Set up FME for Linux on Amazon EC2

This article assumes that you already know how to start a AMI as an EC2 instance on AWS.

Choose the Ubuntu Server AMI (64-bit). The Ubuntu instances are configured so that a BASH script file can be used as user-data. Any commands in the BASH script will be run only once--when the instance is initially started. The ubuntu-ec2-startup-script. sh file can be used as the user-data, or you can enter each command manually. The script will take around 10 minutes to execute. It does not install FME, but copies it to the ubuntu home directory so it can be run when you log in.

If you want to do each step manually, here they are:

1. Update the OS. If you don't do this, some other commands will not work properly.

sudo apt-get update

2. Install the LSB core. This is required for FlexNet to work properly.

sudo apt-get install lsb-core

3. Download the FlexNet software for the floating license manager.

wget http://downloads.safe.com/fme/floatingLicense/fme-flexnet-linux-x64.tar.gz

4. Extract the license manager software.

tar -xzf fme-flexnet-linux-x64.tar.gz

5. Move the license manager software to the appropriate folder.

sudo mv fme-flexnet-linux-x64 /opt/FlexServer

6. We'll want to run the license manager as the ubuntu user, so make the owner of the folder ubuntu.

sudo chown ubuntu /opt/FlexServer

7. FlexNet wants a temp folder that doesn't exist. Fixed with the following command.

sudo ln -s /tmp /usr/tmp

8. We want LMGRD to start every time we reboot the machine. It should be run as ubuntu, not root.

sed -i '12i\sudo -u ubuntu /opt/FlexServer/lmgrd -c /opt/FlexServer/safe.lic -l /opt/FlexServer/safe.log\' /etc/rc.local

9. Download FME for Linux

wget http://downloads.safe.com/fme/beta/fme_linux_beta.run

10. Make the installer executable

sudo chmod +x fme_linux_beta.run

The rest of the steps required to configure the floating license server and install FME can be found in the FME Installation and Licensing Manual.