Network License Information

Tufts Application License Management

Introduction

Tufts operates licensing servers for the following applications.  People using these applications can configure them to check licenses in and out from the Tufts license servers using the instructions outlined below:

• Abaqus
• Ansys
• Comsol
• Maple
• Mathematica
• Matlab
• TecPlot

All of these applications but Mathematica and TecPLot utilize FlexLM for license management.  Tufts operates a cluster of three FlexLM license servers that provides redundancy in checking licenses in and out.  As long as two of the three license servers are operational they will allow applications to check licenses in and out.   For most applications it is a simple matter of setting an environment variable that the application will use to locate the license servers. Local license files are not necessary in these cases.  The environment variables list the hostnames of the license servers and the network ports that the license servers listen on.  In each case the three license servers are lm01.uit.tufts.edu, lm02.uit.tufts.edu, and lm03.uit.tufts.edu.  lm02.uit.tufts.edu is the master license server so it is typically listed first in the environment variables.

The license servers are firewalled to only allow connections from within Tufts.  If a user wishes to run one of these applications remotely they will need to use a VPN to connect to Tufts first, at which point they should be able to check out licenses.

1. FlexLM environment variables (Abaqus, Ansys, Comsol, Matlab)

All remaining applications utilize environment variables for license management. How environment variables are set depends on the operating system the application is running on. Below are examples of how to set up system-wide environment variables on linux, OS X, and Windows. In each case the environment variables for all the above applications are included, but keep in mind that these are just samples. You may set these variables any way you see fit.

1a. Linux

A common approach to setting system-wide environment variables is to create files in /etc/profile.d  which are executed when a user logs in.  Depending on the login shell defined for the user in /etc/passwd it may be necessary to set up both sh/bash and csh/tcsh style scripts:

/etc/profile.d/flexlm.sh

export ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=50000@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
export MLM_LICENSE_FILE=50002@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
export LMCOMSOL_LICENSE_FILE=50003@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
export ABAQUSLM_LICENSE_FILE=50005@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm01.uit.tufts.edu

/etc/profile.d/flexlm.csh

setenv ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=50000@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
setenv MLM_LICENSE_FILE=50002@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
setenv LMCOMSOL_LICENSE_FILE=50003@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
setenv ABAQUSLM_LICENSE_FILE=50005@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm01.uit.tufts.edu

Make sure these files are readable and executable by everybody:

chmod a+rx /etc/profile.d/flexlm.*

1b. Mac OS X

Note, this is only a how to example on the Mac. None of the software listed is available for the Mac.

OS X stores environment variables in the XML file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist. If you have Apple's developer tools installed you can edit the file using the Property List Editor utility. Alternatively you can create this file yourself. The Finder will not let you create a directory that begins with a period so open up a terminal and execute the following:

mkdir .MacOSX
cd .MacOSX

Next, edit a new file called environment.plist. A simple editor included with OS X is "pico":

pico environment.plist

Paste the following into this file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>

<key>ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE</key>
<string>50000@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50000@lm01.uit.tufts.edu</string>



<key>MLM_LICENSE_FILE</key>
<string>50002@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50002@lm01.uit.tufts.edu</string>

<key>LMCOMSOL_LICENSE_FILE</key>
<string>50003@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50003@lm01.uit.tufts.edu</string>

<key>ABAQUSLM_LICENSE_FILE</key>
<string>50005@lm02.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm03.uit.tufts.edu:50005@lm01.uit.tufts.edu</string>

</dict>
</plist>

Save this file. If you used pico hit Ctrl-X then press Y when prompted to save the file and Enter to accept the filename.

Once these changes have been made the user will need to log out and log back in for them to take effect. You can verify that these changes have taken effect by opening a terminal and typing the following:

echo $MLM_LICENSE_FILE

This should display the contents of the MLM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable. If it just prints a blank line then the environment.plist file was not set up properly or the user has not logged out and back in. More information on the environment.plist file can be found on the Apple website.

IMPORTANT: Make sure not to accidentally overwrite any existing environment.plist file that may exist or you will lose settings that other applications may rely on.

1c. Windows

Environment variables are typically added in Windows through the Control Panel and are stored in the Windows registry. Windows uses semi-colons as delimiters in environment variables rather than colons. It is possible to simply add these environment variables to the file c:\autoexec.bat and Windows (including XP and Vista) should set them. However this requires the system to be rebooted for the changes to take effect. If this is the method you decide to use simply add the following 5 lines to c:\autoexec.bat and reboot:

set ANSYSLMD_LICENSE_FILE=50000@lm02.uit.tufts.edu;50000@lm03.uit.tufts.edu;50000@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
set MLM_LICENSE_FILE=50002@lm02.uit.tufts.edu;50002@lm03.uit.tufts.edu;50002@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
set LMCOMSOL_LICENSE_FILE=50003@lm02.uit.tufts.edu;50003@lm03.uit.tufts.edu;50003@lm01.uit.tufts.edu
set ABAQUSLM_LICENSE_FILE=50005@lm02.uit.tufts.edu;50005@lm03.uit.tufts.edu;50005@lm01.uit.tufts.edu

2. Maple

Although Maple utilizes FlexLM it uses it in a nonstandard way. Maple still requires a local license file and ignores any environment variables that might be set. The location for the license file is <Maple_installation_directory>/license/license.dat, and it should contain the following:

SERVER lm02.uit.tufts.edu ANY 50004
SERVER lm01.uit.tufts.edu ANY 50004
SERVER lm03.uit.tufts.edu ANY 50004
USE_SERVER

Simply save these four lines as the license.dat file and Maple will run.

3. Mathematica

Note, if you are installing ver. 7 only provide the name of the license server, lm02.uit.tufts.edu, to the installer and not the port number as list below for older versions. Version 7 will create the mathpass file and the include a line with the current port number.

Wolfram Mathematica does not rely on FlexLM but rather uses its own custom licensing system.  Mathematica does not support redundant license servers, so it only makes use of lm02.uit.tufts.edu.  To configure Mathematica to use this license server simply add the following to the mathpass file in your local Mathematica installation:

!lm02.uit.tufts.edu
!lm02.uit.tufts.edu:16287

See the Wolfram website for Apple/Mac information on where to find the mathpass file.

4. Tecplot

Installation on a Windows machine requires modification of the tecplotlm.lic file, which is found in the Tecplot install directory \Tecplot\Tec360 2009\.
The contents should be(spaces are important):

HOST h02.uit.tufts.edu 0 50010
ISV teeclmd