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How to Work with the License Manager

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How to Administer Optimal COMSOL License Access with an Options File

Floating network, class kit, and COMSOL Server™ licenses and combinations thereof may contain several concurrent keys. You can configure the FlexNet® license manager to control runtime behavior and policies by creating a plain-text options file. Doing so gives you comprehensive control over the usage of products included in your licenses, enabling you to limit or allocate the number of keys used by a particular user or user group, among other things. In this article, we provide detailed instructions on how to set up an options file.

Note: Though we demonstrate with floating network licenses (FNLs) here, the procedure is the same for any combination of floating network, class kit, and COMSOL Server™ license files.

Administering a Single License

To demonstrate how to optimally administer a single license, let's assume we have an FNL with:

  • Two COMSOL Multiphysics® keys
  • One Structural Mechanics Module key
  • One AC/DC Module key

We want to restrict one of the COMSOL Multiphysics® keys and the Structural Mechanics Module key to, say, "Department 1" while restricting the AC/C Module key and the other COMSOL Multiphysics® key to "Department 2". We'll also assume that the users within each group can be identified by their usernames.

Creating an Options File

To restrict access to COMSOL Multiphysics® and the modules to the different departments, we will create an options file in a text editor. In this file, we will define a user group for each department and then add a set of instructions to control what each group has access to.

We will begin creating the options file, LMCOMSOL.opt, by specifying a user group for Department 1 and a user group for Department 2. Each group is created by entering a GROUP line in the following format:

GROUP <groupname> <username1> <username2> ... <usernameX>

Note that every word needs to be separated with a blank space and that usernames are case sensitive.

Next, we will look at the INCREMENT lines in the license file (license.dat). There are two lines corresponding to the Structural Mechanics Module: INCREMENT STRUCTURALMECHANICS... and INCREMENT STRUCTURALMECHANICSBATCH... Each of these lines has an argument of 1, indicating that there is only one key for this module. This is also the case for the two lines corresponding to the AC/DC Module: INCREMENT ACDC... and INCREMENT ACDCBATCH... All other INCREMENT lines belong to the core COMSOL Multiphysics® package and include the argument 2, meaning there are two keys in the license file.

The license file itself, license.dat, looks like:

Referencing the INCREMENT lines in the license file, we can add INCLUDE arguments to the options file to control which functionality each user group has access to. In the options file, below the specified user groups, we will enter INCLUDE lines in the following format:

INCLUDE <feature> GROUP <groupname>

Note: Any user that does appear in a group listed in an INCLUDE statement will not be able to use functionality of the corresponding INCREMENT.

To control how many concurrent keys each group can use, we will enter MAX lines in the following format:

MAX <#> <feature> GROUP <groupname>

For this example, we'll use MAX 1 to specify that one key is available for the listed department.

Note: To ensure that all functionality works as expected for your users, you should enter corresponding lines in the options file for every INCREMENT line in the license file.

Our last step is to save the options file as LMCOMSOL.opt, which looks like:

ℹ️

As an alternative, the options file can be configured based on computer names or IP addresses instead of usernames. In this case, you would use the argument HOST_GROUP instead of GROUP. Note that host names are case sensitive.

The resulting file for our example, LMCOMSOL.opt, would look like:

Using the Options File

Once we have completed the options file, we will save it to the same directory as the license.dat file on the license server machine. After restarting the license manager, the options file will be automatically detected and implemented because it has the same name and is in the same directory as the vendor daemon (LMCOMSOL). 

Alternatively, you can instruct the license manager to point to a custom options file name and directory by adding options=<filepath> to the VENDOR line of the COMSOL license file. 

Considerations

  • Once the license has been administered correctly, the license server log file will show lines starting with  Using options file, INCLUDE, and MAX arguments.
  • If a user is not allowed access, a DENIED message is printed in the log file from the license server and shown in the COMSOL UI for the user.

Administering Multiple Licenses

It is possible to host multiple licenses on the same license server by combining them into a single license file. You can ensure users retain the functionality associated with their original license file by creating an options file that will work with your combined license file.

To demonstrate how to optimally administer multiple licenses, let's assume we want to have two FNLs on the same license server:

  1. License 1234567, which has two keys for the included functionality
  2. License 2234567, which has five keys for the included functionality

We want to restrict license 1234567 to, say, "Department 1" and restrict license 2234567 to "Department 2". After we combine the license files, we want each department to retain the same keys it originally had access to. We'll assume that the users within each department can be identified by their usernames.

Note: In this example, we'll specify access on the license level, but access can be also specified on the individual key level. See the previous section, "Administer a Single Floating Network License", for a demonstration.

The first license file, license1234567.dat, looks like:

The second license file, license2234567.dat, looks like:

Creating an Options File

To configure access to the functionality of the original licenses for each department, we will create an options file in a text editor. In this file, we will define a user group for each department and then add a set of instructions to specify which licenses each group has access to.

We will begin creating the options file, LMCOMSOL.opt, by specifying a user group for Department 1 and a user group for Department 2. Each group is created by entering a GROUP line in the following format:

GROUP <groupname> <username1> <username2> ... <usernameX>

Note that every word needs to be separated with a blank space and that usernames are case sensitive.

To define the license each group has access to, we will add INCLUDE instructions to the options file for the lines in the license file beginning with the words FEATURE SERIAL in the following format:

INCLUDE SERIAL:asset_info=<groupname> GROUP <groupname>

Now that we have defined which license each group has access to, we can further specify which features within those licenses each group has access to. For this example, we want users to have access to all of the features included in the licenses, so we will add INCLUDE arguments to the options file for all of the INCREMENT lines in the license file in the following format:

INCLUDE <feature> GROUP <groupname>

Note: Any user that does appear in a group listed in an INCLUDE statement will not be able to use functionality of the corresponding INCREMENT.

Lastly, we need to make sure that each department gets the correct number of license keys and doesn't occupy concurrent keys from another license. To ensure that both departments maintain the same number of keys they had previously, we will add MAX instructions to the options file for the INCREMENT lines that exist in both license files. In this example, these lines correspond to the COMSOL Multiphysics® base package. The format for the MAX lines is:

MAX <#> <feature> GROUP <groupname>

For this example, we'll use MAX 2 for all of the features we want to be accessible to Department 1 and MAX 5 for the features for Department 2. 

Note: To ensure that all functionality works as expected for your users, you should enter corresponding lines in the options file for every INCREMENT line in the license file.

Finally, we'll save the options file as LMCOMSOL.opt, which looks like:

ℹ️

As an alternative, the options file can be configured based on computer names or IP addresses instead of usernames. In this case, you would use the argument HOST_GROUP instead of GROUP. Note that host names are case sensitive.

The resulting file for our example, LMCOMSOL.opt, would look like:

Combining the License Files

To combine the license files, we will follow the same approach demonstrated in Part 1 of this course, "How to Host Multiple Licenses on One License Manager". Then, we'll need to enter asset_info``=<groupname> on each FEATURE SERIAL line of the combined license file corresponding to the license for each department. The asset_info argument should immediately precede the SIGN argument.

For Department 1, we'll add asset_info=Department1 to the feature line associated with license 1234567 as follows:

FEATURE SERIAL LMCOMSOL 6.3 permanent uncounted \   
    VENDOR_STRING=C,5200000000001 HOSTID=ANY BORROW=720 SN=1234567 TS_OK \   
    asset_info=Department1 SIGN=AD9753BE1F54

For Department 2, we'll add asset_info=Department2 to the feature line associated with license 2234567 as follows:

FEATURE SERIAL LMCOMSOL 6.3 permanent uncounted \  
    VENDOR_STRING=C,5200000000002 HOSTID=ANY BORROW=720 SN=2234567 TS_OK \   
    asset_info=Department2 SIGN=ABC123456789

The combined license file, license_combined.dat, looks like:

Using the Options File

Once we have completed the options file and combined our license files, we will save them both to the same directory as the original license.dat file on the license server machine. After restarting the license manager, the options file will be automatically detected and implemented because it has the same name and is in the same directory as the vendor daemon (LMCOMSOL).

Alternatively, you can point to a custom options file name and directory by adding options=<filepath> to the VENDOR line of the license file. 

When starting the license manager, the new license file name (for this example license_combined.dat) needs to be specified in the start command. See "How to Start the License Manager for COMSOL Multiphysics®" for guidance.

Considerations

  • When you receive new license files, e.g., when a new version of COMSOL Multiphysics® is released, you will have to add the  asset_info  arguments to a new combined license file.
  • Once the licenses have been administered correctly, the license server log file will show lines starting with  Using options file, INCLUDE, and MAX arguments.
  • If a user is not allowed access to a particular license, a  DENIED  message is printed in the license server log file, and the user will see an error message in the COMSOL Desktop® UI.

Further Learning

  • There are many other configuration options available in addition to the HOST_GROUP, GROUP, INCLUDE, and MAX arguments. See the FlexNet® Documentation for more information (from the COMSOL Desktop®, Help > Documentation, then scroll to the bottom of the page).
  • Detailed information about the license structure and the meanings of all of the lines in the license file can be found in our documentation.
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