I am providing a docker container for my software that would run directly on user machine. The software is supposed to use Node locked license which would be bound to the MAC address of the host machine. FlexLM is used to validate the license.
The problem is that the docker container does not by default accesses the host machine's MAC address. One has to either bind the docker with host machine network using the --net argument or provide the MAC address explicitly using the --mac-address argument.
The problem is that one can pass any argument in --mac-address argument and the docker container will use that MAC address. This defeats the whole purpose of Node locked license. How do I make sure that the docker always gets the host machine's MAC address?
Short Answer:"there is currently no good solution for nodelocking within a container. Everything is virtualized so there is nothing safe to bind to."
Suggestion: Have you hear about Flexera's REST-based licensing API? Also know as the Cloud Monetization API or CMAPI. This API was designed for cloud to cloud license checking. It does not require the SDK libraries, you can call it from any language that can make a REST call. It makes for a super light weight client, but requires back end functionality (FlexNet Operations and Cloud Licensing Service) to support it. It's a great solution for applications deployed in a docker container. Take a look at the FlexNet Licensing datasheet here: https://www.flexerasoftware.com/resources.html?type=datasheet Then contact your account manager for more information.
Source - Flexera Customer Community - https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Publisher-Forum/Support-for-Docker-and-Kubernetes/m-p/111022