Offline Return

You perform an offline return when your license server has limited or no external network connection. The process is similar to an offline activation and involves generating a capability request (specifying your desired activation IDs and counts) as a binary file, which you then send to the back office by an agreed-upon means. You upload the binary file to the back office, which generates a capability response as a binary file, which you then process on the license server to decrease your licenses.

The following procedure assumes that licenses are available on the license server.

To perform an offline return

Run the following command to generate the capability-request binary file to decrease license rights:

flexnetlsadmin -server licenseServer_baseURL -activate -id act1 -count 0 -o request.bin

These options are used:

•

-id to specify the activation ID (in this example, act1) containing the license rights.

•

-count to specify the number of copies (in this case, 0) of the activation ID that should be available on the license server after licenses have been returned. If you specify 0, all licenses are returned to the back office.

•

-o to define the name of the output binary file to which to save the generated request (in this example, request.bin).

If you want to provide multiple activation IDs, add the additional IDs as shown in the following command:

flexnetlsadmin -server licenseServer_baseURL -activate -id act1 -count 0 -id act2 -count 0 -o request.bin

Upload the capability-request binary file to the back office, and download the capability-response binary file generated by the back office.

Run the following command to process the response generated to decrease the number of licenses on the license server:

flexnetlsadmin -server licenseServer_baseURL -activate -load capabilityResponse.bin

The -load option is used to specify the capability response file returned by the back office (in this example, capabilityResponse.bin).

If the license server outputs error <IP address:port> Process unsuccessful for capabilityResponse.bin, this is due to FlexNet Operations requiring a confirmation capability request when reducing the number of copies of a license. The corresponding configuration setting is the Skip Confirmation check box. (For more information on this check box, including its location, consult the FlexNet Operations Producer Portal online help.) If this check box is not selected, the license count available on the license server is decreased in the back office, but has the status “Waiting for confirmation”. To confirm the decrease, perform the following additional steps:

Run the following command to generate another capability-request binary file:

flexnetlsadmin -server licenseServer_baseURL -activate -id act1 -count 0 -o request2.bin

Upload the capabilty-request binary file to the back office.

To view the decremented license count, see Viewing Features Installed on the License Server.