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Next-Generation Licensing FAQ
This Help article groups the FAQ related to the Next-Generation licensing system starting with ENVI 5.7 and IDL 8.9.
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1. What is my ENVI 6.0 / IDL 9.0 product License Activation Code?
Your latest, previously-provided license Activation Codes and counts will continue to remain the same under NG licensing. The activation code format will continue to be XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Always be sure to use the latest activation codes for NG licensing.
For example, if your ENVI 5.6, 5.7, or 5.9 license activation code was AAAA-BBBB-1111-2222 then your ENVI 6.0 code would also be AAAA-BBBB-1111-2222.
Also, beginning with ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9, if your licenses are eligible for a version upgrade you will NOT receive a new email with your existing Activation Codes when license version updates for ENVI and IDL products are released.
New purchases of ENVI/IDL products will receive an email with their Activation Code.
Finally, NG activation codes continue to be backward compatible with older versions of NG-enabled ENVI and IDL products. To properly use NG licensing with older product versions (ENVI 5.4-5.6.3 and IDL 8.6-8.8.3), you must apply the NG license compatibility patch, available from our download page
See also:
2. What is the Next-Generation licensing system and why are we changing Licensing?
NV5 Geospatial has adopted a new licensing technology for all future releases of our ENVI, IDL and SARscape products beginning with ENVI 5.7 and IDL 8.9. This technology is known as “Next-Generation (NG) Licensing” and it has been designed from the ground up with performance, simplicity, and stability in mind.
We have considered extensively the substantial difficulties and limitations customers may have encountered under our prior licensing technology (used in ENVI 5.4-5.6.3 and IDL 8.6-8.8.3) before making this change. With NG licensing, we believe you will have a substantially better user experience moving forward.
3. Will the previous Flexnet licensing system still be available?
As of 01, June 2023, the Flexnet licensing system is now no longer available.
This means you can still use your current active licenses and the corresponding ENVI/IDL versions on your machine.
However, if you now need to activate or transfer any license regardless which product version, the Next Gen licensing system needs to be used.
This also applies for downloading our products, which means that the legacy D&LC portal (https://harrisgeospatial.flexnetoperations.com/) is now no longer available. Please use the new download page on our website.
Therefore, we now recommend migrating to the new Next Gen licensing system.
4. What are the requirements of the Next-Generation licensing system?
- License activation is an online process that requires an internet connection. Please contact Technical Support if you do not have internet access.
- Administrator permissions are required to install and license a product.
- Below is a link to the current supported platforms and features:
Platform Support for ENVI 5.7 and IDL 8.9
- Below are links to the current supported platforms for the Next-Genersation License Server package. Be aware that due to the change in the underlying components, the supported Linux platforms may have shifted compared to the legacy Flexnet License Server:
Install and Administer the License Server on Windows
Install and Administer the License Server on Linux
- The License Server is configured to listen to ports 4080 (HTTP) and 40443 (HTTPS) concurrently by default. If a firewall is deployed on the License Server or local network, it will be necessary to configure the firewall to allow external listening connections by the License Server computer on TCP ports 4080 and 40443. Please see the full Installation Instructions (“Install Guide”) on the Download page for all requirements depending on your operating system.
5. What is the workflow for the Next-Generation licensing system?
If you are registered as a License Administrator (owner) of valid licenses:
- You will receive an email, called an Order email, that includes the Activation Code(s) corresponding to your purchased licenses. This Activation Code is required to activate the software after installation.
- Software can be downloaded from your account on our new download page on our website.
- At the end of the software installation, you will be prompted to run the L3Harris License Administrator to license the software. Follow the licensing instructions and supply your Activation Code(s) from the Order email. This step requires internet connection. The software is now licensed for use!
- If you plan to install a flaoting license server, you would also need to download and install the license server separately.
If you are a User (not Administrator) of valid licenses:
You will need to contact your License Administrator to request your Activation Code(s). Users (non-admins) can register directly on our website and as soon as the account is verified by our system (which can take up to 72 hours), access to our download page will be granted.
6. How to download a product with the Next-Generation licensing system?
The software can be downloaded from our website using your web account: https://portal.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/
The legacy D&LC portal (Download and License Center) will no longer work after May 2023 and therefore the new download page on our website needs to be used.
The login credentials for the legacy portal and our website can be different. If you need to reset your password, please use the 'Reset Password' function on our website: https://portal.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/auth/sign-in
Please contact Technical Support if there are any issues accessing your account or resetting your password, or if you need a software version prior to ENVI 5.7 and IDL 8.9.
7. What is the L3Harris License Administrator tool and how to use it?
The ENVI-IDL License Administrator tool is a GUI to help you activate/deactivate/manage your licenses.
To open the ENVI-IDL License Administrator tool, use one of the following:
- Windows: From the Start menu, select ENVI-IDL License Administrator under the shortcut group for your product installation. Administrator privileges are required.
- Linux: From a terminal window, launch the envi_idl_license_admin command from the INSTALL_DIR/envixx/idlxx/bin directory. Sudo or root permissions are required.
- Mac: From a Finder window, double-click the LicenseAdminstrator.app icon located under the INSTALL_DIR/envixx/idlxx directory. Administrator privileges are required.
Note: For a detailed instructions on how to migrate a license, activate/deactivate a license online and offline, connect/disconnect to a license server, view licenses, view events log, please check the detailed Install Guide which can be downloaded from our website.
8. How to license a product with the Next-Generation licensing system?
As a License Administrator:
- Use the Activation Codes you received by email to activate the licenses on each machine to activate it locally. The Administrator will need to run the activation process from each end-user machine, with an internet connection.
- Share the Activation Codes with the end-users so they can run the activation by themselves, from their machine with an internet connection (recommended).
- Or use the Activation Codes to activate the licenses on a license server. Each end-user machine can connect afterwards to the existing license server.
Please contact Technical Support if you do not have internet access.
As a license user:
Contact your License Administrator to obtain the Activation Codes for your product(s) to activate the license locally on your machine, or to obtain the server name or IP address of the license server in order to use the already active licenses on your network.
9. How to setup a Next-Generation license server?
With the release of ENVI 5.7 and IDL 8.9, a new technology and thus a new license manager service is used for deploying floating licenses. The license manager is called the L3Harris License Server.
To use floating licensing, this requires a separate download and installation of the license server binaries. The license server installer can also be found in your web account on our download page.
The link below points to the license server Installation and Licensing instructions for Windows and Linux:
Windows: https://www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/docs/install-windows.html
Linux: https://www.nv5geospatialsoftware.com/docs/install-linux.html
10. How to connect a client machine to a Next-Generation license server?
The configuration of the client machine to point to a license server can be done from the L3Harris License Administrator tool by using the option Use License Server.
Enter the server name or IP address and the TCP/IP port number of the existing license server on the same network and click ‘Connect’. The default port number is 4080 and the secure port is 40443.
Note: For a detailed instructions on how to connect a client machine to a NG license server please check the detailed Install Guide which can be downloaded from our website.
11. How to check which products are licensed on my machine?
Users can easily check the list of activated products from the L3Harris License Administrator tool using the View Licenses option.
A) If a license has been activated locally the display will list the license number, licensee, feature name, version and expiration date of your active license.
B) If your machine is connected to a license server with active licenses the L3Harris License Administrator will detect that and output additional information in the View Licenses tab.
Click on “Show Dashboard” to view the active licenses on your license server in a web browser.
If you click Show Dashboard and the message 'HTTP 404 Not Found' is returned, contact your License Administrator.
Note that you can use both licenses activated locally and those activated on a license server. When combined, the software will first attempt to use a license from your local machine, then it will connect to the License Server if your local license does not contain the requested feature.
12. What to do if my machine is not connected to the network or if I am working in a secured environment?
If you do not have internet access at all and are on a "dark machine", please contact Technical Support for assistance with activating and deactivating your license. Offline activation procedural documentas are available on-request for both node-locked and license server activation.
13. Can we borrow a license in the Next-Generation licensing system?
There is no functionality to borrow licenses from a license server in the NG licensing system.
If you need to borrow a license on a client machine, the only solution is to deactivate a license seat from the license server pool and activate it on your local machine afterwards.
14. Can we create an options file for a license server in the Next-Generation licensing system?
There is no functionality to reserve specific license features or counts for a certain client machine or group of users.
It is suggested to use multiple license servers for standard and reserve users or to instead implement node-locked licensing for users which require reserved license access.
15. How do I manage my contract & licenses as a License Administrator in the Next-Generation licensing system?
As of May 2023, a customer-facing portal with licensing information is not yet available, but will be arrive at a later date.
Please contact technical support if you need help finding out where your licenses are currently used.
16. Who should I contact if I need help with the Next-Generation licensing system?
You can contact Technical Support for any questions related downloading and licensing your product. Please click here for more information.
Otherwise, you can write Technical Support directly via email. Please briefly describe the details of your request and let us know which license number is involved.
North America: geospatialsupport@nv5.com
Europe: supporteu@nv5.com
17. What happens if Maintenance is not renewed/expired?
As long as your web account is verified on our website, you can download our latest products at any time. However, when the software Maintenance of your license expires, you will no longer have access to any software upgrades and thus your license will remain on the corresponding version when the Maintenance expires. You will not be able to download or license newer versions.
18. What are the similarities and differences between the current Next-Generation licensing system and the previous Flexnet license system?
With the new NG licensing system, the user can still choose whether to activate the license as local or server license.
Server licenses require the use of license server software that is available with the download files. The license server binaries are not included in the product download by default.
The NG licensing system is also not dependent on a single OS platform: each license can be activated on supported Windows, Mac, or Linux machines.
The NG licensing technology is still based on a concurrent instance license. The specific quantity of concurrent instances of the software you can launch depends on the software products and modules that you have purchased as well as the activation mode you decide to use.
The following features will be added to the NG licensing system:
- New download page for our products (available for every registered and verified user on our website)
- New license server Dashboard which will provide new functionalities and better license monitoring for administrators.
- A new licensing system developed from the ground up, which will bring improvements in performance, simplicity and stability and will fix some of the known licensing problems.
- New portal for license management will be deployed at a later date (available for all License Administrators under software maintenance)
19. Can I continue work with my current ENVI/IDL version or do I need to upgrade?
You can continue work with your currently installed ENVI/IDL version(s) and active floating or node-locked license(s).
However, if you have a valid Software Maintenance, we generally recommend upgrading to the latest versions and thus benefiting from the newest features of the products and supported operating systems. This will also gain you access to the NG licensing system which will solve some known Flexnet licensing issues and limitations.
20. How can I upgrade to the latest ENVI/IDL version and therefore to the Next-Generation licensing system?
If you have access to licenses under current software Maintenance and want to upgrade to the latest product version, we recommend the following steps:
1) Download ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9 from the download page.
2) Install ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9 and open the L3Harris License Administrator afterwards (this happens automatically if you agree to launch it).
Note: If older ENVI/IDL versions are still installed and you want to currently keep them, please install the newest product version in the same “Harris” directory then your previous version has been installed so that all products will share the same “license” folder.
If the license is active on the same machine and if the new product installation was installed in the same main directory and therefore shares the same license folder, when starting the L3Harris License Administrator, you will be prompted with a screen which indicates that a FlexNet license has been detected on the computer and can be migrated automatically. Choose "Migrate License" to complete this step (requires internet connection). You are now able to start ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9. For more information on this topic, click here.
A similar option is also available for active floating licenses if the new NG license server has been installed in the same location as the previous Flexnet license server, for example in the default "Harris" directory.
In case of you want to install ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9 in a different directory, we suggest to deactivate your license from your old ENVI/IDL installation with the help of the L3Harris License Administrator and to activate the license afterwards with the new ENVI 5.7 /IDL 8.9 installation.
21. Does Next-Generation licensing support prior ENVI/IDL versions?
ENVI 5.7 / IDL 8.9 and newer versions support our new NG licensing system out of the box.
ENVI 5.6.3 / IDL 8.8.3 and older versions (until ENVI 5.4 / IDL 8.6) which were previously licensed with the Flexnet licensing system will now work with our new NG licensing system after installing an additional NG License Compatibility Patch. This Patch will allow older ENVI/IDL versions to activate local node-locked licenses via the NG system and to connect to a NG License Server. The Patch can be downloaded from our website and is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
ENVI 5.3.2 / IDL 8.5.2 and older versions do not support our NG licensing system. These versions will continue to use the old FlexLM licensing system.
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created by MT on 4/28/2023 / modified by MT on 7/13/2023 / modified by JU on 8/10/2023
reviewed by BC on 5/1/2023
edited and reviewed by MM on 22/4/2024