Automatically attaching Kaluza to multiple network dongles

[zuldan23]

We are upgrading from Kaluza 1.3 to 2.1.1. We have a large install base and two separate network dongles. The second of which we just acquired.

 

My first question is if it is possible to have Kaluza see both dongles and if one has all of its sessions used fall back to the secondary?

 

Second question is if it is possible to automatically add the host names of the workstations that have the dongles? Currently when you open Kaluza you get the option of what kind of license and the host name but is there a script or some install flag that can be used to set it? We have a large install base and I don't want to have to go to every workstation and tell it what host to look to for the dongle.

 

Thanks!

[Ernie]

The dongle software will automatically recognize and pool all dongles which are physically installed in the same computer. So if you have a server called "kaluza_server" and there are two or more dongles plugged into it, all of those licenses will be available to anyone who connects to kaluza_server. This is all automatic and transparent.

 

We don't have a script to batch set up the license information on clients. Generally the best practice is to document for your user base how to configure Kaluza to connect to the right kind of license and include the server name as part of that.

 

Just as an FYI, you may want to look into the Network License Control Center (NLCC). This free download gives you more control over your user base by allowing you to create user accounts which must be used to log into the server. This allows you to control who uses your licenses, and track usage of them on a per-user basis. This is more work to set up and administer, so if you don't need the benefits that come from additional control and logging you may just want to stick with the traditional system. You can find it at the Kaluza page on the beckman.com website under downloads.

[zuldan23]

Thanks Ernie. I couldn't find documentation anywhere on this stuff so I really appreciate the quick response.

 

Will Kaluza do the same pooling if you have the dongles on two different machines and have both of them listed in Kaluza in the site-license box?

 

Luckily I was able to create a script file that will add in the licenses. This way we can deploy without the user having to know anything about what is going on with licensing.

 

Thanks for the info on the NLCC. I will definitely take a look at that.

[Ernie]

If you have licenses on two different boxes, you need to list the names of both boxes on each client. Once you do that, it's transparent to the user where the license came from. We use Kaluza extensively within Beckman Coulter and that's how our licenses are set up. We have three globally distributed servers; clients who are configured to draw licenses from all of them are largely protected from most network disruptions. Setting it up this way is more work, but if you've already got a script it's likely be pretty easy to modify it to address that.