NX Can NX license borrowing be automated?

An NX user can borrow a license (from the license server) to their workstation to enable NX to run offline.


However, it is not always clear which licenses they should select in order to get the full functionality they require. For example, if the site license file contains different NX license bundles, the user not only needs to select the bundle they require, but also any features that are 'common to' the bundle they have selected, and other bundles present in the license file.


In the example below, in order to borrow all the features associated to the 'NX Mach 2 Prod Design' bundle, it is necessary to select the bundle and the 'Common to' option that includes 'NX Mach 2 Prod Design':

This is a relatively simple example, but for sites with many more products in the license file it can be difficult for the NX user to know which options to select when borrowing a license. 

(Note: License borrowing is enabled by default in NX license files issued since May 2017, therefore no special arrangements are required to add the borrowing capability to a typical NX license file.)

Solution

To simplify the license borrowing process, the NX system administrator can create a Windows command script to borrow predefined license bundles and/or features. The NX user can then simply run (double-click) the script to borrow the (predetermined) NX license.

The script uses the 'lictool' command. An example of the 'lictool' syntax to borrow an 'NX Mach 2 Prod Design' license bundle, for 7 days, is shown below:


%UGII_BASE_DIR%\UGFLEXLM\lictool.exe --borrow "NX Mach 2 Prod Design" --days 7


Note: 'lictool' uses the descriptive product/feature name to specify the license(s) to be borrowed. These are the license descriptions that appear in the 'Licensing Tool - Borrow License' dialog (shown above). They are defined in the 'user_info' field for each bundle or feature within the license file:

(Note: The value of the 'user_info' parameter, within the INCREMENT or FEATURE lines of the license file, is editable. This allows the system administrator to change the description of the bundle / feature to be borrowed.)

For full details of the 'lictool' command line options, and guidance on editing the 'user_info' parameter, please refer to the 'SPLMLicensing_user_guide.pdf'.)

An example script to automate license borrowing is available in the Solution Center article, 'How to Automate NX License Borrowing'.


Returning Borrowed Licenses:


If the NX user returns to the office, and the licenses that were borrowed have not yet expired, they can be returned to the license server pool using the 'Licensing Tool - Borrow Settings – Return' option:

An example script to automate the return of borrowed license is available in the Solution Center article referred above.

Hardware/Software Configuration

Platform: INTL64
OS: windows
OS Version: 1064
Product: NX
Application: PLATFORMS
Version: V12.0
Function: FLEXLM

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