") is the active version of the file used for deployment. However, any historical version can be checked out to be the active version, and that version would be deployed instead.


    Figure 8. File edit
  13. After deployment of licensing files, the license manager will need to be instructed to reread the license files. This can be performed by clicking on the "reread" command for each of the hosts to execute the configured reread function.