Volume Subscription Guide

Welcome to the Red Giant Volume Program!

Red Giant volume licensing uses a product called Reprise License Manager (RLM). RLM is a flexible and easy-to-use license management tool with the power to serve everything from a small workgroup to enterprise teams.

RLM can easily be configured to serve out licenses to machines on the same network or through the cloud with services such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS. It can offer the time-based lease of a license to a machine that is disconnected from the network to work off-site or from home. You can even deploy multiple servers in different locations to build redundancy into the system. It is very flexible and easy to configure.

There are a few steps to configure your server, where you will host the ‘RLM’ software, as well as the client machines that will check out licenses from the server. This document will explain how to set everything up.

Additional information on how the RLM system works is included in the RLM License Administration Manual: http://www.reprisesoftware.com/RLM_License_Administration.pdf

Rev. 2.2 - 2/2020

Red Giant Volume Subscription Guide

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 1

Getting Started 2 What to send to Red Giant 2 Finding your IP and Mac Address 2 Windows 3 Mac 4 Port Usage 5 Render-Only Policy 5 Failover Servers 5

Server Installation 6 Overview 6 Server Setup 6 Failover Server 6 Manual server installation 7 Existing Server 7

Client Installation 8 Overview 8 Client License Installation 8 Plugin Installation 8 Red Giant Application Manager 8 GUI Installers 8 Scripted Install 9 Render Nodes 10

Red Giant Application Manager 11 Suite Installation 12 Download 12 Installation 13 Roaming Licenses 13 Roaming License Checkout 13 Roaming License Returns 14 Support Package 14

Server Administration 16 RLM Interface 16 RLM Status 17 Server Status 18 License Usage 18

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Client Administration 19

Thank you! 19

Useful Links 20

Red Giant Volume Subscription Guide

Getting Started

Red Giant uses Reprise License Manager (RLM) software to distribute floating licenses over your network to client workstations. Any machine can act as the ‘server', but be aware that the server machine won’t be able to use the floating licenses its hosting.

To generate a license for you, Red Giant will need some basic information about your server.

What to send to Red Giant 1) IP Address or Hostname of server ● We recommend using a static IP address. ● Hostnames cannot contain an underscore character (‘_’). 2) MAC address of server (see “Finding your IP and Mac Address” for more info) 3) Client communication port (optional) ● RLM uses port 5053 (both TCP and UDP) by default ● If you need a different port, let us know. 4) Static ISV port (optional) ● RLM uses dynamic allocation for ISV ports (TCP and UDP) by default. ● If you need a static one, let us know. More information on ports used here. 5) Failover server IP and MAC address (optional, see Failover Server for more info) 6) Number of Render-Only licenses (optional) ● Your Volume License purchase entitles you to unlimited render-only licenses. ● These are added to your floating license at no additional cost.

Finding your IP and Mac Address In order to create your license file, we need to know the IP address and the MAC address of the server you will use to distribute licenses. Use the instruction below to gather this information.

Notes: ● If you have multiple network devices or network connections on your server, select the MAC and IP address of the connection to the same network as your client machines ● We highly recommend using a static IP address (or a Hostname)

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Windows 1. Open a Command Prompt window (search for “cmd” in the Start Menu) 2. Enter ipconfig /all in the Command Prompt window 3. Note the Physical Address (MAC) and IPv4 Address (IP) (see image below)

Windows IP Config Output

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Mac IP Address 1. Open the System Preferences 2. Open the Network menu 3. Select the network in the left-hand column (typically Ethernet) 4. Note the value in the IP Address field

MAC Address 1. Continuing from the steps above, click the Advanced button 2. Select the Hardware tab 3. Note the value in the MAC Address field

Hostname If you need to use the server’s Hostname instead of an IP address, you can find it by: 1. Navigate to System Preferences 2. Open the Sharing menu 3. Note the name underneath the Computer Name field

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Port Usage The RLM server software will use three ports: ● Client Communication Port ○ Default is 5053 ○ Client machines use this port to connect to RLM ○ This port can be changed, just let our team know what you would prefer ● RLM Web Interface ○ Default is 5054 ○ RLM opens a web browser GUI on this port to administer the RLM software ● ISV Server Port ○ Default is dynamic ○ RLM can host multiple ISV servers from different vendors; Each one gets its own ISV port ○ This port can be assigned a static value to work with firewall rules

Note: If your server or network uses any kind of firewall or port blocking you will need a static ISV server port.

Render-Only Policy Render-Only licenses are available at no additional charge for any render-only systems (systems that do nothing but render). When you send in your server information, let our team know how many render-only licenses you would like

Render-Only licenses can also be added to your subscription at a later date, simply reach out to [email protected] to make your request. Failover Servers A failover server is an additional licensing server (completely separate from your primary hardware), complete with RLM and your Red Giant licenses, that will handle client requests if your primary server becomes unavailable. Once your primary server comes back online, the failover will stop handling client requests.

Note: This is not a secondary server, purely a backup server.

Red Giant Volume Subscription Guide

Server Installation

Overview Once you have sent in your server information and received your zip file containing your license files, you are ready to begin setting up your server. The zip file will contain licenses for your server as well as your client machines.

The following sections will detail how to install RLM and these licenses.

Server Setup The primary server will be responsible for serving licenses to your client workstations. To do this, it will need the Reprise License Manager (RLM) software and your Red Giant license files.

1. Download and install RLM a. Windows Volume Server Installer b. Mac Volume Server Installer c. These installers will copy the necessary RLM files to your machine and register RLM as a system service so it will run automatically when your server boots up Note for Mac: The server installer requires macOS X v10.9.5 or newer. If your server is running an older version, please follow the Manual Server Installation steps. 2. Install your Red Giant licenses a. Extract the files from the zip file you received from our team i. Please use the default un-zipping utility for your operating system ii. Third-party utilities are not supported and can corrupt the files b. Copy the files from the “server” folder to the same location as the RLM software i. Windows: C:\Program Files\Red Giant\License Server ii. Mac: /Library/Application Support/Red Giant/License Server Note: Do not copy the “FAILOVER” license (if present) to your primary server 3. Restart your server a. Once the server has rebooted, RLM will be running in the background and ready to serve your Red Giant licenses b. To confirm RLM is running: i. Navigate to http://localhost:5054/home.asp to view the web interface ii. Click the Status link in the left-hand menu iii. Look for a “redgiant” row in the ISV servers table iv. Confirm a “Yes” in the running column

Failover Server To set up your failover server, follow the steps in the Server Setup section above, but include the “FAILOVER” license in step 2.

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Manual server installation If you need to manually install the Reprise License Manager (RLM) software, follow the steps in this section.

1. Download RLM from the Reprise website: http://www.reprisesoftware.com/admin/software-licensing-download.php 2. Extract/Install the RLM software 3. Install your Red Giant licenses - Follow step 2 in the Server Setup section above 4. Run RLM a. You will need to manually launch RLM anytime your server restarts b. There are ways of launching programs on startup, but these are beyond the scope of this guide

Existing Server If you have an existing RLM server already hosting licenses, follow these steps to add or update your Red Giant licenses. Please let our team know if your existing RLM setup uses a client communication port other than 5053. 1. Follow the license installation steps from the Server Setup section above 2. Open the RLM web interface 3. Click “Reread/Restart Servers” in the left-hand menu 4. Follow the prompts

This will trigger RLM to reread the available license files and update your license pool(s).

Note: Red Giant does not support RLM prior to version 11.0BL2, if you have an existing server with an older version of RLM, you will need to update it to use Red Giant.

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Client Installation

Overview There are two main steps when installing Red Giant plugins on your client workstations: 1. Install the client license 2. Install the plugins

Client License Installation Each of your client workstations will need a copy of the client license file to use RLM and floating licenses with Red Giant.

1. Extract the zip file you received from our team a. Please use the default un-zipping utility for your operating system b. Third-party utilities are not supported and may corrupt the files 2. Copy the license file(s) from the “clients” folder to each of your client workstations a. Windows: C:\ProgramData\Red Giant\licenses b. Mac: /Users/Shared/Red Giant/licenses c. You may need to create the “licenses” directory on your clients - This is okay

Note: It is very important to place the client license file in the correct location - Be sure the spacing and spelling exactly matches the above paths.

Plugin Installation There are three distinct ways to install the plugin suite software: Red Giant Application Manager, GUI, and Script.

Red Giant Application Manager Our recommended method of installation is to download and install the Red Giant Application Manager (available at https://www.redgiant.com/application-manager), then use it to download and install the plugin suites.

See the Red Giant Application Manager - Suite Installation section for detailed instructions.

Note: When using floating licenses, do not log in to Red Giant Application Manager.

GUI Installers 1. Download the installers from our download page: https://www.redgiant.com/support/installers/ 2. Run the GUI installer(s) on each of your client workstations a. Select the plugins you wish to install (see image on next page) b. If prompted for a serial number, leave it empty c. If prompted to install in “Trial” mode, accept

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Red Giant GUI Installer Example

Scripted Install For silent deployment or to deploy the suites remotely, you can use our scripted installers. These installers will automatically detect and install to the available host applications

1. Download the scripted installers from our volume downloads page here: https://www.redgiant.com/volume/tech-files/ 2. Extract the installation files to a local drive 3. Run the installation script a. Open a Terminal window (macOS) or Command Prompt (Windows) b. Navigate to the directory containing the installation script i. Windows: “Suite Installer x.xx\Scripts” ii. Mac: “Suite Installer x.xx.app/Contents/Scripts” c. Run bash install.sh (macOS) or install.bat (Windows)

Note: The Mac installation script is located within the standard GUI installer. Right-click the .app file, click “Show Package Contents”, and navigate to Contents/Scripts/install.sh

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Render Nodes Render nodes can be set up the same way as regular client machines, but require an additional file to enable their “Render-Only” status.

1. Open the client license directory (see step 2 of Client License Installation for locations) 2. Create a text file named “rlm-options.txt” alongside your license(s) (see image A below) 3. In this file, add the line: REDGIANT_RENDER_ONLY=true (see image B below) 4. Save the file

This will set the machine as a render-only machine and it will check out render-only licenses from your RLM server.

Image A - RLM Options File Location

Image B - RLM Options File Render Only

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Red Giant Application Manager

The Red Giant Application Manager (Red Giant App or RGA) is analogous to the Adobe Creative Cloud app and will replace Red Giant Link. It will show all your products (owned, installed, and available for download) and will handle installs, uninstalls, and updates.

The purpose of the app is to bring the management of all Red Giant products into one central repository, where any type of licensing can be viewed and managed; This will include subscriptions and floating licenses.

Red Giant App Dashboard

Note: When using floating licenses, do not log in to Red Giant Application Manager.

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Suite Installation Installing the plugin suites using Red Giant Application Manager is quick and easy. Because of this, it is our recommended method of installation.

When a plugin suite is available to install, Red Giant Application Manager will display an “Install” button on that suite’s information panel (see image below).

Download

Red Giant Application Manager with Install Button

Clicking the “Install” button will begin downloading the most recent version of the selected plugin suite. You can watch the download progress in the colorful bar below the suite name (see image below).

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Magic Bullet Download Progress Indicator

Installation Once the download has completed, Red Giant Application Manager will automatically launch the GUI installer for the selected suite. Proceed through the installation as normal.

Roaming Licenses The Red Giant App will also offer the ability to use roaming licenses; This is where a machine checks out a license from your server,disconnects from your network, but retains the license for an extended period of time (the default is 30 days) before the license expires. At that point, the machine would have to be re-connected to the network to check out a new license.

It will also be possible to re-connect the machine to the network earlier than the expiration date to check in the license. When a license is checked back in, it frees up this license for use by your other workstations.

Roaming License Checkout This requires no configuration, as Roaming Licenses use the existing license server. This is how it works:

1. A roaming license file is added to your server (if not already present) 2. Client machines check out a roaming license using Red Giant App a. Open the Red Giant App b. Click the menu button in the top-right corner c. Click “Enable Volume License Roaming” (see image below)

Once enabled, the license will be available on your system, even while your system is disconnected from the network, and you will no longer need to access the license server until the roaming license expires or is returned. The license server will show the license as checked out to you for this period.

Red Giant Volume Subscription Guide

Red Giant App - Roaming Option

Note: An initial connection to the RLM server is required to check out a roaming license.

Roaming License Returns If your plans change and you would like to return the license before it has expired: 1. Reconnect the system to the network 2. Run the Red Giant Application Manager. Once the program exits (or does a check in), the roamed license will be returned to the license pool on the server

Note: If you change the server name or port number after you check out a roaming license, you will not be able to return the license early.

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Support Package Red Giant Application Manager has the ability to generate a detailed support package that is useful for diagnosing many issues relating to Red Giant Application Manager itself and the plugin suites.

To generate a support package: 1. Launch Red Giant Application Manager 2. Open the About modal ○ Windows: Click the “Help” menu option, then select “About”

○ Mac: Click the “Red Giant Application Manager” option in the macOS menu bar, then select “About Red Giant Application Manager”

3. Tap the right arrow key on your keyboard once, then click “Make A Support Package”

This will generate and save a .zip archive to the local Desktop containing installation and debug logs, a copy of the local product database, and more.

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Server Administration

Server administration is handled from the RLM web interface. To access this interface, open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:5054/home.asp

Client machines can also access the admin page by using the following URL:

http://(Your server IP or Hostname):5054/home.asp Example → http://192.168.50.185:5054/home.asp

RLM Interface In this section, we’ll cover some of the necessary basics of RLM’s interface and how it can help you manage your floating licenses.

RLM Web Interface

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RLM Status The status button in the left-hand menu will navigate to the main status page, which displays information about all the servers and licenses hosted in this instance of RLM. On this page we can see:

● The Client Communication Port ● What license files are being read ● ISV Servers, their assigned ISV Port, and their Running status

In the image below, we can see that RLM is using port 5056 for its client communication port, instead of the default 5053. We can also see that the server is reading two license files and that the “redgiant” ISV server is running on port 62218 (likely dynamic).

RLM Status Page with Running Red Giant ISV Server

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Server Status From the main status page, if we click on the “redgiant” button in the Server Status column, we will navigate to the detailed status page for the Red Giant ISV Server. Here, we will be able to see details about its communication and the licenses that are available.

Red Giant ISV Status Page

License Usage From the main status page, if we click on the “redgiant” button in the License Usage column, we will navigate to a checkout history log for Red Giant licenses.

Red Giant License Status Note: This displays a historical log of license requests; This is not necessarily the same as what licenses are currently in use.

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Client Administration

Clients have very limited administration and configuration options. Any configuration is done through the “rlm-options.txt” file, which currently only supports two options: Client Logging and Render-Node Status.

To set the client workstation as a render-node (and request only render-only licenses), please see the Render Nodes section.

To enable client logging, which will produce logs for each suite as it is used on the client workstation, follow these steps:

1. Open the client license directory (see Client License Installation for more) 2. Create a text file named “rlm-options.txt” (if not already present) 3. Open the file and add the line: REDGIANT_ENTERPRISE_LOGGING=true Once this is complete, Red Giant plugin suites will save logs to one of these locations: ● Windows: C:\ProgramData\Red Giant\logs ● Mac: /Users/Shared/Red Giant/logs

The image below is an example file with both client logging and render-only status enabled.

RLM Options File - All Settings Enabled

Thank you!

If you experience any problems or have any questions, please contact [email protected]

For additional licenses, please contact your sales representative.

Thank you for your business!

Red Giant

Red Giant Volume Subscription Guide

Useful Links

Server installers, scripted installers, plus other useful files: https://www.redgiant.com/volume/tech-files/

Red Giant Application Manager download: https://www.redgiant.com/application-manager/

Our most frequently asked questions (FAQs): https://www.redgiant.com/volume/faqs/

Our most recent installers: https://www.redgiant.com/support/installers/

Our legacy product installers: https://www.redgiant.com/support/installers/legacy/

Individual plugin updates and update details: https://www.redgiant.com/support/updates-gallery/

Compatibility matrix for plugins, apps, and operating systems https://www.redgiant.com/support/compatibility/host-applications/