Ansys Common Licensing (ACL) creates direct communication from all Ansys applications to the FlexNet Publisher server. ACL is launched when an application makes its first licensing call and continues to run until all connected clients exit. By default, ACL uses a random port to listen to all clients. ACL can be configured to use ports from user specified range. To configure ACL to use a specific port, see Specifying a Desktop Port Range.
There is one ACL per process tree, meaning the parent and all the children connect to the same ACL launched by the parent.
By default, licenses are shared in a parent/child process tree. Ansys Common Licensing follows parent/child/max logic. Here are a few examples of this logic:
If the parent checks out the increment "meba" and the child tries to check out the same increment "meba" then the net result is there is only one increment "meba" consumed from the license server/pool.
If the parent checks out increment "meba" and the child tries to check out the 2 counts of the same increment "meba" then the net result is there are two tasks of "meba" consumed from the license server/pool. This is an example of max logic
If the parent checks out 1 count of the increment "meba" N number of times, then the net result is there is only increment "meba" consumed from the licensing server/pool.
Parent/Child across machines/process tree: This process enables the parent child sharing for the specified license features with child being on a different machine.
User Host Display: This process enables applications to share the same listed features across multiple instance of the applications for a specific user tied to the host/display.
HPC Parametric Sharing: HPC parametric sharing enables applications to use a single solver license and anshpc_pack or 8 anshpc features for each additional variance. This also allows applications to share anshpc_pack increments for core checkouts from the solves started as variances of the same context. For more information on HPC Licensing, see HPC Licensing.
Note: Queuing is not supported in any type of license sharing.
This section describes Ansys Common Licensing-related environment variables and their usage.
You can use the ANSYS_LICENSING_DESKTOP_PORT_RANGE keyword to configure Ansys Common Licensing to communicate using a specific port or port range. This keyword can be added as an ansyslmd.ini file entry or as environment variable.
Note: If ACL can not use a port from the provided range, it will connect through a free port assigned by the operating system.
Format:
ANSYS_LICENSING_DESKTOP_PORT_RANGE=<Min Range:Max Range>
Example:
The following example causes ACL to use a port in the range of 5000 to 5100.
ANSYS_LICENSING_DESKTOP_PORT_RANGE=5000:5100
Setting the ANSYS_LICENSING_ACL_BIND_TO_LOOPBACK environment variable will restrict Ansys Common Licensing to only accept connections made to the loopback IP address (127.0.0.1). This will restrict access to only those applications running on the local machine on which ACL is running. While this enhances local isolation, it also prevents context sharing across machines which may impact workflows that rely on distributed communication.
Format:
ANSYS_LICENSING_ACL_BIND_TO_LOOPBACK=1
Note: When using Ansys products prior to release 2025 R2 (2025 R1 or earlier) use ANSYSCL_BIND_TO_LOOPBACK=1.