[UW-GIS-L] UW Users - ArcGIS Starting Slooooowwwly?? This canhelp...

[Luke Rogers]

Quick answer: money. I'll take any donations for the $3000 hardware-based
firewall that's needed so I can replace the free software-based one that I
have been using.

-Luke

-----Original Message-----
From: uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:uw-gis-l-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Michalis
Avraam
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 8:45 PM
To: UW - GIS Discussion & Support
Subject: Re: [UW-GIS-L] UW Users - ArcGIS Starting Slooooowwwly?? This
canhelp...

I am not sure what the protocol is for the person that runs the UW license
server (I refer to the gis.washington.edu server, which I think is
campus-wide and not a personal one), but why would the administrator use a
stealth firewall on that one?

A properly functioning firewall on a machine that serves the public which
may refuse connections on a default port should message back to whomever
made the request with a refusal. Using stealth methodologies on standard
ports that are meant to be open creates these slowdowns that many
experience. Perhaps this practice should change, at least for the
University-wide license server. TCP timeouts are by definition set to a very
long duration to support temporary network outages; ESRI may handle this
differently than the TCP protocol, but relying on how ESRI defines behavior
and not following standards is perhaps not an ideal solution.

Then again, I am just really happy someone runs the license server for all
of us, and I am more than willing to work around any restrictions that
person/entity sets for us.

Michalis




Luke Rogers wrote:
> UW ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Workstation Users-
> 
> If you use SDE.GIS.WASHINGTON.EDU as a license server (or any other 
> license server for that matter), you can speed up the license checkout 
> process which happens each time you start ArcGIS. I have increased the 
> time to start ArcGIS by a factor of 4 by doing the following:
> 
> WARNING: The instructions below include making changes to essential 
> parts of your operating system. It is recommended that you backup your 
> operating system and files, including the registry, before proceeding. 
> Consult with a qualified computer systems professional, if necessary.
> 
> Open the Registry Editor by going to Start > Run and type regedit. Click
OK.
> Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ESRI\License hive.
> Double-click on the LICENSE_SERVER variable to edit it.
> Change the Value Data to '27004 at sde.gis.washington.edu; 
> 27004 at toniwha.atmos.washington.edu' (no quotes)
> 
> You may also want to delete or change the value for the LICENSE_SERVER 
> key
> at:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ESRI\ArcInfo\Workstation\8.0\
> 
> Deleting the value works just fine as it will fail-over to the other 
> key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ESRI\License).
> 
> More Information
> 
> When the license manager connects to a license server it searches 
> through a bunch of ports starting with port number 27001 all the way up
through 27010.
> When the license server detects an available license it checks it out 
> and ArcGIS starts. Firewalls can slow down this process by refusing 
> connections to ports other than the one that is serving licenses. Many 
> license server managers, myself included, firewall these other ports. 
> In order to expedite the license checkout process a port number can be 
> specified when selecting a license server. Unfortunately, the Desktop 
> Administrator does not allow you to enter numbers or the @ symbol so you
can not specify a specific port.
> Editing the values directly in the registry does work and allows you 
> to enter multiple license servers with specific ports.
> 
> The environment variable ARCGIS_LICENSE_FILE also does the same thing 
> but will not override the values in the registry so it's best to 
> change it directly in the registry.
> 
> -Luke
> 
> ******************************************************
> Luke Rogers, Rural Technology Initiative Senior Geographic Information 
> Research Scientist Box 352100 | Seattle WA, 98195 | Tel:(206)543-7418 
> lwrogers at u.washington.edu | http://www.ruraltech.org University of 
> Washington - College of Forest Resources
> ******************************************************
> 
> 
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