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Description of Exelis VIS Product License Types

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

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Access to ENVI, IDL and other products from Exelis Visual Information Solutions (VIS) is controlled by a software application that ensures a proper license has been entered on the user's system.  Licensing options include:

Each license option is discussed in the following sections.  If you are installing IDL to run an application provided by a third-party developer, please consult the licensing instructions that accompany that application.

Demonstration Mode

Without license information, IDL will operate in Demonstration Mode for seven-minute timed intervals.  You do not need to request or enter a license file to run IDL in Demonstration Mode.  Please note that Demonstration Mode is only available for IDL.

IDL Virtual Machine

The IDL Virtual Machine is a runtime version of IDL that can execute IDL '.sav' files without an IDL license.  It is designed to provide IDL users with a simple, no-cost method for distributing IDL applications.  It runs on all IDL-supported platforms and does not require a license to run.  This utility allows you to easily distribute IDL '.sav' files to your colleagues or customers, without requiring them to own an IDL license.  Beginning with IDL 6.0, the IDL Virtual Machine is included with all IDL distributions.  For the benefit of the developer who needs to debug applications designed to run in this environment, the IDL Virtual Machine can be started explicitly.  Otherwise, if an IDL '.sav' file program is run on a machine with an unlicensed copy of IDL installed, IDL defaults to the IDL Virtual Machine mode.

Please note that the IDL Virtual Machine requires installation of the full development version of IDL; however, an IDL license is not required to run the Virtual Machine.  If you are attempting to run a '.sav' file application using the IDL Virtual Machine and you receive a licensing error message or are entered into Demonstration Mode, it is likely that you have inadvertently opened the full development version of IDL.  For more information about executing '.sav' file applications using the IDL Virtual Machine, please refer to Help Article 4633.

Evaluation License

Evaluation licenses are temporary trial licenses allowing access to all ENVI and/or IDL features for a specified number of days.  Please contact Exelis Visual Information Solutions or your local distributor to request an Evaluation license.  Please refer to our Contact Us page to determine who you should contact regarding obtaining an evaluation license.

Node-Locked License

Node-Locked licenses tie a single software application to a single machine.  After you purchase a Node-Locked license from Exelis VIS, you will receive instructions on how to obtain a license file via the web or via email.  Entering and saving the license file enables all functionality of the Exelis VIS product on the machine to which the license is tied.  This method of licensing requires a unique Host Name and Host ID to be incorporated into the license.  For information on obtaining the Host Name and Host ID of your machine, please refer to Help Article 5321.

Flexible Single-User License

Flexible Single-User licenses are permanent licenses tied to a specific single user.  After you purchase a Flexible Single-User license from Exelis VIS, you will receive instructions on how to edit and activate your license.  Entering and saving a license file on a personal computer enables full functionality of the Exelis VIS product for the designated user.

A Flexible Single-User license can be installed on up to three machines for the exclusive use of the designated user.  The Host Name and Host ID information are required for all machines tied to a Flexible Single-User license.  For information about obtaining the Host Name and Host ID information from your machines, please refer to Help Article 5321.

Floating License

Floating (or client/server) licenses can allow one or more non-specific network machines to concurrently access ENVI, IDL, or other Exelis VIS products.  With the license installed on a server machine, the license manager software (also installed on the server machine) handles license requests from client machines on the same network.  The license file will need to be built using the Host Name and Host ID of the server machine (sometimes referred to as the Server Name and Server ID, respectively).  All floating licenses are server-based and require the license manager service to be running in order to launch a licensed session of ENVI, ENVI LiDAR, IDL, or SARscape.  The license manager service runs continuously on your server machine, waiting for a request from ENVI/ENVI LiDAR/IDL/SARscape.  When a request arrives, the license manager service determines whether or not the proper license for the requested product is available.  If a license is available for the requested product, the license manager allows access to the software.

Server-based licenses use the Flexera FLEXnet license manager.  The Flexera FLEXnet license manager comes packaged with ENVI, IDL and other Exelis VIS products.  If ENVI, IDL or other Exelis VIS products do not need to be installed on the server machine, a standalone version of the license manager software is available for download from the Exelis VIS Downloads page (listed as 'IDL X.x FlexLM License Server' under 'My Account > Downloads > All Downloads').  Please note that you will need to be logged in using a verified account in order to access our Downloads page.  If you run into any problems accessing our Downloads page, please contact Harris Geospatial Technical Support.

On Windows operating systems, the license manager software comes packaged with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) called LMTools that can be used to start and stop the license manager service.  Installing the license via the License Wizard will automate the configuration of the Exelis VIS license manager service.  Once the license file has been installed via the License Wizard, you can open LMTools and start the license manager.  For additional tips on working with LMTools, please refer to Help Article 4358.

On UNIX operating systems, a copy of the license file can be placed directly into the license directory (being sure to rename the file to 'license.dat') and the license manager service can be started by following the instructions in Help Article 1672.

In order for client machines to check out floating licenses from a server machine, the client machines must be configured to access the server.  There are two common methods for configuring client machines to check out floating licenses from a server machine.  One method is to set an 'LM_LICENSE_FILE' environment variable on the client machine.  The other method is to place a copy of the 'license.dat' file into the Exelis license directory on the client machine.  For a more thorough discussion of configuring client machines to check out floating licenses, please refer to Help Article 1674.  In some circumstances, additional configuration might be necessary to enable communication through a firewall.  For tips on configuring FLEXlm licensing through a firewall, please refer to Help Article 1210.

Additional Information

If you have any additional licensing questions or if you are encountering problems activating a license, please contact Harris Geospatial Technical Support.

Related Help Articles

Licensing & Installation Frequently Asked Questions

License Installation Instructions for Particular Product, Platform and License Type Configurations

Web Licensing Help

List of FLEXnet Error Codes

Supported Platforms for Current and Previous Versions of IDL, ENVI, ENVI LiDAR, and SARscape

 

 

update 6/24/15 kk

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