Preparing a Download Package in FlexNet Operations

The first steps on the FlexNet Operations side involve creating a download package that supports containerized applications, and associating it with one or more products:

Creating a Download Package for Containerized Applications
Associating a Download Package to a Product

Note:Before creating a download package, you must have defined a producer, at least one deployed product and a product line. (For instructions about creating products and product lines, see Creating a Product and Managing Product Lines, respectively.)

Creating a Download Package for Containerized Applications

To create a download package that supports containerized applications

1. In the Producer Portal, click Products > Create Download Package. This link opens the Create Download Package page.
2. Enter the download package attributes. Ensure that you select Yes for the option Container Delivery.

Attribute

Description

Download Package ID

A unique ID used to associate the download package with products and files.

For download packages that support containerized applications, the download package ID must fulfill the following requirements:

Allowed characters: letters, numbers, and the special characters dot (.), underscore (_), and minus (-).
Any letters must be lower case
Start with a letter or number
Maximum 100 characters

Download Package Name

The name of the download package to be displayed to users in the End-User Portal.

Extended Description

An optional, additional description attribute for the download package. Maximum: 1000 characters.

Container Delivery

Specifies whether the download package supports the distribution of containerized applications, such as Docker images and Helm charts.

Yes—Download package supports the distribution of containerized applications as well as file-based installers.
No—Download package supports only file-based installers.

Version

The version of the download package.

Release Group

An optional attribute to help sort the download package’s appearance in the End-User Portal. Maximum: 20 characters.

Effective Date

The date when the download package becomes available on the End-User Portal. Accounts have access to the download package if the download package’s effective date occurs within their entitlement’s effective and expiration dates on the line item for that download package.

Expiration Date

The date when the download package moves to the archive (Previous Versions) tab or becomes inaccessible from entitlement lines with start dates later than this expiration date.

If the expiration date is in the future, the download package appears on the new versions section of the End-User Portal. If the expiration date is in the past, the download package moves to the release archives section. Accounts have access to the download package from the release archives section even if the download package is expired, provided there is an overlap between the download package’s effective and expiration dates and the entitlement's effective and expiration dates.

Archive Date

The date on which the download package moves to the archive (Previous Versions) tab. Users may still download it if they have access through an overlap with their entitlement dates, but must find it on the archive tab on the End-User Portal. (New entitlements with beginning dates after the expiration date do not have access to this product at all.)

Download Package Producer

The producer of the product and the download package. (See Managing Producers.)

Product Line

The product line in which the download package appears.

End User License Agreement

An optional, click-through license agreement. (See Managing License Agreements.)

Physical Distribution Available

Specifies whether users on the End-User Portal have the option to request a copy of the download package on physical media. FlexNet Operations offers customizations to integrate with a physical distribution facility. When your site is integrated, this attribute shows whether or not end users have the option to request a physical copy of the download package.

This option is not supported for containerized applications.

Restrict to US/Canada

Specifies whether to restrict delivery to users in the United States or Canada or to permit delivery outside those countries.

Yes—Restricts delivery to users within the United States or Canada.

No—Permits delivery to users outside the United States and Canada.

If you choose No, ECCN, ENC, and CCATS attributes are required. Otherwise, they are not used. See About Export Compliance for more information.

3. Leave the Download Instructions field blank.
4. Complete or continue the download package creation process:
Click Save to save with current settings. The Producer Portal shows the download package’s View Download Package page.
Click Save & add another to save the current download package and begin creating another download package.

After FlexNet Operations created the download package, a project of the same name is created in the Revenera registry. Any producer users who are part of the account or sub-account of the producer user who created the download package are added as members to the project. For more information, see About Users in the Revenera Registry.

Note:The project name is prefixed with your tenant ID unless you are using a dedicated or open registry.

Associating a Download Package to a Product

It is through a download package’s relationship to products that FlexNet Operations determines which download packages an end user is entitled to. When you associate a download package to a product, you are indicating that end users who are entitled to the product have access to the download package. Any customers who are entitled to the product are added as members with the “Guest” role to the corresponding project in the Revenera registry (see About End Users in the Revenera Registry for more information).

For detailed information about associating and disassociating download packages to a product, see Managing Download Package Associations.

To associate a download package to a product

1. On the View Download Package page, click Associate > Associate to Product. This link opens the Associate this Download Package to Products page.
2. Identify the products to associate. Choose whether to enter product IDs or to search for products:
Enter product IDs when you already know the product IDs or system product IDs of the products you want to associate.
a. In the Product IDs field, type the product IDs as a comma-separated list or enter them one per line. Note: If you enter system product IDs, remember to select the Use System IDs check box.
b. Click Associate Products.
Search for products by entering search criteria if you do not know the IDs of the products you want to associate.
a. Type your search criteria into the product search fields.
b. Click Search. The Producer Portal shows a list of products that match your criteria.
c. Select the products to associate and click Associate Download Package to Selected Products.

Important:A product ID is a combination of the product name and product version with a syntax like the following: <product name>::<product versions>. For example, SalesView Standard::1.0. One ramification of the product ID syntax is that a search for the product by its product name does not match the product ID. For best results, use an asterisk as a wildcard character to be sure your product search captures the product you are looking for. For example, SalesView Standard*.

Tip:Use the Associate Where option from the Associate menu to quickly associate a number of products with the current download package by copying the product associations from one or more other download packages.

The Producer Portal creates associations between the current download package and the products you identified and opens the Where Download Package Used page for the current download package. This page lists the products with which the download package is associated. Clicking on the name of a product in the Products list opens the View Product page for that product.

See Also