Abaqus 6.11 licensing is provided in a network licensing format. Network licensing allows a limited number of analysis jobs and interactive sessions to be run simultaneously on any supported computer connected over a network. Abaqus network licensing uses the FLEXnet network license manager from Flexera Software (formerly Acresso Software) to control an Abaqus license server, which is a process running on a single computer (license server host) on a network. Abaqus products can run on any supported computer on the network, including the license server host, as long as the necessary tokens are available.

Multiple license servers can be selected to provide redundancy in case the license server or its host fails. For information on redundant license servers, see “Redundant license server configurations,” Section 3.4.

Any supported computer on the network can be used to run the license server as long as the computers that will run Abaqus can communicate with the license server. A computer running Windows can act as the license server host for a UNIX network and vice versa.

Each Abaqus analysis or interactive session must contact the license server prior to beginning execution and periodically while Abaqus is running. Therefore, Abaqus must have uninterrupted communication with the license server throughout the analysis or interactive session. If the license server or the computer on which it runs fails, it should be restarted as quickly as possible to ensure minimal interruption of Abaqus jobs.

License activity is recorded in a log file, called the server log. Tools to manage licensing activities are described in “FLEXnet Licensing administration tools,” Section 3.6, and The FLEXnet Licensing End User Guide Version 10.8; the latter document is available for download from the Licensing section of the Support page at www.simulia.com.

Restrictions can be applied to tokens to control access to Abaqus. A number of tokens can be reserved for certain users, or access can be denied to specific users and computers. These restrictions are defined in the network license options file. See “Using the options file,” Section 3.7, for more information. You can also customize the behavior of a license server through settings in the Abaqus environment file. See “License management parameters,” Section 4.1.6, for information on the environment file settings.

The license server continuously tracks which tokens on the network are “available” and which are “in use.” Prior to beginning an analysis or interactive session, the Abaqus job (client) requests tokens from the license server. If tokens are in the available pool, the license server transfers tokens from the available pool to the in-use pool, and the tokens remain in the in-use pool until the end of the analysis or interactive session. If no tokens are available, an analysis job is placed in the license queue and an interactive session exits with an error message stating that no tokens are available. At the normal completion of the analysis or interactive session, the Abaqus client notifies the license server and the server returns the tokens to the available pool. If the analysis or interactive session aborts, the tokens are returned immediately.

For help in resolving questions relating to Abaqus licensing, see Appendix F, “Troubleshooting Abaqus network licensing.”