Thursday, May 7, 2015

Autodesk Floating Licenses (Network Licensing)

A floating license allows you to have more users than software licenses. This is ideal as long as all of the users do not need to use the programs simultaneously.

Autodesk calls this Network Licensing. There is a cost component to this option, called a network license activation fee, you will have to price this out with your reseller.

Autodesk's Network License Manager is a program that installs on your server(s) which manages the licenses, checking out and releasing the licenses per request. See link for description:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=18270103


Below are the instructions if you already have standalone licenses and installs of an Autodesk product and find you need network licensing instead. You cannot use your existing standalone licenses.
  1. Request network licenses from Autodesk, they will issue new network licenses and deactivate the standalone licenses.
  2. The Network License Manager from Autodesk must be installed and configured on your server.
  3. Uninstall all Autodesk programs.
  4. Re-install with Network license option selected.

Additional details:
The latest version of Autodesk’s Network License Manager (aka FLexLM or LM Tools) is  required for 2015 and 2016 Network Licenses. Found at the link below:



Additional information on the setup and configuration of LM Tools:




Environment variable (Only required if you are moving to a new server)