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The options file allows the license administrator to control various operating parameters of FLEXlm. Specifically the license administrator can:
Options files allow you, as the license administrator, to be as secure or open with licenses as you like.
Lines in the options file were limited to 200 characters prior to FLEXlm v3.0. In v3.0 and later, the line length is 2048 characters. FLEXlm v4.0 allows the `\' character as a continuation character in options file lines.
To create an options file:
/usr/local/flexlm/options/xyz.opt (Unix)
C:\flexlm\options\xyz.opt (Windows/NT)
DAEMON xyzd /etc/xyzd /usr/local/flexlm/options/xyz.opt
Below is an overview of the options file syntax. See Section 6.3, `Understanding Options Files,' on page 34 for examples and additional information.
Each line of the file controls one option. The options are:
You can include comments in your options file by starting each comment line with a pound sign `#'. Everything in an options file is case sensitive. Be sure that user names and feature names, for example, are entered correctly.
As of FLEXlm v5, you can select a particular line of a given featurename, as follows:
featurename:name=value
For example:
f1:VERSION=2.0
You can specify a feature by any of the following fields:
VERSION HOSTID EXPDATE KEY VENDOR_STRING ISSUER NOTICE dist_info user_info asset_info
EXCLUDE featurename type name
Excludes a user, host, display, or group from the list of who is allowed to use the feature. Excluded users will not be allowed to use the feature.
To exclude the user `hank' from the list of users able to use feature f1:
EXCLUDE f1 USER hank
EXCLUDEALL type name
Excludes a user, host, display, or group from the list of who is allowed to use all features served by this vendor daemon.
To exclude any user on the server `chaos' from using all features served by this vendor daemon:
EXCLUDEALL HOST chaos
GROUP groupname usernamelist
Defines a group of users for use in INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE option lines.
To define the group Hackers consisting of bob, howard, and james:
GROUP Hackers bob howard james
In FLEXlm v3.0 multiple GROUP lines will add all the users specified into the group. Pre-v3.0 FLEXlm daemons do not allow multiple GROUP lines to concatenate. In fact, the second GROUP line would re-define the GROUP.
In FLEXlm v4.0 or later, USER_GROUP is an alias for GROUP.
HOST_GROUP groupname hostnamelist
Defines a group of hosts for use in INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE option lines.
To define the group Hackers consisting of bob, howard, and james:
GROUP Hackers bob howard james
HOST_GROUP is available for FLEXlm v4.0 and later.
INCLUDE featurename type name
Includes a user, host, display, or group in the list of who is allowed to use the feature. Anyone not in an INCLUDE statement will not be allowed to use that feature.
To include user `bob' in the list of users able to use feature f1:
INCLUDE f1 USER bob
INCLUDEALL type name
Includes a user, host, display, or group in the list of who is allowed to use all features served by this vendor daemon. Anyone not in an INCLUDEALL statement will not be allowed to use these features.
To allow the user `jane' to use all features served by this vendor daemon:
INCLUDEALL USER jane
LINGER featurename interval
This causes the daemon to `hold on' to the license for featurename for interval seconds after the application checks the license in or exits. This could be useful for short-duration programs which will be used many times in a row by the same user, to ensure that the user will be able to re-acquire the license repeatedly. This is only useful if the application uses duplicate grouping. Otherwise, LINGER will cause you to use extra licenses. Contact your software vendor for information about how they implemented duplicate grouping in their product.
MAX_OVERDRAFT featurename numlic
Limits usage below the OVERDRAFT allowed by the license file.
NOLOG what
Turns off logging of specific events by the FLEXlm daemons.
To turn off logging of checkins:
NOLOG IN
To turn off logging of checkouts and queued requests two separate NOLOG lines are required:
NOLOG DENIED
NOLOG QUEUED
License administrators might use this option to reduce the size of the lmgrd or `debug' log file.
This file is only useful with the FLEXadmin license administration utility.
REPORTLOG filename
REPORTLOG specifies the file which will contain the report-writer log for this vendor daemon. If filename begins with a '+' character, the file will be opened for append, otherwise the file will be overwritten each time the daemon is started.
RESERVE numlic featurename type name
Reserves licenses for a specific user.
To reserve one license of feature f1 for user `mel':
RESERVE 1 f1 USER mel
Any licenses reserved for a user are dedicated to that user. Even when that user is not actively using the license it will be unavailable to other users. However, a RESERVED license will not cause an overdraft to be reported by FLEXadmin if the license is not actually in use.
TIMEOUT featurename seconds
Sets the time after which an inactive license is reclaimed by the vendor daemon.
To set the timeout for feature f1 to one hour (3600 seconds):
TIMEOUT f1 3600
TIMEOUT removes a feature from a user if he has been `idle' for a period longer than the specified time period, and someone else wants the license. The daemon declares a process idle when it has not heard from the process (the client sends heartbeats). The application must explicitly declare itself idle for this to work, or the application must be stopped (^Z). That is, unless the application explicitly supports this feature, it will not work. Contact your software vendor for information about how they implemented this feature in their product.
The application vendor can also disable the timeout feature, in which case the TIMEOUT option has no effect. The vendor can set a minimum value for the timeout. If you specify a timeout value smaller than the minimum, the minimum is used. The default minimum value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).
If you do not specify a timeout value in your options file, then there will be no timeout for that feature. Licenses are only freed by TIMEOUT when a new request for a license is made.
The following information gives an overview of the syntax of a complete options file and some samples intended to illustrate ways to effectively control access to your licenses.
When the vendor daemon is started by lmgrd, it is passed the location of the options file. The location is specified in the license file for that product, on the DAEMON line. If no file is listed the daemon will not use any options file.
There can only be one options file per vendor daemon and each vendor needs a separate options file.
Before you can use options to utilize licenses effectively you must understand the options file precedence. INCLUDE and EXCLUDE statements can be combined in the same options file and control access to the same features. When doing so, keep in mind the following:
Once you create an INCLUDE or EXCLUDE list everyone else is implicitly `outside' the group. This feature allows you, as an administrator, the ability to control licenses without having to explicitly list each user that you wish to allow or deny access to. In other words there are two approaches; you can either:
RESERVE 1 compile USER robert
RESERVE 3 compile HOST mainline
EXCLUDE compile USER lori
NOLOG QUEUED
This options file would:
The sum total of the licenses reserved must be less than or equal to the number of licenses specified in the FEATURE line. In the example above, there must be a minimum of four licenses on the `compile' FEATURE line. If fewer licenses are available, only the first set of reservations (up to the license limit) are used.
If this data were in file /usr/local/flexlm/options/local.options, then you would modify the license file DAEMON line as follows:
DAEMON xyzd /usr/local/xyzd /usr/local/flexlm/options/local.options
Each INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE line must have a single user name (or group) listed. To affect more than one user name create a GROUP. For example to exclude `bob,' `howard,' and `james' from using the feature called `toothbrush' we could create the following options file:
EXCLUDE toothbrush USER bob
EXCLUDE toothbrush USER howard
EXCLUDE toothbrush USER james
There is an easier way though. Create a GROUP and exclude the list of users from using the feature. Like the previous example, the following options file would exclude `bob', `howard' and `james' from using the feature called `toothbrush':
# First define the group `Hackers'
GROUP Hackers bob howard james
# Then exclude the group
EXCLUDE toothbrush GROUP Hackers
Now when you want to allow or deny access to any feature to that group, you have an `alias' list to make it simple.
The GROUP function works for a list of user names prior to FLEXlm v4.0. To control access to multiple displays (and hosts in pre-v4.0 FLEXlm) you must use multiple option lines in your options file. For example, in pre-v4.0 FLEXlm to exclude all users logged in on the hosts `fred' and `barney' from using a feature called `f1' add these lines to your options file:
EXCLUDE f1 USER fred
EXCLUDE f1 USER barney
In FLEXlm v4.0, you can use HOST_GROUP to allow, deny or reserve licenses for multiple hosts. For example, to exclude all users logged in on the hosts `fred' and `barney' from using a feature called `f1' add these lines to your options file:
HOST_GROUP writers fred barney
EXCLUDE f1 HOST_GROUP writers
See Section 6.2.3, `GROUP' and Section 6.2.4, `HOST_GROUP,' on page 31 for more information about defining groups.
#First Define the group `painters'
GROUP painters picasso mondrian klee
EXCLUDE spell GROUP painters
EXCLUDE spell USER bob
EXCLUDE spell HOST bigbrush
This options file would:
Note that `bob' could have been added to the group painters. However, `painters' might be used for some other purpose in the future so the license administrator chose to handle `bob' as a special case here. In this case, the two EXCLUDE statements concatenate to create a list of four users.
INCLUDE paint USER picasso
INCLUDE paint USER mondrain
INCLUDE paint HOST bigbrush
This options file would:
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