Important: Update Your Chaos Licensing by January 28, 2025
To ensure uninterrupted access to your licenses, an essential update is required by January 28, 2025. Failure to update your Chaos licensing will result in the loss of access to your licenses. For detailed instructions, please visit the FAQ Article.

Table of Contents

This page provides information on the Licensing Server Controller.


Overview

The License Server Controller allows users to make adjustments to the Chaos License Server through the command line.





Installation Path

Depending on your operating system, the vrlctl command's default location is as follows:

Windows

C:\Program Files\Chaos\VRLService
Linux/usr/Chaos/VRLService
macOS/Applications/Chaos/VRLService

Usage

To use the License Server Controller, use the following format:

vrlctl <command>

When entered without a command, additional help information will be displayed.

Adding the help flag --help or -h after each command prints additional information about the command:

vrlctl online enable -h


Commands

The following commands are available:

Online

These commands provide a way to enable, disable, and monitor online licensing settings of the license server. For steps on setting up online licensing, see the Borrowing Offline Licenses section below.

online getcsr

Saves an online licensing request file (cert.csr) in the current directory.

online enable

Enables online licensing using an online licensing key file (cert.crt) from the current directory.

online logout

Disables online licensing for the license server.

online status

Displays information about the online licensing status.

online login <username> <password>

Activates online licensing for the specified credentials.


Diagnostics

These commands help you obtain the diagnostic bundle which can assist ChaosGroup's support team when investigating problems you might encounter.

diagnostics get <save_path>

Downloads the diagnostic bundle. If <save_path> is provided, the diagnostic bundle will be saved in the given directory.

Config

These commands allow users to get or set different configuration variables of the Licensing Server.

config get

Returns the complete license server configuration.

config set <configuration_option> "<new_value>"

Sets the value of a specific configuration option. The configuration option consists of all the configuration nodes that lead to it connected with a dot (.). For example, proxy.host and diagnostics.level. The new value must be surrounded with quotation marks (").


Dongle

These commands are for using a dongle with the License Server. See the Dongle usage page for additional information.

dongle enable

Enables the dongle server.

dongle disable

Disables the dongle server.


Browser

The browser command opens the License Server's web interface page in your system's default browser. See the Interface page for more information.

vrlctl browser


Global options

Help

Adding the help option after a command prints additional information about a specific command. 

vrlctl online enable -h

Version

The version option prints the version of the Licensing Server Controller.

vrlctl -v


Borrowing Licenses for Machine(s) without an Internet Connection

Follow these steps to borrow a license server for offline use through the License Server Controller. Keep in mind that you need an Internet connection to borrow a license, but once you have successfully activated it, you can work offline for up to 14 days. The activation can be renewed every time. For more information, see the Borrowing Licenses for Offline Use page.

  1. In the command line, set the directory to the location of your .vrlctl file. Type vrlctl online getcsr to save an online licensing request file (cert.csr) in the current directory.
  2. Visit https://my.chaos.com/license-server and click on the Activate License Server button. Uploading the .csr file you just downloaded and click on Activate.
  3. Click Download to get the cert.crt key file. Move the file to the VRLService directory.
  4. Type vrlctl online enable cert.crt to enable online licensing using the newly obtained key file from the current directory.


Note for Offline License Holders

Please note that the online steps (2 and 3) in this section can be performed by a separate device with an Internet connection. The downloaded cert.crt file can be transferred to the offline license holder, allowing you to borrow licenses even when your license holder does not have an Internet connection.

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