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John.Pryal1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 20, 2015
Question

License issue

  • March 20, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 19292 views

Hi, i work for a multi-national company, we have sites all over Europe. All of these sites need access to Creo at one time or another. The company has a number of Creo licenses which are managed by a license server at one site. These are floating licenses which are taken on a first come, first served basis, or at least that is what we used to think. There are too many instances just recently, where i, or one of my colleagues lose a license we had. One minute we are working away without a problem, the next we receive an error saying license is lost. Then we have to start phoning around the group, to see who is using what & whether a license can be closed to free one up. We are concerned that once all the licenses are taken, & another user comes along, that somehow that user takes priority over anyone currently using. I don't anything about the license management software or how it works, or whether is can be configured to give a certain user a license at the expense of another. I guess my question is, is this possible? I guess ultimately, my company needs more licenses if more & more people are using Creo, but thats not my call.

John

    3 replies

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    ptc-48939281-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    March 20, 2015

    Hi John,

    You may be able to limit the Users on License server machine by enabling the license port for the set number of users, thereby blocking people from unknowingly pick license. Also if there are extension licenses bundled up, you can configure your Creo startup command to pick only the required extensions.

    I am sure this doesn't completly solve your problem, as I too have such a situation, and am looking for a solution.

    Arun

    J
    John.Pryal1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    March 20, 2015

    Hi Arun, yes, we already have extension licenses configured within Creo start-up, when i launch Creo, i can select default Creo, AAX (advanced assembly) or Tool Design, depending upon requirements. What you described is what we understood to be the case, that if all licenses were taken, then another user comes along looking for a license, then it would be that person who receives the error, that no license is available. We are concerned that another user can simply launch Creo & take a license (unknowingly of course). Another thing we have learned recently about our license server, is, if Creo crashes (i know it will come as quite a surprise to hear that, Creo crashing, perish the thought), then the license does not know this, it still thinks the license is being used by that user. The user tries to launch Creo again, no license available. We know this because the IT people on site where the server is located, can see what licenses are in use & where, & the crashed license is showing as been used & functional. The server then has to be restarted, to fix things.

    Thanks

    John

    M
    MartinHanak24-Ruby III
    24-Ruby III
    March 20, 2015

    John,

    if the Creo crash arrives after 20 minutes initial interval, then user can try to free the license using ptcflush.bat.

    Martin Hanak

    M
    MartinHanak24-Ruby III
    24-Ruby III
    March 20, 2015

    John,

    in case that your company uses lmgrd version of FLEXnet software (represented by running processes lmgrd.exe and ptc_d.exe), then it can be configured via ptc.opt file located in flexnet_LOADPOINT\licensing directory on license server.

    One of default options is TIMEOUTALL 7200 ... this means that the license is reserved for user who launched it for 7200 seconds. When user stops working (this mean does not click commands in user interface) then the license is released for other users after 2 hours.

    The whole list of options is available in flex.pdf file located in Creo2_LOADPOINT\Creo 2.0\Common Files\M070\help\usascii directory or in flexnet_LOADPOINT\html\usascii\proe\helpSysTop\siteset directory.

    Note:

    License is lost is usually related to bad communication between client (Creo workstation) and license server.

    Martin Hanak

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      John.Pryal1-VisitorAuthor
      1-Visitor
      March 20, 2015

      Thanks Martin, i did expect a reply from you on this topic . This does sound promising, i will look into this. You are right about one thing, 'License is lost' due to bad communication, we have a very unstable internet connection, we have issues almost every day, we keep banging the drum, but nobody listens. I will mark your answer as 'Correct' for now. If we continue to have problems i will come back to you, if that is ok?

      Thanks again

      John

      M
      MartinHanak24-Ruby III
      24-Ruby III
      March 20, 2015

      John,

      if you have communication problems, then consider license borrowing. Borrowed license works as license locked to Creo workstation. This means you can launch it several times and maybe it does not "disappear" when Creo crashes.

      Martin Hanak

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      davehaigh13-Aquamarine
      13-Aquamarine
      May 18, 2015

      John,

      I gave a talk on license management at last year's PTC Live conference.

      It should answer all your questions. I have a copy of both my presenter copy, better to read with the notes pages, and the attendee copy, on the PTCUser site. If you don't have access to that, email me and I'll send you the attendee copy.

      Here.

      http://portal.ptcuser.org/p/do/sd/sid=2464&type=0

      In response to those that don't like the new flexnet license software. I totally understand. I didn't like it at first becuse I didn't understand it. Now that I understand it better, I perfer it. The advantage is it's available via a web page. You can do many things without having to bounce the license server like you used to with lmgrd.

      Understand, this is not PTC's software, they just went with the latest version from flexnet. Unforunately, like most stuff from PTC there is no good documentation from PTC on how this new version of the license manager works. I have enough in the above presentation to get you up to speed in short order. I still don't know all I'd like to about it. But I know enough.

      B
      bnielsen-21-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      June 18, 2021

      @davehaigh,

      It looks as though that link is now dead.  Could you please post a new one if it's still available? Thanks!

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