Applies to: Player 5.2/5.3/5.4/5.5 for ArcGIS Pro, Player 4.5 for ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro, Player 4.4 for ArcMap, Player 4.3


The Player Suite uses RLM from Reprise Software for license management. For more information about RLM, refer to: http://www.reprisesoftware.com.


There are two types of RLM licenses available for Player:

  • Nodelocked - a standalone license locked to a single computer. This is the simplest type of license and useful when you only have one computer Player will run on. Refer to this article to install a nodelocked license for Player.
  • Floating - a floating license can be shared between computers within your organisation. This is also referred to as a concurrent license. A floating license requires the assistance of your IT group to setup.


An RLM floating license can be used by any geologist in your organisation who can see the license server on the network and has Player installed. The licenses are assigned concurrently. If you have two floating licenses, two geologists can use Player at the same time. If a third geologist attempts to use Player, they will get a warning message that all licenses are in use. 


Obtaining a Floating license

The steps to find the information GIS-PAX requires to generate a floating license are:

  1. Use Remote Desktop (or similar application) to remote to your license server computer. Click the Start button in Windows and type CMD.
  2. In the Command Prompt window, type: getmac /v
  3. Next type: hostname
    Alternative use the command: ipconfig /all 
  4. Capture a screenshot of the details. Email this information to: support@gis-pax.com
  5. You will receive an email to download the RLM software together with a floating license file. 


About RLM

GIS-PAX supports RLM version 9.2 32-bit and higher on Windows Servers. RLM 64-bit is not supported. The license server computer can be virtual.

We recommend all customers upgrade the RLM software on their license server to RLM 12.1 32-bit or greater for Windows Server 2008+


If you have RLM software from multiple publishers (GIS-PAX and other vendors); you must decide how to install and configure them. There are two choices for configuring RLM and the ISV servers when running them on a single license server system:

  1. Keep them entirely separate using separate installation directories and port numbers. This is very simple to manage but requires your license management folks to assign separate ports for each application during installation. This approach is recommended by GIS-PAX, the steps are described below.
  2. Run a single instance RLM, which manages two (or more) ISV servers.  This approach is the method recommended by Reprise Software. GIS-PAX recommends you only use this approach if you have dedicated license administrators who are available for the installation and management.

For more information on the differences between these two approaches, refer to the reprise blog post: Software license management for multiple publishers.


GIS-PAX provides a version of the RLM license adminstration kit that includes our authorisation file and recommended options. The kit contains:

  • gispax.set - GIS-PAX authorisation file
  • gispax.opt - GIS-PAX options file
  • rlm.pw.userlogins - user access file. Rename to rlm.pw to enable administrator logins to the Reprise License Server Administrator website.
  • rlm.exe - RLM executable that runs as a service
  • rlmutil.exe - RLM utilities
  • rlmanon.exe - RLM logfile anonomizer


The RLM service requires three ports to communicate between the license server and Player client computers. 

  • RLM port: Default value is 5053. This is the port the RLM software establishes the communications with. This port is defined in the PlayerLicenseServer.lic file added to the Player install directory on each computer. The client computers use this port to find the RLM service. 
  • ISV port: Defaults to randomly assigned port when RLM starts. After the client finds the RLM service it uses the ISV port to communicate back and forth. 
  • Web server port: Default is 5054 i.e. http://<your_rlm_server>:5054. This is for the Reprise License Server Administration website.


Refer to configuring RLM ports for more information.


Installing RLM service

The steps below describe how to install the GIS-PAX RLM service as a separate standalone service. Before you start the installation, confirm the rlm_gispax service is not already installed.
These steps require administrator access to the Windows license server. If you need assistance with installing the RLM service, contact GIS-PAX Support. 

  1. Download the GIS-PAX RLM.v12.1BL3-x86_w3.zip kit. Unzip the contents to a shared folder accessible from the license server computer. 
  2.  Use Remote Desktop (or similar application) to remote to your license server computer. 
  3. Click the Start button in Windows and type CMD. Right click the Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
  4. Check if the rlm_gispax service already exists. In the Command Prompt window type: sc query rlm_gispax
    1. If the command reports: The specified service does not exist as an installed service; continue with step 5.
    2. Otherwise if the command lists the service, it is installed. Skip to step 10.
  5. In File Explorer Copy the gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3 folder and Paste to a local folder on the Windows license server computer. Rename the folder as required to match your company license management structure. (for example, C:\gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3). 
  6. In the Command Prompt window, change to the folder created in step 5. For example type: cd \gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3
  7. Check for open ports available for the rlm_gispax service, the default RLM ports are 5053 for RLM and 5054for Web server. These ports might already be in use if another RLM service from a different vendor has been installed.
    1. Check if the RLM port is available. In the Command Prompt window type: netstat -ano | findstr "5053"
      This tests if port 5053 is listening. If you see the following output:
      TCP    0.0.0.0:5053           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       3540
      and if step 4 above did not find the rlm_gispax service, this port is in use by another process and cannot be reused. Repeat this step with a different port number. For example use 5055. Continue until there is no output, indicating the port is available. Note the open port number.
    2. Repeat the previous step for the Web server port. In the Command Prompt window type: netstat -ano | findstr "5054"
      If the lists the port, it is also in use. Continue until an open port is located, for example use 5056. Note the second open port number.
    3. Optional. The following steps are only necessary to identify which process is using the ports. Otherwise skip to step 8. 
      1. In the Command Prompt window type: tasklist | findstr "3540"
        where 3540 is the ProcessID, the last number output by the netstat command. The output is similar to:
        rlm.exe                       3540 Services                   0      4,828 K
        This indicates a service is using the port, the executable is rlm.exe.  
      2. To identify which instance of RLM (it might be from another vendor), in the Command Prompt window type:
        wmic service Where ProcessID='3540' Get Caption,DisplayName,PathName
        where 3540 is the same ProcessID from step 1. The output is similar to:

        Caption     DisplayName  PathName
        rlm_gispax  rlm_gispax   "C:\gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3\rlm.exe" "-dlog" ".\logs\gispax_debug.log"

        In this example, the output indicates rlm_gispax is using the port. Skip to step X.
        If the RLM process is from a different vendor, the PathName indicates where the software is installed. 
  8. In File Explorer Copy the Player4_Floating_<your_company>_<license_server_details>.lic file that was provided by GIS-PAX Support and Paste to the RLM folder, for example: C:\gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3.
  9. If the open RLM port noted in step 7.1 above is not 5053, the port number needs to be changed in the .lic file. Using a TextEditor such as Notepad, Open the Player4_Floating_<your_company>_<license_server_details>.lic file. The first line of the file lists the: license host, macaddress and RLM port. For example: HOST <machine_name> <macaddress> 5053.
    Edit the port number to match the open RLM port noted in step 7.1 above. Save the file and Close Notepad.
  10. Create the service for rlm_gispax. In the Command Prompt window type:
    rlm.exe -dlog .\logs\gispax_debug.log -install_service -service_name rlm_gispax -ws 5054
    where 5054 is the open port you noted above in step 7.2. This creates a new service named rlm_gispax. If this command fails, contact GIS-PAX Support. 
  11. Start the rlm_gispax service. In the Command Prompt window type: sc start rlm_gispax
    The output should note the State: 2 START_PENDING. If you use the sc query rlm_gispax command, it should indicate State: 4 Running.


Once the rlm_gispax service is running, it is administered by the Reprise License Server Administration website. In a web browser enter the URL http://<hostname>:<webservice_port>, for example: http://licenseserver01:5054 where 5054 is the Web server port defined above while creating the service. For more information on the Reprise License Server Administration, refer to www.reprisesoftware.com/RLM_License_Administration.pdf..


Replacing or Updating a Floating license

If the rlm_gispax service is already installed and running on the license server computer, replacing a floating license .lic is relatively simple.

  1.  Use Remote Desktop (or similar application) to remote to your license server computer. 
  2. In File Explorer Copy the Player4_Floating_<your_company>_<license_server_details>.lic file that was provided by GIS-PAX Support and Paste to the RLM folder, for example: C:\gis-pax rlm.v12.1BL3-x86_w3.
  3. Using a TextEditor such as Notepad, Open the previous Player4_Floating_<your_company>_<license_server_details>.lic file. Note the previous RLM port, number at end of first line.
  4. If the previous RLM port is not 5053, the port number needs to be changed in the new .lic file. In Notepad, Open the new Player4_Floating_<your_company>_<license_server_details>.lic file. Edit the port number to match the previous RLM port number. Save the file and Close Notepad.
  5. Open a web browser, typically back on your local computer. Enter the URL for license server, for example http://licenseserver01:5054 where 5054 is the Web server port defined while creating the service.
  6. From the RLM Administration Command (on the left side of the page), click Reread/Restart Servers. Click REREAD/RESTART.
  7. Click Status. Click gispax below Server Status. Note the Expires and Count values for the player4 Product to ensure the new license has been applied.
    Note: If you have multiple LIC files the Expires date reflects the earliest possible expiry date. When that date passes, the next earliest exiry date is reported.


License setup for EVERY computer that will run Player 4.5

The Player software looks in the C:\Program Files (x86)\GIS-pax\Player\License folder for any files with a .lic extension. The file can be either a nodelocked .lic (with the license details self contained) or a floating .lic file containing the name of the license server and the RLM port number. The floating .lic file can be named anything; by default GIS-PAX uses PlayerLicenseServer.lic. This file has a single line, the format is: HOST <server_name> any <port_number>
For example:
HOST licenseserver01 any 5053

If during the installation of the RLM service, the RLM port was changed; this needs to be reflected within the PlayerLicenseServer.lic file.


To add the PlayerLicenseServer.lic to every computer that will run Player, do the following:

  1. In Windows File Explorer Copy the PlayerLicenseServer.lic file and Paste to C:\Program Files (x86)\GIS-pax\Player\License (or the location the Player software is installed).
  2. Start ArcMap.
  3. If the Player / PlayPen toolbar is not visible, click Customize > Toolbars > Player / PlayPen.
  4. If the Player commands on the Player / PlayPen toolbar are disabled, click Customize > Extensions... In the Extensions dialog click the checkbox to turn on Player - Play Analysis. If there are no errors or warning, Click Close, the Player software is ready to be used.


If any warning or errors appeared, refer to the article on common RLM errors. Otherwise contact GIS-PAX Support.


License setup for EVERY computer that will run Player 5.x

Player 5.2/5.3/5.4/5.5 uses either the RLM_LICENSE or GISPAX_LICENSE environment variable (as a user or system variable depending on what you have access to add) to locate the floating license server. The environment variable is in the format:  

    portnumber@licenseserver


For example:


   5053@license.mycompany.com


  1. Click the Windows Start button and type Environment. In the search list Click Edit the System Environment Variables. 
  2. In the System Properties dialog Click Environment Variables... 
  3. To add an environment variable (either user or system) Click Add... Click the Variable name: textbox and enter RLM_LICENSE or GISPAX_LICENSE . Either environment variable works, if RLM_LICENSE is already defined, use GISPAX_LICENSE. Click the Variable value: textbox and type HOST 5053@licenseserver (the details for your license server). Click OK then OK.
  4. Start ArcGIS Pro.
  5. On the Player tab Click License > Get license. Highlight the license you want to use and Click Check Out. If there are no errors or warning, Click Close, the Player software is ready to be used.


Related Topics