Reserve Licenses with Options File

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

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 reserveinclude 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 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 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 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
CircuitWorks circuitworks
SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2D elec2d
SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D elec3d
SOLIDWORKS Electrical Professional elecpro
Technical Communication
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
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

Scroll to Top