Introduction
It is possible to upgrade the network licence versions currently installed on the Sentinel Server without the requirements for revocation. An upgrade file can be created to upgrade from any current or previous version of our Software, that relies on licence hosting on the Sentinel RMS Server, to any higher version of our software.
In this example the upgrade licence will be applied to upgrade currently installed S3GRAF v8 network licences to S3GRAF v9 network licences. However this is the same procedure for all future products and licence versions.
To complete this upgrade, the following high level steps are required:
- Contact Sciencesoft Support requesting the upgrade file
- Place the upgrade file in the correct location on the Sentinel Server
- Restart the Sentinel RMS service
Note the upgrade file will make currently installed product licences accessible to the latest version of the product. However it will not extend the expiry date nor change the number of licences available. A new licence file is required for this.
Upgrade Request
When a new product version is released, notification is provided to all clients that are entitled to this. Although there is no requirement to upgrade, we always recommend the latest version is utilised since this provides the latest new features.
To request the upgrade file, contact Sciencesoft Support via our Support Portal or email. This will raise a Support request and we will contact you for further details.
Upgrade File Installation
The upgrade file provided is for the most recently provided network licence only. Since Sciencesoft Support have these, no further details are required from yourself.
Note this upgrade does not extend the expiry date or number of currently provided licences.
The upgrade file is called ULSERVRC and cannot be changed. When provided this is saved to the following location on the Sentinel servers:
- Sentinel 9.3 or older: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\SafeNet Sentinel\Sentinel RMS License Manager\WinNT
- Sentinel 9.8: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Thales\Sentinel RMS License Manager\WinNT
For example:
This is a default location for the Sentinel Server and again should be standard across all installations. However it may be that the Sentinel Server is installed on a different drive. This can be identified by the location of the lservnt executable in the Sentinel RMS Licence Manager service properties dialog:
Note: Only one file called ulservrc can be in this location. As such if a ulservrc file already exists in this location and is in use, the contents of the new file provided must be merged with this existing file. This can be completed using a text editor like Notepad or Textpad.
Contact Sciencesoft Support if there are any questions on this.
Restart of Service
To utilise the upgrade details from the ulservrc file, the Sentinel RMS service must be restarted. This can be identified in the services.msc accessible from the Start button and typing services.msc into the run dialog. The System Administrator should have access to this Microsoft Snap in.
The correct service is highlighted below:
Highlight this and select the 'restart' option on the left. This service takes a few seconds to restart but may require to be restarted twice in some cases.
Note that clients that are currently utilising network licences should not be affected. However as a precaution it is recommended to ensure no licences are being utilised when this service is being restarted.
Licence Checks
To verify this upgrade file has been applied correctly, the following checks should be completed:
WlmAdmin Refresh
WlmAdmin is the application used to add licences to the Sentinel Server. Details on this can be found here.
When launched, the WlmAdmin application lists all installed licences on the Sentinel server. For example:
To confirm the upgrade file has been applied, right click on the Sentinel Server name and select 'refresh' from the drop down menu:
This will rebuild the treeview and display the new upgrade licences:
As can be seen the S3GRAF 9.1 components are now available.
Application Check
Our applications are designed to utilise the current or newer versions of the network licences. So for example when S3GRAF v8 is launched and the Licence dialog is displayed, this will display the following:
and S3GRAF v9 will display;
Data can now be loaded into S3GRAF as before.
The upgrade process for other products is similar however note there can only be one ulservrc file on the Sentinel server. As such multiple products must be included in this file.
If you have any questions on this procedure, please contact Sciencesoft Support