To maximize the number of available licenses, learn which options are available and what they do.
Options include combining licenses for multiple products, borrowing licenses, using package license files, modifying license assignments, and creating option files. There are also tools, such as LMTOOLS and the License File Parser, that help you perform these tasks.
Although Autodesk Account allows you to generate a license file that consolidates network licenses for all your products, you can also manually combine network licenses. Be sure to follow the instructions for combining license files.
You can borrow network licenses for some Autodesk products. Borrowing means temporarily removing a license from the network to use it on an offline computer. You can specify when the borrowing period begins and ends, but it is limited to six months or the term of your subscription, whichever is shorter. Although an options file isn't required, you can gain more control over borrowing through options file entries.
Although an options file is not required for basic network license management, it can be useful for the following:
Network License Manager (NLM) uses cascading, in which NLM automatically switches or substitutes licenses according to a ranking hierarchy. NLM uses lower-ranking licenses whenever possible. It uses higher-ranking licenses only when necessary. For example, they are necessary when a user is running two or more suite products, or when all lower-ranking licenses are in use. During this process, NLM surveys license usage every two minutes. As it surveys, it redistributes licenses among users and retrieves licenses that have been unused for longer than the allowed timeout period.
Product licenses are consumed in this order:
If you have multiple versions of an Autodesk product and have purchased a multi-user subscription or maintenance plan, you can obtain a package file. Package files contain a set of licenses for five versions of the same product, such as AutoCAD 2015-2019. Running an instance of any one of the releases uses one license in the package.
To change a network license assignment, update the administrative image on the server used for your deployment.
NLM includes the LMTOOLS utility (Windows only) to monitor license status, reset licenses lost during a system failure, troubleshoot license servers, and update existing license files. Full information about these tools is included in a License Administration Guide installed with NLM.
When you start the network version of an Autodesk product, a request is made to the Network License Manager (NLM) for a license. The NLM controls the licenses that are issued and handles license requests using feature codes. Any network version of an Autodesk product has a specific feature code.
There are three types of feature codes: product-specific on a maintenance plan, product-specific subscription with multi-user access, and product version-specific. For example:
In the example, the first two feature codes don't change from one release to the next. 64300ACD will always indicate AutoCAD. However, the third feature code is unique for every new product release.
Because the NLM administers licenses for hundreds of Autodesk products and versions, each product needs unique identifiers. Autodesk product feature codes appear in license files, debug log files, options files, support articles and more. The following example shows a feature code in a log file entry:
11:00:04 (adskflex) OUT: "87084ACD_2019_0F" user@hostname
When you create an options file to manage your network license usage, you need to know the feature code for each product. With every new release year, Autodesk publishes a list of the product feature codes for that year.
You can use the Autodesk License File Parser to view the feature codes. The License File Parser is an online tool that reads the contents of your product license and displays details in a table. This tool is helpful when you create an options file, because you can quickly identify the parameter values required in the options file. See the instructions for accessing and using the License File Parser.