Setting up the Squish Floating License Server

Setting up the FLS-QLS Bridge

This manual is written for Squish license managers and administrators. It applies if you want to migrate Squish installations from Squish's Floating License Server (FLS) to Qt License Server (QLS) and need to keep Squish versions older than 9.2 working. There is no requirement to switch to QLS at this point if the FLS works fine for you. QLS is the recommended solution in the long term, however. For more details on how the license model works, see License Models Available in Squish.

If you do not need to keep older Squish versions working, upgrade all Squish installations to 9.2 or later first. Then contact Squish support for assistance in moving your licenses from FLS to the QLS format. Afterwards install QLS.

Overview

From this point on, we are going to assume that you need to run Squish 9.2 or later together with older Squish versions that do not support QLS.

Migrating to QLS has two major steps: First, the license information needs to be converted from FLS format to QLS so that it can be retrieved from a Qt account. Please contact Squish support to do that. Second, the necessary server software must be set up on the customer's premises.

The server setup consists of three parts that work together, all of which are available in the download area:

Floating License Server
QLS daemon (qtlicd)
Qt License Server

{Component diagram of QLS with an FLS bridge}

In this setup, the Floating License Server merely acts as a proxy. It asks QLS for a license on behalf of FLS clients and returns converted license information back to the clients. Since it isn't trusted with actual licenses anymore its configuration file does not need to be signed. Instead, the FLS requires qtlicd to be able to connect to QLS just like Squish itself.

Installing Qt License Server (QLS)

The QLS installer can be obtained from the download area or, if you already have Qt installed, through the Qt Maintenance Tool. Please refer to the Qt License Server installation manual for detailed instructions.

Installing Squish Floating License Server in Bridge Mode

For the FLS bridge you have two options: You can either use the existing FLS or you can install another FLS instance separately. In either case, FLS needs to be the latest version (the one released with Squish 9.2) and have a configuration file added for bridging. Both options are technically equivalent. The differences are in administrative workflows such as potential outages during the migration. For the purposes of this manual we will assume a new, separate FLS installation.

As can be seen in above diagram, FLS can run on the same computer as QLS. It is advisable to do so for latency reasons. Breaking down the needed steps:

Download the FLS installer from the download area
Install it according to the manual but stop at "Obtaining the Machine ID" since you will create the license file yourself.
Create a plain text file with the following contents and save it as fls-qls-bridge.cfg:
```
[General]
EncodedLicenseKey=QLS
ExecutionLicenses=0
Hash=0
LicenseCooldown=0
TcpPort=49345
TesterLicenses=0
```
The FLS server port (TcpPort) can be chosen freely when bridging to QLS.
Continue the FLS setup manual at "Downloading the License File" and place fls-qls-bridge.cfg in the specified location.
Enable the FLS system service according to the final step on that page.

Reusing an existing FLS installation

To reconfigure an existing FLS installation, upgrade it to at least version 9.2 first. Then place above license file in the license directory. Make sure that the used TcpPort does not conflict with existing license files.

Afterwards, continue with the following section on the host where FLS is installed.

Installing `qtlicd`

Now only qtlicd is missing. It enables the FLS to talk to QLS. The FLS simply assumes that qtlicd will be available on the same host. Normally it is installed together with Squish, for example.

Download the qtlicd installer from the download area and install it on the same host as FLS. You can ignore the QLS URL that can be configured during installation. We need to do that later.
Set qtlicd up to run as a system service according to the QLS manual.
Open qtlicd.ini in the installation directory (/opt/qtlicd or C:\Program Files\qtlicd) and adjust the server_addr value to the host URL where you installed QLS before:
```
server_addr=https://qls.example.com:8443
```

QLS and the FLS bridge are set up now. Point a Squish installation to the newly installed FLS and verify that it is working by opening the Squish IDE or runnning squishrunner --info wrappers.