Dongle Licensing

A dongle is a small, portable hardware device that is identified by a unique number called a FlexID. AGI offers dongle hardware and license file combinations for the Sentinel/Aladdin USB (FlexID9).

Sentinel/Aladdin (FlexID9)

The main purpose of network-dongle licensing method is to enable you to move a license from one license server (network server or individual machine) to another without reworking the license hosting specifics. If you move a license and dongle, the new machine must also have Ansys License Manager installed.

You can use the network-dongle method to supply licenses to an Ansys License Server on either a Windows or a Linux machine. The network-dongle method requires that you perform the following steps on your license server machine:

  1. Install the Ansys License Manager; see Install a License Server.
  2. Install the dongle driver as described in the reference below.
  3. Obtain an STK dongle license as described in Licensing Overview.
  4. Insert the dongle into a USB slot, to activate the license.

Also, the Flexera-provided FLEXID9 library must be in the correct location on the machine. The Ansys License Manager installation's licensing configuration process handles this step for Windows machines. On Linux, you must copy this file to the correct location manually, as described in section 7.5 of the reference below.

For details on network-dongle licensing, see Chapter 7 of the License Management Guide, included in your installation media at <STKODTK Installation Media>\SupportFiles\Help\ansys_license_management_guide.pdf or in your installation folder at <STKODTK Install folder>\Shared Files\Licensing\ansys_license_management_guide.pdf

Removing a dongle or its driver may seriously disrupt your ability to run any product that uses it. Therefore, do not remove a dongle or its driver until you determine that all products that might be using it have been closed. Always stop all license managers that use the dongle and remove the dongle from the system before removing any existing driver.

Dongle licensing limitations

The following are limitations for dongle licensing:

  • AGI does not recommend using dongles with license servers running on virtual machines.
  • AGI does not support license borrowing for any license features tied to a dongle.
  • If you install a new version of Ansys License Manager to your server machine, your dongle might not work unless you reconfigure the license with the new version of the License Manager.