NV5 Geospatial Software: What's the Difference Between a Node-Locked and a Floating License?

IDL and ENVI product licensing is provided through one or more activation codes. Each activation code is associated with specific products and modules, license versions, and a specified count of licenses.

Licenses obtained from an activation code may be deployed as either:

• Node-locked (local) licenses (used on one specific computer)
• Floating (license server) licenses (potentially shared among multiple computers through a license server)

The primary difference is that a node-locked license is tied to a specific computer, while a floating license is managed by a license server and may be shared among multiple computers.

 

Node-locked license

A node-locked (or local) license is activated on a single computer and authorizes IDL or ENVI software to run only on that machine.

To use the license on a different computer, it must first be transferred (or rehosted) from the current system (Computer A) to the new system (Computer B). This process involves deactivating the license on Computer A and then activating it on Computer B.

Administration

Node-locked licenses are managed locally through the ENVI-IDL License Administrator GUI program (or the command line Licensing Utility) included with IDL and ENVI installations.

Note

• Additional details about the managing node-locked licensing for IDL and ENVI is available in the Install and License guides for IDL and ENVI located on on the Installation and Licensing documents page of the NV5 Geospatial Documentation Center.
   

Floating license

A floating license is dynamically managed by the NV5 Geospatial License Server and can be shared among multiple IDL and ENVI clients running on a network. Each floating license may be checked out by only one client at a time. 

In this context, a client represents one user running one or more IDL or ENVI sessions on a single computer.

When the client runs the software, it checks out a license from the license server.  When the client exits the software, the license is checked back in to the license server and becomes available for another client.

If multiple floating licenses are available in a license pool, multiple clients can use the software simultaneously until all available licenses have been checked out.

Administration

Floating licenses are activated to a NV5 Geospatial License Server by using the License Administrator GUI program (titled "License Administrator - License Server") included with the license server installation. Licenses may also be administered via the Licensing Utility command line interface. (Note that the separate "ENVI-IDL License Administrator" GUI program that is provided with IDL and ENVI cannot be used to administer the licenses on the license server.) 

Notes

• SARscape and Opticalscape licenses may only be deployed as floating licenses and so must be activated to a License Server.
•  An NV5 Geospatial License Server may sometimes be installed to the same computer as IDL/ENVI client software to permit the local license server to provide licensing locally running client sessions. This is a common configuration when ENVI and SARscape/Opticalscape is installed on a laptop that may operate away from the network.
• Additional details about the license server may be found in the Install and Administer the License Server documentation for Windows and Linux, located on the Installation and Licensing documents page of the NV5 Geospatial Documentation Center.
• See the Install and Administer the License Server documents or the Install and License guides for IDL and ENVI for details about connecting IDL and ENVI installations to a license server.
• See also Help Article "Which Next-Generation License Server version should I install on my system?"

 

Written 10/21/2026 (JU)