Frequently Asked Questions

The computer running the Licence Manager server must have a dongle plugged into one of its USB ports.

The client computers that run GEOVIA programs using a network licence do not need a dongle. This environment results in a much simpler setup for a multi‑licence site because the administrator maintains only one dongle.

No. You should plug in only one dongle into the computer running the Licence Manager server. If you plug in more than one dongle, Licence Manager might fail to distribute licences correctly.

If you have a single user licence (standalone licence), then you can use the dongle on the local computer with your single-user token. The single-user token has 16 digits, whereas the network token has 26 digits. When the dongle is used to access the single-user licence, network licensing is disabled.

Licence Manager uses the TCP/IP group of network protocols for communication between client computers and Licence Manager servers. The amount of network traffic generated by Licence Manager is minimal (approximately 100 bytes/client every 30 seconds).

Windows platforms require the TCP/IP protocol for networking. You can install TCP/IP using the Network Connections icon in the Control Panel. Many computers in a network already have TCP/IP installed. There is no conflict running TCP/IP at the same time as any other network protocol.

Generally, Licence Manager does not work through a hardware firewall. There are some firewall products that you can configure to allow Licence Manager traffic through. However, the setup and maintenance of these configurations is difficult.

GEOVIA does not recommend (nor does GEOVIA support) that you use Licence Manager through a hardware firewall.

If Licence Manager is installed correctly but fails to issues licences, try temporarily turning off Windows Firewall. If Licence Manager then successfully issues licences, turn Windows Firewall on again and add NetworkLicenceManager.exe (in the folder where licence manager is installed) to the list of program exceptions.

When the Licence Manager server, or the computer running the Licence Manager server, fails or stops responding, the licences on all client computers lose their network licences. The GEOVIA program notifies the user that the licence is lost. The user can then obtain a new licence by connecting to the same Licence Manager server or a different one. The program on the client computer then continues from the point at which the licence was lost.

If a user cannot regain a licence, the user can still perform some operations, such as saving files, without a licence. Therefore the user can save any work that was in progress.

Sites can distribute their licences between a number of Licence Manager servers (for example, 20 licences with 2 servers serving 10 licences each). With this type of setup, if one server host becomes unavailable, the other server can still service requests.

If the computer running Licence Manager has a hardware failure, you can transfer the dongle to another computer and run the Licence Manager server software on the other computer.

No. The dongle must be physically plugged in to the licence server computer.

You can review the status of the Licence Manager service in the lower right corner of the Status bar of the Licence Manager window. If the service is installed correctly and running, the indicators in the Status bar show Started and Running.

You can also check the list of services in the Control Panel.

Yes. It is possible to have more than one Licence Manager server on the network. Each computer that has Licence Manager installed requires a dongle and a token number for a specific number of licences. This type of arrangement is not a mirrored servers arrangement (where all possible licences can be served by either server when one of the servers becomes unavailable).

When the client program starts, it can either send a broadcast request (to all servers on the local network segment) or connect to a particular server. When using a broadcast request, more than one server may respond. Then the client program uses the first licence that is granted receives. The broadcast requests only work for the local network segment, and generally, do not work between sites.

To view information about the Licence Manager program and its version, choose Help > About.

The About dialog provides version information for both the program and the service. If the versions of the Licence Manager and the Licence Manager service are not the same, uninstall all versions of the Licence Manager, and then re-install the most recent version.

If you see the message "No Licence Manager (NetworkLicenceManager.exe) found". Re-install the most recent version of Licence Manager immediately.

You can install Licence Manager to c:\ssilm, but GEOVIA recommends that you install Licence Manager to a directory with a different name.

In previous versions, installing Licence Manager to c:\ssilm might have caused unexpected issues. As a result GEOVIA recommends that you follow the Windows convention and install Licence Manager in a folder with a different name within the C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (86) directories. The default directory is: C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\GEOVIA LicenceManager\<versionNumber> for a 32-bit computer or C:\Program Files (x86)\Dassault Systemes\GEOVIA LicenceManager\<versionNumber> on a 64bit computer.

You can run only a single instance of Licence Manager on a single computer at any one time.

The licence ID has two main uses:

• The licence ID is a unique ID for an individual licence that GEOVIA uses when assisting customers. The internal licensing system that GEOVIA uses contains all GEOVIA customers, and every customer has a list of licences. Each licence is a set of modules and a number of users who can use the modules. GEOVIA tracks all these licences using a licence ID.

  The licence that the customer sees is not a direct reference to the licence that GEOVIA has in the customer database. So when a customer experiences issues with a particular licence, GEOVIA uses the licence ID as the primary method to identify which modules, the customers have in their classes.

• The Licence ID is used to match licences together when they are in the same class for a particular version of a product. In a class, there can only be one licence active at any one time for a licence ID.
  For example, in the licence class ENG, there is a licence with the ID 1234 that expires at the end of the current month. You renew the licence, and GEOVIA support sends you a new licence with an expiry date at the end of next month. The new licence becomes active only after the current licence expires.

Yes. To update licences remotely, log on to the computer running Licence Manager remotely, and update the licences. If a new dongle is required, the dongle must first be attached to the computer running Licence Manager.

You can generate a report on the available licences using the Reports > Available function. The following example explains the numbers in the report.

You have 8 users of ProdABC 1.1, but only maintain 4 of the users for ProdABC 2.0. You would then receive a licence for ProdABC 2.0 for only 4 users. When you run the availability report, you see the following information: 

Two licences for ProdABC 1.1 are being used. When you run the report, you see the following information: 

The number of available users for a GEOVIA program is the maximum of all the available users in all versions of that program. However, the maximum users for a specific version is determined by the number defined in the token. In the example, you begin with 8 licences of ProdABC available, but a maximum of 4 licences could be allocated to users running ProdABC 2.0.

Tokens can be disabled for any of the following reasons:

• the token has been manually disabled
  You can disable a token to help diagnose network problems. If a token is disabled manually, you can re-enable it.
• the token has expired
• the token is not valid

  Licence Manager has a licence validation rule that requires all tokens for a particular program and version to be generated by GEOVIA on the same day. It does not matter when you install the tokens, but all tokens must be generated on the same day.
  As a result, when you update a token (because of a change in modules or other reason), you must update all tokens for the specific version of the program.

  If you do not update all tokens for a program and version, only the tokens that have the latest creation date are enabled. All other licences are disabled. If this situation occurs, contact your local GEOVIA support office.

  You can check why a token is disabled using the Properties function from the shortcut menu.

If a licence has been idle for a specified time, Licence Manager changes the state of the licence to standby. If any new licence requests are received and there are no free licences, the licences that are in a standby state are revoked and granted to the client requesting the licence. This means that a user does not tie up a licence indefinitely while leaving the program idle.

If no other users require a licence, the licence is not revoked, and its state changes to a state other than standby when the program is active again.

No. Licences are only revoked if they are in a standby state at the time that a request for a licence comes from another client computer, and no other licences are available. Licences are changed to a standby state only when the GEOVIA program is idle for a set amount of time. The program is considered idle when it has been started, but has had no activity for a particular amount of time. Processing is an activity, so the licence will not be changed to an idle or standby state while a function is running.

The client does not automatically receive a licence. However, if you use the -lm switch to add the specific licence server to the shortcut for Surpac or Minex the client will receive a licence.

For example, in the Properties of the Surpac desktop shortcut, in the Target field, add -lm <name or IP address of the Licence Server> to the end of the current target.

<Surpac Installation Directory>\surpac2.exe -lm licServer

For more information, see Setting Up Surpac or Minex to Use the Licence Server.

Reverse DNS lookup is a process that can cause Licence Manager problems on some network configurations. In TCP/IP, computers on a network are given an IP address similar to this: 192.100.168.72.

To make these numbers easier to understand, computers are given a name that relates to that number (for example, FRED). The computer name and the numeric IP address are stored on the network on a computer called the "Domain Name System" (DNS). A DNS lookup translates the computer name to the numeric IP address needed to process the request.

When the Licence Manager grants a licence, it returns to the client the numeric IP address of the server that granted the licence. The client tries to perform a Reverse DNS lookup to find out the server name from the IP address. When the server name is known, messages related to the user are output using the server name, not the numeric IP address.

However, on some networks, the reverse DNS lookup is either not possible (due to incorrect or incomplete network configuration), or it is very slow. In either situation, the client waits for a response from the server. If the client does not receive a response within a certain amount of time, the server revokes the licence it just granted. This situation causes problems on some sites.

If you encounter this problem, you can edit the Licence Manager properties to turn off the reverse DNS lookup.

Yes. You can use command-line operations to query the Licence Manager server, produce reports, or simulate a client computer. Users experienced in using command line operations can run requests from the command prompt to investigate problems with the Licence Manager communication.

When you run the NetworkLicenceManager.exe program with no parameters, you see a summary of the command-line options. When you run the NetworkLicenceManager.exe program with parameters, the command passes the directives to the Licence Manager server.

The -client switch is useful for determining if a server is serving licences. When you use this command, do the following:

1. Start the command prompt.
2. Change the directory to the /bin directory of the Licence Manager installation.
3. Type: networklicencemanager -client "<product name>" <major version>.<minor version>

A report of licences granted or refused appears in the command prompt.