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Author Topic: Better clearing of computers floating licenses  (Read 8138 times)

IJ2087

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Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« on: January 11, 2017, 11:26:00 PM »
Can there be a better way of managing floating licenses? Right now they can be released by manually logging into the license manager on the license server and deleting each computer one by one. I would be nice to be able to select mutiple computers at once and delete them in one fell swoop. Also, in 3DS Max 2017 with the latest plugins, when we get the warning that all licenses are in use and none are available, we need to exit 3DS Max and delete the licenses in use on the license server, then re-load max and the scene before we can edit. Previously, we could remain inside of 3DS max and delete the licenses in use, and then re-select the forest pro or railclone object and the license would be available without having to shut down 3DS max. Thanks.

Michal Karmazín

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Re: Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2017, 01:22:29 PM »
Hi,

First of all, thanks a lot for your suggestion, your feedback is very important to us - we'll evaluate its viability for future releases.

The license handling process is fully automatic - the license is sent when needed and released to the "free & available" status when not in use - that happens shortly after closing the 3ds Max (within seconds) / scene with Forest objects (within minutes).

It shouldn't be necessary to close the 3ds max, if there's temporarily no license available. Once there'll be an available license, it should be borrowed automatically after a while - upon our internal test all seem to work correctly on 3ds max 2017 & latest releases of our plug-ins. Might be, you've not reached the "status checking interval" - I would suggest you to wait a little bit more (within minutes any "free" license should be recognized).

Let me add, that an option to exclude specific workstations from getting a license from the server is by changing them temporarily to "Stand-alone mode", using "Start Menu->Itoo Software->Forest Pack Pro->Change License Mode". This way is possible to define easily the workstations that will use the available licenses.

Best regadrs,

IJ2087

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Re: Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2017, 12:04:42 AM »
I guess the problem we have is someone is editing a file which has either forest pro objects, rail clone objects, or both. They edit those objects then move on to other non-FP or RC edits. The license still is in use, even though they are no longer editing FP or RC objects, so we have to manually access the license manager on the server and delete those machines from the list to free up licenses. Most of the time, we delete all machines from the list, since it is difficult to know what machine is what since only IP addresses are listed.

iToo

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Re: Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2017, 08:55:43 AM »
Hi, a license is needed not only to edit objects, but also for rendering (except render nodes). Network licenses are not designed to be used only when editing objects.
If not, a single license would be used by a full team, with the condition that only one workstation can edit FP or RC objects. That's not our intention.

Usually, the recommended number of licenses is many as concurrent users have to work with scenes containing Forest Pack Pro or RailClone Pro objects.
Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

IJ2087

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Re: Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2017, 08:21:37 PM »
But that isn't the way most of our projects work. Most of the time, someone needs to pop into a scene, quickly edit a FP or RC object and then move on to editing other non-iToo objects in that same scene. We are using floating licenses. Is this not acceptable use of those licenses?

iToo

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Re: Better clearing of computers floating licenses
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2017, 09:42:14 AM »
A general rule, a license is needed for each workstation editing scenes which include Forest or RailClone objects.

Please note that license is required not only for editing, but also for rendering. So although you can open the scene without a license, FP/RC objects will not be rendered.
As described in previous posts, it's possible to configure a workstation to not fetch licenses, but most of times that's not practical when artists need to render the full scene.


Carlos Quintero
iToo Software