Flow of Requests When Using FlexNet Edge

FlexNet Edge, located on the customer’s network, is used in implementations where end-user devices have no direct connectivity to the Internet. Devices send their requests to FlexNet Edge, which communicates with the Notification Server.

Devices communicating with FlexNet Edge must be registered with FlexNet Operations. Registration can be done manually through the Producer Portal or through a device licensing capability request (if licensing is being used). FlexNet Edge currently does not support the REST API for device registration.

The workflow uses the /statusLog and /updates APIs, as described in Status Log and Updates, respectively.

Important:FlexNet Edge must be authorized to communicate with the Notifications Server. For more information, see Authorizing FlexNet Edge Server.

FlexNet Edge Update Workflow

1. A device requests update information, using /uai/2.0/updates.
2. FlexNet Edge returns a polling ID so that the device can periodically poll for the requested information.
3. The device begins to poll for the update information using /uai/2.0/updates/{pollingId}.
4. As soon as FlexNet Edge can connect to the Notification Server, it begins to request and then poll for update information. (Note: FlexNet Edge activity can be paused by the end user, if there is a period during which devices should not update. During this pause, FlexNet Edge will not connect to the Notification Server.)
5. FlexNet Edge requests all update available information from the Notification Server, and once this has been returned, FlexNet Edge requests the manifests for each available update.
6. FlexNet Edge next obtains all download files needed for each update from the appropriate file delivery service. (FlexNet Edge caches all updates, manifests and download files. Any other devices requesting the same update information will be responded to immediately from that cache. By default, the cache is cleared once every 30 days, but this is user configurable.)
7. Finally, FlexNet Edge returns the update information to the device. The device must then request:
a. the manifest for its chosen update using the APIs described in Request Manifest File.
b. the necessary files using a FlexNet Edge API described in Obtaining Download Files from FlexNet Edge.

At all stages, the device can make status log updates to FlexNet Edge, which will synchronize the status log updates to FlexNet Operations via the Notification Server.

Obtaining Download Files from FlexNet Edge

A device communicating with FlexNet Edge must request all download files from FlexNet Edge, because it has no direct access to the internet. To do this, the device must:

1. Extract the URL for each download file from the manifest
2. Calculate the MD5 sum of the file URL
3. Request the file from FlexNet Edge using the REST API /uai/2.0/updates/manifests/manifest_files/{id}.

FlexNet Operations 2020 R1 SP1 User Guide

March 2020

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