Alteryx License Server Partitions

Administrators can reserve product access for one or more specific users using Partitions. This ensures that users have acess to the products and features that they need.

Warning

You can’t use both Partitions and Reservations at the same time. We recommend using Partitions where available as Reservations might be deprecated in the future.

Requirements and Prerequisites

Partitions are supported in Alteryx Designer version 2021.2 and later, and Alteryx License Server version 2021.4 and later.

Partition Model Definition (.model) File

To reserve a product for one or more specific users, make sure that the licensed product has enough seats available.

Next, create a MODEL file that contains a Model Definition for one or more Partitions. You can use the sample file below as template.

The Model name can't be reservations or default as these are reserved names.
Each Model Definition should contain one or more Partitions. Within each partition, specify the license product features to add. For each feature, enter featureName, featureVersion (use 1.0 as the value), and featureCount.
The Model Definition includes 1 or more hostid that identifies a client device or a specific user.
You need to save the file on the same machine as the Alteryx License Server installation. You also need to run all of the commands on the Alteryx License Server.
Save the file in the same directory as the flexnetlsadmin file. The default location is C:\Program Files\Alteryx\LicenseServer\enterprise.

Sample Partitions Model Definition File

This sample file defines a single partition called sample model that contains a single partition for one hostid, and a user with the value of sample.user@email.com.

model "sample model" {
  partitions {
    partition "p_1" {
      "Alteryx_Designer" 1.0 1
      "FlowChartMode" 1.0 1
    }
  }

  on hostid("sample.user@email.com/User") {
    use "p_1"
    continue
  }

  on any() {
    use "default"
    accept
  }
}

Alteryx Products and Associated Features

Go to Alteryx License Server Product and Feature Reference for a table of the featureName values associated with each Alteryx product. These are the values that you need to add to your Model Definition file per product. For example, if you want to reserve the Alteryx Designer product, you need to include Alteryx_Designer and FlowChartMode Feature Names, as shown in the sample file above.

Add Partitions

Once you have a valid license and you have created and customized your Model Definition file...

If your license is installed, skip to step 4. Otherwise, navigate to C:/Program Files/Alteryx/LicenseServer/Enterprise using the command line.

To map the license key to the Alteryx License Server, run:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -activate -id [License Key] -count [Number]

To check that the license was properly installed and is available, run:
```
licenseserveradmincmd.exe -s http://localhost:7070 -u admin -p [Password] -l
```
This command displays the newly installed license key with the mapped number of seats available.
Run:
```
flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -model -load [ModelDefinition.model]
```
This command reserves the specified license product for the specified hostid (sample.user@email.com) in our sample file, called ModelDefinition.model.
Now, the specified user (hostID) can run Alteryx, access the Manage License window, and activate their reserved product. The product is not availbel to other users.

Hold Active Seats for Later Use

What if you have multiple active seats that you don't want to reserve for specific users, but also don't want to make them available to any other users?

Partitions allow you to create an Allow List, where specific users are allowed, and the rest are blocked. Here is an example of such a Partition Model Definition:

model "sample model" {
  partitions {
    partition "p_1" {
      "Alteryx_Designer" 1.0 5
      "FlowChartMode" 1.0 5
    }
  }

  on hostid("sample.user1@email.com/User", “sample.user2@email.com/User”) {
    use "p_1"
    accept
  }

  on any() {
    deny
  }
}

Instead of specifying all hostids in one rule, you can include multiple on hostid rules in the Model Definition.

You can always change the Model Definition to allow other users to access licenses as necessary.

View Model Definition

To retrieve the existing Partition Model Definition, run this command:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -model

View Partitions

To retrieve details of the existing Partitions, run this command:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -partitions

Delete Model Definition

To delete the existing Model Definition, run this command:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -model -delete

Migrate Reservations to Partitions

You can either create the new Partitions Model from scratch or you can create it from the existing Reservations Model Definition.

To use the existing Reservations Model Definition as a basis for the new Partitions Model, first retrieve the Reservations Model Definition by running this command:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -modelflexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -model

Then, edit the Reservations Model Definition to fit the Partitions Model Definition format and rename it if necessary. Remember to also change the file extension to .model. See the Model Definition file guidelines for details.

When the new Partitions Model Definition is ready, save the file in the same directory as the flexnetlsadmin file on the Alteryx License Server machine, which is located C:\Program Files\Alteryx\LicenseServer\enterprise by default. Then, upload the Model Definition file to the Alteryx License Server with this command:

flexnetlsadmin -server http://localhost:7070/api/1.0/instances/~ -authorize admin [Password] -model -load [ModelDefinition.model]

Once the Partitions Model Definition is uploaded, it will take effect immediately. Any existing Reservations will be removed.

Additional Resources

See the following sections of the FlexNet Embedded 2021.05 License Server Administration Guide, which you can download from the Downloads & Licensing Portal:

Managing Feature Partitions, pages 91 - 97
Feature Partitions, pages 141 - 156
Appendix C - Model Definition Grammar for Partitions, pages 215 - 228

In this section: