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How to Use an Options File to Reserve Network Licenses for Specific Users

SOLIDWORKS Network Licenses are hosted by a License Manager running on FlexLM technology.  FlexLM is the industry standard for distributed industrial licensing and contains many options for modifying how pools of licenses are shared and distributed across multiple users and teams within a company.  This article explains how to implement an Options File to manage licenses and provides helpful information and examples to get you started.

How to Create a New Options File

Open the License Manager

Open the SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager tool 

On the Server Administration tab, in the License Information section click on Modify…

 

How to Use an Options File to Reserve Network Licenses for Specific Users

Reactivate the License

Select Activate/Reactivate your product license(s) and click Next

How to Use an Options File to Reserve Network Licenses for Specific Users

Enable Options File

Select the checkbox next to Options File: and copy the default path to the options file (this will be used to edit the options file)

Click Next to continue

Reserve Licenses with Options File

Complete the Activation

Choose Select All and click Next.  Completing the reactivation process is required for the changes to be applied.  

When the activation process is complete, click Finish to close the activation window.

Reverse Licenses with Options File

View Log

If you need to confirm that an options file is in use, or locate the path of the options file, click View Log to open the lmgrd.log file.

Reserve Licenses with Options File

Server Log Details

The log file opens in Notepad by default.  Towards the bottom of the log file there should be “Startup/Restart Info” with the options file listed 

Reserve Licenses with Options File

Formatting the Options File

Now that the options file has been setup you can add the appropriate options to it. Open the log file in Notepad to modify the commands and stop/start the server to apply changes.

NOTE: The options file must be formatted correctly and is case sensitive.  Make edits carefully and always keep a backup copy when making changes.

NOTE: Additional information on the commands available in the Options file can be found in the License Administration Guide found in the “\Docs\flexuser” folder of the SolidNetWork License Manager installation folder.  Default installation path is C:\Program Files (x86)\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SolidNetWork License Manager\

In order to reserve licenses you must define groups and then reserve, include or exclude products for those groups. 

    • Define a group using the GROUP keyword: 
      • GROUP <Group_Name> <user> <user> . . . 
      • <Group_Name> is the name of the group 
      • <user> is the name of a user (do not include the “…” at the end). Note that usernames are case sensitive and cannot contain spaces. 
    • Reserve licenses to a group or user using the RESERVE keyword: 
      • RESERVE <number_of_licenses> <feature> <type> <name> 
      • <number_of_licenses> is the number of licenses to reserve to the group or user 
      • <feature> is the SOLIDWORKS Product feature name (see table below) 
      • <type> is the type of identifier used (GROUP or USER) 
      • <name> is the name of the or user 
    • Include or Exclude products to a group or user using the INCLUDE or EXCLUDE keywords: 
      • INCLUDE[EXCLUDE] <feature> <type> <name> 
      • <feature> is the SOLIDWORKS Product feature name (see table below) 
      • <type> is the type of identifier used (GROUP or USER) 
      • <name> is the name of the or user 

Example 1 – Company X wants to reserve 1 license of SOLIDWORKS Premium for group1 (consisting of user1, user2 & user3), 1 license for group2 (consisting of user3 and user4). The options file should look like this: 

GROUP group1 user1 user2 user3 
GROUP group2 user3 user4 
RESERVE 1 swofficepremium_GROUP group1 
RESERVE 1 swofficepremium_GROUP group2 

Example 2 – Company Y wants to make SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional CAD Editor available for engineering (consisting of user1, user2 & user3) and restrict manufacturing (consisting of user4 and user5) to using SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Viewer. The options file should look like this: 

GROUP engineering user1 user2 user3 
GROUP manufacturing user4 user5 
INCLUDE swepdm_cadeditor GROUP engineering 
EXCLUDE swepdm_cadeditor GROUP manufacturing 
INCLUDE swepdm_viewer GROUP manufacturing 

Below is a list of SOLIDWORKS products along with the feature names that are used in the options file: 

3D CAD

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
SOLIDWORKS Standard
solidworks
SOLIDWORKS Office
swoffice
SOLIDWORKS Professional
swofficepro
SOLIDWORKS Premium
swofficepremium
SOLIDWORKS Premium with Simulation Professional
swofficepremium_cwpro
SOLIDWORKS Premium with Simulation Premium
swofficepremium_cwadvpro
eDrawings Professional
edrw

PDM

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional CAD Editor
swepdm_cadeditor
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional CAD Editor and Web
swepdm_cadeditorandweb
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Contributor
swepdm_contributor
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Contributor and Web
swepdm_contributorandweb
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Processor License
swepdm_processor
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Viewer
swepdm_viewer
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Web
swepdm_web
SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard CAD Editor
swpdmstd_cadeditor
SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard Contributor
swpdmstd_contributor
SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard Viewer
swpdmstd_viewer

SIMULATION

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Standard
cae_cwstd
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional
cae_cwpro
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium
cae_cwadvpro
SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation
cae_cosmosfloworkspe
SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation HVAC Module
cae_cosmosfloworks_hvac
SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Electronic Cooling Module
cae_cosmosfloworks_elec
SOLIDWORKS Sustainability
swsustainability
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard
plastics_professional
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional
plastics_premium
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Premium
plastics_advanced

ELECTRICAL

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
CircuitWorks
circuitworks
SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2D
elec2d
SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D
elec3d
SOLIDWORKS Electrical Professional
elecpro

TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
SOLIDWORKS Composer
swcomposer
SOLIDWORKS Composer Check
swcomposer_check
SOLIDWORKS Composer Path Planning
swcomposer_pathplanning
SOLIDWORKS Composer Player Pro
swcomposer_playerpro
SOLIDWORKS Composer Sync
swcomposer_sync
SOLIDWORKS Composer Enterprise Sync
swcomposer_syncenterprise
SOLIDWORKS Inspection Professional
swinspection_pro
SOLIDWORKS Inspection Standard
swinspection_std
SOLIDWORKS MBD
swmbd_std

2D CAD

SOLIDWORKS Product
Feature Names
DraftSight Enterprise
draftsightpremium

Technical Support

If you have any questions or experience unexpected behavior, feel free to reach out to MLC CAD Systems technical support. 

Last Updated On
byJoel Gilbert
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