The main components of Ansys licensing are:
The Ansys License Manager, including:
FlexNet license manager daemon (lmgrd)
Vendor daemon (ansyslmd)
Licensing Interconnect (ansysli_server) -- Also includes ansysli_monitor, which ensures that the license server is functioning correctly and attempts to correct the situation if the license server is not running or is unresponsive.
Note: The Licensing Interconnect is required for Ansys product releases 2020 R2 and below. Ansys Common Licensing replaces the Licensing Interconnect for Ansys product release 2021 R1 and above.
License files
License server machines
These components are explained in more detail in the following sections.
The Ansys License Manager monitors what products are being run, who is running them, and from what computer system. It grants or denies permission to run products. When an Ansys product begins, it requests permission to execute from a license server. The Ansys License Manager checks the pool of available licenses and grants the request only if the required licenses are available. For each request that is granted, the licenses are removed from the pool. As each product execution ends, its licenses are returned to the pool.
lmgrd is one of the FlexNet components of the Ansys License Manager. Its primary purpose is to start and maintain the vendor daemon (ansyslmd). It also refers application checkout requests to the vendor daemon (ansyslmd).
lmgrd must be running on the license server machine to run Ansys, Inc. products.
Each vendor who has a FlexNet-licensed product on the network has one process, called the vendor daemon. The vendor daemon keeps track of how many licenses are checked out, and who has them. The Ansys vendor daemon is ansyslmd.
Client programs, including ansysli_server and ansyscl, communicate with ansyslmd, usually through TCP/IP network communications. The vendor daemon (ansyslmd) is started by lmgrd. The vendor daemon ansyslmd must be running on the license server machine to run Ansys, Inc. products.
Note: Ansys Common Licensing replaces the Licensing Interconnect for Ansys product release 2021 R1 and above.
The communication between the Ansys applications and FlexNet occurs through an intermediary process called Ansys Common Licensing (ACL). ACL is nearly transparent and is launched when any Ansys product starts. You should not see any noticeable difference in your day-to-day operation of Ansys products.
Note: The Licensing Interconnect is required for Ansys product releases 2020 R2 and below. Ansys Common Licensing replaces the Licensing Interconnect for Ansys product release 2021 R1 and above.
The Ansys Licensing Interconnect (ansysli_server) is an intermediary process that communicates with the FlexNet component of the license manager to authenticate and process all license requests. In a typical configuration, the Ansys Licensing Interconnect starts the FlexNet component lmgrd, which then starts ansyslmd.
With the Licensing Interconnect, your license file and license options file are still applicable and in effect. Using an intermediary process allows us to seamlessly integrate our full range of product offerings to continually offer you access to the latest products with minimal disruption to your licensing environment. It also allows us a platform on which to enhance important licensing features.
The Licensing Interconnect must be running on the license server machine to run Ansys, Inc. products.
Licensing data is stored in a text file called the license file. The license file is created by Ansys, Inc. and is installed by the license administrator. It contains information about the server machines and vendor daemon, and at least one line of data (called INCREMENT lines) for each licensed product. Each INCREMENT line contains a license key based on the data in that line and other vendor-specific information.
"Product to License Feature Mapping" refers to which license features are included with each product. A complete list of the products and license features can be found in the, Ansys, Inc. Product to License Feature Mapping table.
To access this table:
Log onto the Ansys Customer Portal.
Click Downloads>Installation and Licensing Help and Tutorials.
Click Licensing. The most up-to-date Ansys, Inc. Product to License Feature Mapping table can be found here.
Note that the information contained in the Product to License Feature Mapping table was previously included in the Product Variable Table section of the Ansys Licensing Guide.
License files usually begin with a SERVER line followed by a VENDOR line, followed by one or more INCREMENT lines. Each INCREMENT line contains a license key based on the data in that line, the hostids specified in the SERVER lines, and other vendor-specific data.
You can modify only these data items in the license file; all other items must remain unchanged:
System host names on the SERVER line(s)
Port numbers on the SERVER line(s)
Note: If you change the FlexNet port number, then you must also change the FlexNet port number that is specified in the ansyslmd.ini file or in the ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE environment variable on all client machines to match the port number specified in the SERVER line.
Vendor daemon file paths on the VENDOR line(s)
Options file paths on the VENDOR line(s)
Optional port numbers on the VENDOR line(s) (for Ansys Common Licensing firewall support only)
Long lines normally use the "\" line-continuation character to break up long lines. A space character must precede the line-continuation character.
The SERVER line specifies the hostname and hostid of the license server machine and the lmgrd port number. Normally a license file has one SERVER line. Three SERVER lines mean that you are using redundant servers. License administrators do not have the option of deleting SERVER lines from a license file because the hostids from all of the SERVER lines are computed into the license keys on every INCREMENT line.
The following is an example of a server line:
SERVER enterprise 0800967f42 1055where:
enterprise is the license server machine host name. The Linux
hostname or uname -n command returns the hostname. On Windows
systems, ipconfig /all returns the host name. This can also be an
IP address (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn format).
0800967f42 is the hostid returned by the option of the Ansys License Management Center.
1055 is the Ansys default port number for FlexNet TCP. If port 1055 is already in use on your system, you can change this value.
The VENDOR line specifies the vendor daemon's name and path. lmgrd uses this line to start the vendor daemon, and the vendor daemon reads it to find its options file. The format of the VENDOR line is shown below.
VENDOR ansyslmd [vendor_daemon_path] [[options=]options_file_path] [[port=]port]
where:
ansyslmd is the name of the Ansys vendor daemon.
vendor_daemon_path is the path to the executable for this
daemon. This path is optional. Ansys, Inc. does not supply this field because
lmgrd will look for the vendor daemon
ansyslmd executable in the directory where
lmgrd is located and all Ansys products install both of
these daemons into the same directory.
Note: If you do supply this path and the path includes spaces, enclose the entire directory path in double quotes.
options_file_path is the full path to the end-user options
file for this daemon. FlexNet does not require an options file. The options file
need not be specified on this line. As long as the options file
ansyslmd.opt is located in the same directory as the license file
(the license_files directory), the vendor daemon will automatically find and use
it.
port is the vendor daemon port number. Note: This is
for firewall support only and is otherwise not recommended. In the following example,
#### would be replaced with the port number you
choose:
VENDOR ansyslmd options="C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\Shared Files\
Licensing\ansyslmd.opt" port=####
An INCREMENT line describes the license to use a product. The syntax of the INCREMENT line is:
INCREMENTfeatureansyslmdfeat_versionexp_date #lic key[VENDOR_STRING="vendor_str"] [ISSUED="..."] [START="..."] [SIGN2="..."]
A sample license file is shown here. This file is for 15 Ansys Mechanical Enterprise tasks.
SERVER gagh 690daec6 1055
VENDOR ansyslmd
INCREMENT ansys ansyslmd 9999.9999 30-sep-2018 15 8C59A481BA50 \
VENDOR_STRING=customer:00012345 ISSUED=10-sep-2017 \
START=10-sep-2017 SIGN2="007B AC4B D3A2 \
E623 DC66 BC38 7B31 CE00 0055 DE8D 0E27 C6FD 6C07 EE27 BBCC"
where:
gagh is the hostname of the license server
690daec6 is the hostid
1055 is the FlexNet port number
ansyslmd is the vendor daemon
ansys is the license feature representing Ansys Mechanical Enterprise
9999.9999 indicates that the maintenance agreement is not applicable. Otherwise, this is highest supported build date for the application.
30-sep-2018 is the expiration date
15 is the number of tasks for Ansys Mechanical Enterprise
8C59A481BA50 is the encryption key for Ansys Mechanical Enterprise
customer:00012345 is the customer number
ISSUED=10-sep-2017 is the date the license was created
START=10-sep-2017 is the start date
SIGN2=<" fifteen 4 character segments" > is the TRL encryption
Note: Some INCREMENTS have additional SIGN and SIGN2 encryption to support Ansys Electronics products.
License administration is controlled from specific computers on the network called license server machines. License server machines run the license manager, which controls access to all licenses.
The server machines are designated by you--the end user. You have the option of designating one server or three servers. In a one-server network, if the server machine goes down, the licenses are no longer available for use until the server machine is back in service. In a three-server (redundant triad) network, as long as two of the three machines are still running, the licenses are still available for use.
The master server actually controls the license administration. If a network has only one server machine, then that server machine is automatically the master server. In a three server environment, the order of the SERVER lines in the license file determines which server is the master. The order of the servers must match on all machines in a three server environment. The first is the master, the second is the first backup, etc. If the order of the SERVER lines does not match on the three servers, then the servers will attempt to determine the master server; however, this attempt may not be successful. In a three-server network, if the master server is unavailable, then the first backup acts as the master.
To get the full set of files necessary to set up a license server, you will need to run the license manager installation. For detailed installation instructions, see Installing the License Manager.
Before running any Ansys, Inc. software, you must select which machine(s) will be license servers, and provide the hostid and hostname of those machines to Ansys, Inc. Use the option of the Ansys License Management Center to capture the necessary system information and create the text file, which then needs to be forwarded to your Ansys sales representative.
Consider the following points when deciding which computer(s) will be used as server(s):
All files used in conjunction with the license manager software must be located on a disk that is physically local to the server computer(s).
Computers must have a high-speed, reliable Ethernet connection.
Computers that experience extremely high levels of network traffic or processing lags due to high CPU and/or I/O usage are poor candidates for servers.
Do not use computers that are frequently rebooted as servers.
Do not enable "sleep mode" for the computer you are using as a license server. Client computers are not able to connect with a license server that is in sleep mode.
The license server machine must have a static IP address.
We do not allow the use of wide area networks (WANs) for license servers (with the standard Ansys contract).
If using a three-server network, we recommend that you choose three machines that are of the same platform type (that is, three Linux or three Windows machines).
If using a three-server network, we highly recommend that all three server machines be on the same subnet in the same physical location.
If these guidelines are not followed, the ability of the Ansys License Manager to perform consistently will be compromised.
Caution: Do not change the date on the license server machine. Doing so will prohibit the Ansys product from running. Restoring the system to its original state prior to the date change may require significant effort.