Configuring Floating Licenses: Creating and Using an Options File

You can customize license management by creating a license manager options file. This file lets you:

• Reserve licenses for specified users or groups of users
• Allow or disallow the use of IDL by certain users
• Control what events are recorded in the log file

To customize the license manager, create an options file in a text editor as described in the following section. See Sample Options Files: Reserving Licenses for a Group for examples. 

Creating an Options File:

Use a text editor to create an options file. For IDL and ENVI, the options file must be named the following:

idl_lmgrd.opt

Also, this file must be saved in the same directory as the license.dat. The default location in which to save the options file is the ITT_DIR/license directory. Remember, that the ITT_DIR is the directory in which you installed IDL or ENVI, see table 1.1 for default install directories.

Operating System	Default Path
Windows	C:\Program Files\exelis\license\
UNIX and Linux	/usr/local/exelis/license/
Macintosh	/Applications/exelis/license/
Table 1-1

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:

1. Specify each option on a separate line.
2. Each line must begin with one of the keywords specified in table 1-2.
3. Limit the length of each line to fewer than 2,048 characters. You can use the backslash (\) as a line continuation character if you need more than 2,048 characters.
4. All elements of the options file are case sensitive so users and groups must be correctly and consistently identified.
5. Lines beginning with the pound sign (#) are ignored and can be used as comments.

Options File Keywords:

The following table describes the keywords available for creating an options file: 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.
EXCLUDEALL	EXCLUDEALL type type_name EXCLUDEALL GROUP misfit Prevents the group "misfit" from using any of the features served by this vendor daemon.	Implicitly allows members of all groups except "misfit" to access all features served by this vendor daemon.
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.
INCLUDEALL	INCLUDEALL type type_name INLCUDEALL GROUP research Allows all users listed in the group "research" to use all features served by this vendor daemon.	Specifies users or groups allowed use of all features served by this vendor daemon.
LINGER	LINGER feature seconds LINGER idl 20 LINGER envi 20 The license manager holds on to a license for an additional 20 seconds after it is checked in.	Causes licenses to be held by the license manager for a specific amount of time after a user exits IDL or ENVI. Rarely used.
MAX	MAX #lic feature type type_name MAX 10 idl_rt GROUP research MAX 10 envi_rt 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.
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.
Table 1-2

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 10 license units on a UNIX workstation-class machine. Comment lines begin with #.

# define the users in the research group
GROUP research josh hal bob kate beth
# reserve 5 IDL licenses for the research group
RESERVE 50 idl GROUP research
# exclude anyone on a computer with the name main
EXCLUDE idl HOST main
# do not log license denials
NOLOG DENIED

Or,

# define the users in the research group
GROUP research josh hal bob kate beth
# reserve 5 ENVI licenses for the research group
RESERVE 5 envi GROUP research
# 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