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
Open the License Manager
Open the SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager tool
On the Server Administration tab, in the License Information section click on Modify…
Reactivate the License
Select Activate/Reactivate your product license(s) and click Next
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
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.
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.
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
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 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.