Deploy a floating license server#

Note

This page only applies to commercial use of ACEMD. Non-commercial use is free and does not require a license file or server — see License options.

You will learn: how to stand up the Acellera floating-license server for an HPC cluster and point ACEMD clients at it.

Prerequisites:

A floating-license license.dat file from Acellera, bound to the MAC address of the host that will run the server.
A host accessible to your cluster: CentOS 7 or compatible, fixed MAC address, root access.

For the comparison between license types (when a floating license is the right choice), see License options.

Step 1 — Download the server#

On the host that will run the license server:

curl -s https://software.acellera.com/floating-licence-server.tar.gz | tar xzvf -

Step 2 — Install (as root)#

cd floating-licence-server
sudo ./install.sh

By default the server is installed under /opt/acellera and runs as the sglmd user. Override either with ROOT= and USER= environment variables before invoking install.sh.

Step 3 — Place the license file#

sudo cp license.dat /opt/acellera/license.dat
sudo chown sglmd:sglmd /opt/acellera/license.dat
sudo chmod 644 /opt/acellera/license.dat

Confirm that sglmd can read the file.

Step 4 — Start the server#

sudo service acellera.sglmd start

Check the log to confirm it started cleanly:

tail /var/log/acellera.sglmd.log

Healthy output looks like:

2020/01/01 00:00:00 Server starting on localhost, port 27000, max components 64, max connections 256
Enabling acemd 3.0 512 01-jan-2025
Ready...

This server is accepting up to 512 concurrent ACEMD licenses on port 27000, expiring 2025-01-01.

Step 5 — Open the firewall#

The server listens on TCP port 27000 by default. Clients must be able to reach this port over the network. Adjust your firewall accordingly.

Step 6 — Point ACEMD clients at the server#

On each client machine, set ACELLERA_LICENSE_SERVER to <port>@<host>:

export ACELLERA_LICENSE_SERVER=27000@license.internal.acellera.com

Verify:

acemd --license

A working setup reports the floating-license check as GRANTED. If it doesn’t, the client cannot reach the server — verify network connectivity to the host on the configured port.

Gotchas#

The license file’s MAC binding is to the server’s MAC, not the clients’. Clients only need network access to the server.
The historical British-spelling env var ACELLERA_LICENCE_SERVER still works for backward compatibility; new installs should use ACELLERA_LICENSE_SERVER.