The Options File

THIS INFORMATION ONLY PERTAINS TO SOFTWARE VERSIONS IDL 8.5, ENVI 5.3 AND PRIOR


What is the Options File?

The options file can be used to control license access for users of floating licenses. The main functions of an options file from an practical perspective is to: reserve specific license features for defined users/groups, exclude defined users/groups from accessing specific license features, as well as define a maximum amount of specific license features that can be used by a group of users.

As noted, the options file can only be used with floating licenses in conjunction with the FlexLM license manager service used by Exelis VIS desktop products.


Creating an Options File

The options file can be created by using a text editor. It is highly recommended that you name the file "idl_lmgrd.opt" and that the file is saved to the same directory as the license.dat.

NOTE Whenever you modify the options file, you must stop and restart the license manager before the changes will take effect.

Use the following conventions when creating an options file:

• Specify each option on a separate line.
• Each line must begin with one of the keywords specified in the following table.
• Limit the length of each line to fewer than 2048 characters. You can use the backslash (\) as a line continuation character if you need more than 2048 characters.
• All elements of the options file are case sensitive so users and groups must be correctly and consistently identified.
• Lines beginning with the pound sign (#) are ignored and can be used as comments.

Options File Keywords

Keyword	Example	Description
EXCLUDE	EXCLUDE feature type type_name EXCLUDE idl USER bob EXCLUDE envi USER bob Excludes user “bob” from using IDL or ENVI.	Can exclude user, group, host, or host_group from using IDL or ENVI. EXCLUDE takes precedence over INCLUDE statements.
GROUP	GROUP group user_list GROUP visitor sam kate Defines users “sam” and “kate” as comprising the group “visitor”.	Defines a list of users to use as a group with other keywords such as INCLUDE or EXCLUDE
HOST_GROUP	HOST_GROUP group host_list HOST_GROUP main hal sam Defines hosts “hal” and “sam” as the group “main”.	Defines a list of hosts to use as a group with other keywords such as INCLUDE or EXCLUDE.
INCLUDE	INCLUDE feature type type_name INCLUDE idl GROUP visitor INCLUDE envi GROUP visitor Allows only users in the group “visitor” to use IDL or ENVI.	Includes only specifically identified users or groups. All others are implicitly outside of this group, and denied access.
MAX	MAX #lic feature type type_name  MAX 10 idl_rt GROUP research MAX 10 envi GROUP research  Allows users in the “research” group to use at most 10 units of the “idl_rt” or “envi_rt” feature at one time.	Limits usage of a feature among users or groups.
NOLOG	NOLOG event_type  NOLOG DENIED NOLOG QUEUED	A separate NOLOG line is needed to turn off logging of events including IN, OUT, DENIED, and QUEUED.
RESERVE	RESERVE #lic feature type type_name RESERVE 10 idl USER sam RESERVE 10 envi USER sam  Reserves a single license for the user “sam”.	Ensures that a license will always be available to a specified user or group.

Sample Options Files: Reserving Licenses for a Group

The following example shows how to define and reserve a number of licenses for a group of users, and tells the license manager not to log denied requests. Each copy of IDL or ENVI requires 6 license units on a PC workstation-class machine (Windows, Macintosh, Linux). Comment lines begin with #.

# reserve 10 IDL licenses for the research group
RESERVE 60 idl GROUP research
# define the users in the research group
GROUP research josh hal bob kate beth
# exclude anyone on a computer with the name main
EXCLUDE idl HOST main
# do not log license denials
NOLOG DENIED

Or,

# reserve 5 ENVI licenses for the research group
RESERVE 5 envi GROUP research
# define the users in the research group
GROUP research josh hal bob kate beth
# exclude anyone on a computer with the name main
EXCLUDE envi HOST main
# do not log license denials
NOLOG DENIED

When using INCLUDE or EXCLUDE, anyone not specifically mentioned on a list is implicitly excluded or included. For example, in the above file, everyone who is not working on a computer named “main” would be allowed to access IDL or ENVI. An EXCLUDE statement takes precedence over an INCLUDE statement. If the user “josh” were working on a computer named “main,” he will not be able to access IDL or ENVI even though there is a license reserved for him.


Sample Options Files: Reserving Licenses for Individuals

The following options file reserves licenses for individuals from the “research” group defined above. If you have a group of 10 people, you can specify that a license or licenses will always be available to certain users within that group by using the RESERVE keyword in an options file. The NOLOG line pertains to the IDL QUEUE command, which allows a user to wait for an IDL license instead of entering demonstration mode when a counted license is unavailable. It tells the log file not to record any queue events.

# reserve one license for "kate"
RESERVE 10 idl USER kate
# reserve one license for "josh"
RESERVE 10 idl USER josh
# reserve 3 licenses for "hal"
RESERVE 30 idl USER hal
# do not log queue events
NOLOG QUEUED

Or,

# reserve one license for "kate"
RESERVE 1 envi USER kate
# reserve one license for "josh"
RESERVE 1 envi USER josh
# reserve 3 licenses for "hal"
RESERVE 3 envi USER hal
# do not log queue events
NOLOG QUEUED

created 3/17/15 JD reviewed 3/17/15 DB