BoardSurfers: Installation Know-How: How to Configure License Server on Windows?

Cadence products require a license server for license authorization. This license server must be installed and configured with a valid license before you can use any Cadence product. The licenses of all the Cadence products are managed by FlexLM license management solution. When you start a Cadence product or application, it communicates with a license server to verify the validity and availability of a license. You can consider the example of a book library to understand the operation of the license server. Readers borrow books from a library when required and return the books after reading them. Similarly, when you start an application, it acquires a license from the license server. When you close the application, it returns the license to the server. The license server determines the number of available licenses and distributes them from the specified license server until all the licenses for a given application are consumed.

You can install and configure a license server either while installing the products or after the installation is complete.

Configuring Cadence License Server During Installation

The Cadence OrCAD® and Allegro® products installer provides the option to configure the license server along with the installation of Cadence applications. You can install License Manager to use a local license file or point to an existing license server.

To set up a license server for the first time, do the following:

1. Select the Install License Server option in the install wizard.
2. Browse to the local directory where you saved the Cadence-provided license file, license.dat.
3. Click Install.

The steps are illustrated in the following image:

A compatible version of License Manager is installed and configured to use the specified license file for the installed applications.

If you already have a license server configured on any machine that you want to use, do the following:

1. Select the Connect to Existing License Server option in the install wizard.
2. Specify the port number and the host name of the license server.
3. Click Install.

The installed applications are configured to access the specified license server.

Configuring Cadence License Server After Installation

You can also configure the license server after the Cadence OrCAD and Allegro products are installed. There could be three scenarios:

Update License File

You can update the license using License Server Configuration Utility. To access this utility, select Cadence from the Windows Start menu.

In the Cadence License Server Configuration interface, specify the location of the license file (license.dat), click Next, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the license server setup.

Update License Server

You can point to other existing license servers using License Client Configuration Utility. This utility is also accessible from the Windows Start menu.

When the utility opens, specify the hostname of the license server, as illustrated in the following image. You can specify multiple license servers separated by a semi-colon.

This method configures the license server based on the selected installation mode, Only for me or All Users, on a Windows machine.

Install License Server

Use Cadence Download Manager if you choose to install License Manager on your Windows machine at a later time.

You can obtain the License Manager from Download Manager in the same way as you do for any other Cadence application. The wizard guides you through the installation process.

Configuring Cadence License Server in Silent Mode

Using the silent installation file, which is available in the downloaded media, you can install the License Manager in the silent mode for Cadence OrCAD and Allegro applications.

To install License Manager in silent mode, add the following code to the corresponding section of the (silent) installation file:

Using Dongles

If you choose a dongle as the locking method, ensure that you select silent mode of installation. Before starting the installation process, attach the dongle to your Windows machine. To ensure compatibility, the required dongle drivers are installed automatically.

Conclusion

Installing and setting up a license manager is made easy using the Cadence OrCAD and Allegro products installer, as you do not have to worry about the compatibility of the License Manager version and the location to install it. Cadence offers multiple methods for configuring a license server tailored to your requirements.

Contact Us

For any feedback or any topic you want us to include in our blogs, write to us at pcbbloggers@cadence.com.

Subscribe to stay updated about upcoming blogs.

About BoardSurfers

The BoardSurfers series provides solutions to the various tasks related to the creation and management of PCB design using the Allegro platform products. The name and logo of this series are designed to resonate with the vision of making the design and manufacturing tasks enjoyable, just like surfing the waves. Regular, new blog posts by experts cover every aspect of the PCB design process, such as library management, schematic design, constraint management, stackup design, placement, routing, artwork, verification, and much more.