Single License Sharing  —  Ansys Workbench allows you to work across multiple instances of the same applications while consuming only one of a single type of license per user per session. Using shared licensing, the active application holds the license, preventing other applications that are sharing that same license increment/key from using it during that time. For example, trying to do multiple solves of same type at the same time would be a concurrent event.

Sharing licenses is tied to the license keys the application is using. For example, if the application is using license key "meba" then you cannot run other application instances or applications sharing the license key "meba" at the same time.

Single license sharing allows you to progress through your analysis, from specifying engineering data through building, setup, solving, and finally, reviewing your results, all under the same licenses. The application holding the license must close or issue a PAUSE command or receive an automatic release request to release the license and allow another application to use it. Licenses cannot be released while an application is actively performing a concurrency event (for example, an application cannot release a license in the middle of a solve operation because the license cannot be released until the solve operation is completed).

Single license sharing applies only to licenses of the same type (for example, Ansys Mechanical Enterprise). Choosing this option does not affect your ability to use licenses of different types simultaneously (for example, Ansys Mechanical Enterprise for one task and ANSYS CFD for another).

Because this method is the default, you do not have to take any action to run this way.

Explanation of License Type and Examples  —  License type is primarily by license increment. It is possible to use different license increments based on the operations performed within a single Ansys Workbench session. For example, Geometry import, meshing and solving will checkout different license keys based on the capabilities the application is requesting. For all applications, ANSYS licensing will first look at what other licenses are opened within this session: if any other licenses being used within this session fulfill the needed capabilities Ansys licensing will share an existing license. If not, a new, different license is checked out.

Restrictions for Single License Sharing:

You cannot run two concurrency events simultaneously (for example, you cannot solve two models of the same type simultaneously) with one license.

If you are using a license for one application, other applications may still not be able to share that license if those applications require capabilities not supported by the license. For example, you cannot share a Mechanical Enterprise license with a Fluent application.

Single License Sharing in Ansys Workbench Applications

Ansys Workbench applications handle single license sharing differently:

Mechanical:

You can launch the Mechanical application and move between its components (such as Meshing, Setup, and Solve). The active component will control the license while completing its operations and will release the license as soon as the operation is completed. For example, when you mesh, the meshing component will control the license during the meshing operation and then immediately release the license when the operation is completed. During the meshing operation you cannot use the meshing increment in any other systems under Ansys Workbench until the first system mesh is done and the license is released. The other meshing component, if present in the subsequent systems, will go into read-only mode while the first system mesh is still in progress.

Mechanical APDL:

This application consumes a license as soon as you launch it and retains that license until it is finished. If you launch the Mechanical APDL application interactively, the license is retained until you either close the application or issue a PAUSE command at the Mechanical APDL command line. PAUSE allows you to temporarily release the license for another application to use. No other operation other than SAVE or EXIT is permitted while PAUSED. When the second application has finished and releases the license, issue an UNPAUSE command from the Mechanical APDL command line to resume its use of the license.

CFX, Fluent, Autodyn, Polyflow:

These applications consume a license when launched and retain the license until they receive a request from another application to release it. For example, when you open CFX-Pre, it will obtain and control the license. It will retain the license until you close the application or until another application (such as the CFX solver) requests it.

Autodyn and Polyflow also provide a manual PAUSE increment that allows you to interrupt Autodyn or Polyflow and release the license, temporarily, for another application to use.

Electronics:

Electronics applications do not support license sharing.

Separate Licenses   —  By using the separate-licenses method, Ansys Workbench requires a separate license for each application. By using this method, you can move freely between the many applications that you might require during an analysis in Ansys Workbench if you have sufficient licenses. You can leave each application running and easily move between them at any point during the analysis, even if one of the applications is actively using the license (such as during a solve process). The disadvantage to this method is that you could potentially consume many licenses.

To activate the separate licenses method, open Ansys Workbench and click Tools>Options. From the Project Management view, disable the Share a single license between applications if possible option. After disabling this option, close options dialog box and restart Ansys Workbench.

Examples of Using Separate Licenses  —  You have two "ansys" increments. When you open and solve a model in the Mechanical application, you consume one "ansys" increment. If you link that Mechanical analysis to a Mechanical APDL system, you would consume a second "ansys" increment when you launch the Mechanical APDL application, if you have not closed out of the Mechanical application. Neither of these licenses would then be available for other users until you closed out of one or both applications.