Chapter 6. The Options File
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## Chapter 6. The Options File

The options file allows the license administrator to control various operating parameters of FLEXlm. Specifically the license administrator can:

- Allow the use of features based on user, hostname, or display name.

- Deny the use of features based on user, hostname, or display name.

- Reserve licenses based on user, hostname, or display name.

- Control the amount of information logged about license usage.

Options files allow you, as the license administrator, to be as secure or open with licenses as you like.

| Note: Lines in the options file were limited to 200 characters prior to FLEXlm v3.0. In v3.0 and later, the line length is 2048 characters. FLEXlm v4.0 allows the “\” character as a continuation character in options file lines.

## Creating an Options File

To create an options file:

1. Use the appropriate options listed in “Customizing the Options File” to create the options file using any text editor. You can put the options file anywhere; however, we recommend that the option file for vendor xyz be placed in `/usr/local/flexlm/options/xyz.opt`.

2. Add the pathname to the options file in the license file. The fourth field on the DAEMON line for the application's vendor daemon. For example,

       DAEMON xyzd /etc/xyzd /usr/local/flexlm/options/xyz.opt

   would enable the xyzd vendor daemon to look at the specified options file.

## Customizing the Options File

Below is an overview of the options file syntax. See “Understanding Options Files” for examples and additional information.

Each line of the file controls one option. The options are:

EXCLUDE |  | deny a user access to a feature.
EXCLUDEALL |  | deny a user access to all features served by this vendor daemon.
GROUP |  | define a group of users for use with any options.
HOST_GROUP |  | define a group of hosts for use with any options.
INCLUDE |  | allow a user to use a feature.
INCLUDEALL |  | allow a user to use all features served by this vendor daemon.
LINGER |  | causes licenses to be held by the vendor daemon for a period after the application checks them in or exits.
NOLOG |  | turn off logging certain items.
REPORTLOG |  | specifies that a logfile be written suitable for use by the FLEXadmin End-User Administration Tool.
RESERVE |  | reserve licenses for a user.
TIMEOUT |  | specify idle timeout for a feature, returning it to the free pool for use by another user.

You can include comments in your options file by starting each comment line with a pound sign “#”. Everything in an options file is case sensitive. Be sure that user names and feature names, for example, are entered correctly.

### EXCLUDE

    EXCLUDE featurename type name

Excludes a user, host, display, or group from the list of who is allowed to use the feature. Excluded users will not be allowed to use the feature.

- featurename - name of the feature being affected

- type - one of USER, HOST, DISPLAY, or GROUP (see “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP”

- name - name of the user or group to exclude

To exclude the user “hank” from the list of users able to use feature f1:

    EXCLUDE f1 USER hank

### EXCLUDEALL

    EXCLUDEALL type name

Excludes a user, host, display, or group from the list of who is allowed to use all features served by this vendor daemon.

- type - one of USER, HOST, DISPLAY, or GROUP (see “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP”

- name - name of the user or group to exclude

To exclude any user on the server “chaos” from using all features served by this vendor daemon:

    EXCLUDEALL HOST chaos

### GROUP

    GROUP groupname usernamelist

Defines a group of users for use in INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE option lines.

- groupname - name of the group being defined

- usernamelist - list of user names in that group

To define the group Hackers consisting of bob, howard, and james:

    GROUP Hackers bob howard james

| Note: In FLEXlm v3.0 multiple GROUP lines will add all the users specified into the group. Pre-v3.0 FLEXlm daemons do not allow multiple GROUP lines to concatenate. In fact, the second GROUP line would re-define the GROUP.

| Note: In FLEXlm v4.0 or later, USER_GROUP is an alias for GROUP.

### HOST_GROUP

    HOST_GROUP groupname hostnamelist

Defines a group of hosts for use in INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE option lines.

- groupname - name of the group being defined

- hostnamelist - list of host names in that group

To define the group Hackers consisting of bob, howard, and james:

    GROUP Hackers bob howard james

| Note: HOST_GROUP is available for FLEXlm v4.0 and later.

### INCLUDE

    INCLUDE featurename type name

Includes a user, host, display, or group in the list of who is allowed to use the feature. Anyone not in an INCLUDE statement will not be allowed to use that feature.

- featurename - name of the feature being affected

- type - one of USER, HOST, DISPLAY, or GROUP (see “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP”

- name - name of the user or group to include

To include user “bob” in the list of users able to use feature f1:

    INCLUDE f1 USER bob

### INCLUDEALL

    INCLUDEALL type name

Includes a user, host, display, or group in the list of who is allowed to use all features served by this vendor daemon. Anyone not in an INCLUDEALL statement will not be allowed to use these features.

- type - one of USER, HOST, DISPLAY, or GROUP (see “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP”)

- name - name of the user or group to include

To allow the user “jane” to use all features served by this vendor daemon:

    INCLUDEALL USER jane

### LINGER

    LINGER featurename interval

This causes the daemon to “hold on” to the license for featurename for interval seconds after the application checks the license in or exits. This could be useful for short-duration programs which will be used many times in a row by the same user, to ensure that the user will be able to re-acquire the license repeatedly. This is only useful if the application uses duplicate grouping. Otherwise, LINGER will cause you to use extra licenses. Contact your software vendor for information about how they implemented duplicate grouping in their product.

### NOLOG

    NOLOG what

Turns off logging of specific events by the FLEXlm daemons.

- what - what to turn off; one of IN, OUT, DENIED, or QUEUED

To turn off logging of checkins:

    NOLOG IN

To turn off logging of checkouts and queued requests two separate NOLOG lines are required:

    NOLOG DENIED
    NOLOG QUEUED

| Note: License administrators might use this option to reduce the size of the `lmgrd` or “debug” log file.

| Note: This file is only useful with the FLEXadmin license administration utility.

### REPORTLOG

    REPORTLOG filename

REPORTLOG specifies the file which will contain the report-writer log for this vendor daemon. If filename begins with a `+' character, the file will be opened for append, otherwise the file will be overwritten each time the daemon is started.

### RESERVE

    RESERVE numlic featurename type name

Reserves licenses for a specific user.

- numlic - number of licenses to reserve

- featurename - name of feature to reserve

- type - one of USER, HOST, DISPLAY, or GROUP (see “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP”

- name - name of the user or group to reserve licenses for.

To reserve one license of feature f1 for user “mel”:

    RESERVE 1 f1 USER mel

| Note: Any licenses reserved for a user are dedicated to that user. Even when that user is not actively using the license it will be unavailable to other users. However, a RESERVED license will not cause an overdraft to be reported by FLEXadmin if the license is not actually in use.

### TIMEOUT

    TIMEOUT featurename seconds

Set the time after which an inactive license is reclaimed by the vendor daemon.

- featurename - name of the feature

- seconds- number of seconds after which inactive license is reclaimed

To set the timeout for feature f1 to one hour (3600 seconds):

    TIMEOUT f1 3600

TIMEOUT removes a feature from a user if he has been “idle” for a period longer than the specified time period, and someone else wants the license. The daemon declares a process idle when it has not heard from the process (the client sends heartbeats). The application must explicitly declare itself idle for this to work, or the application must be stopped (^Z). That is, unless the application explicitly supports this feature, it will not work. Contact your software vendor for information about how they implemented this feature in their product.

The application vendor can also disable the timeout feature, in which case the TIMEOUT option has no effect. The vendor can set a minimum value for the timeout. If you specify a timeout value smaller than the minimum, the minimum is used. The default minimum value is 9000 seconds (15 minutes).

If you do not specify a timeout value in your options file, then there will be no timeout for that feature. Licenses are only freed by TIMEOUT when a new request for a license is made.

## Understanding Options Files

The following information gives an overview of the syntax of a complete options file and some samples intended to illustrate ways to effectively control access to your licenses.

### How `lmgrd` Uses the Options File

When the vendor daemon is started by `lmgrd`, it is passed the location of the options file. The location is specified in the license file for that product, on the DAEMON line. If no file is listed the daemon will not use any options file.

There can only be one options file per vendor daemon and each vendor needs a separate options file.

### Rules of Precedence in Options Files

Before you can use options to utilize licenses effectively you must understand the options file precedence. INCLUDE and EXCLUDE statements can be combined in the same options file and control access to the same features. When doing so, keep in mind the following:

- If there is only an EXCLUDE list, everyone who is not on the list will be allowed to use the feature.

- If there is only an INCLUDE list, only those users on the list will be allowed to use the feature.

- If neither list exists, then everyone is allowed to use the feature.

- The EXCLUDE list is checked before the INCLUDE list; so someone who is on both lists will not be allowed to use the feature.

Once you create an INCLUDE or EXCLUDE list everyone else is implicitly “outside” the group. This feature allows you, as an administrator, the ability to control licenses without having to explicitly list each user that you wish to allow or deny access to. In other words there are two approaches; you can either:

- Give most users access and list only the exceptions or

- Severely limit access and list only the those users that have access privileges.

### Simple Options File Example

    RESERVE	 1 compile 	USER robert
    RESERVE	 3 compile 	HOST mainline
    EXCLUDE compile USER lori
    NOLOG QUEUED

This options file would:

- Reserve one license for the feature “compile” for the user “robert.”

- Reserve three licenses for the feature “compile” for anyone on a computer with the hostname “mainline.”

- Prevent the user “lori” from using the “compile” feature on any node on the network.

- Cause QUEUED messages to be omitted from the log file.

The sum total of the licenses reserved must be less than or equal to the number of licenses specified in the FEATURE line. In the example above, there must be a minimum of four licenses on the “compile” FEATURE line. If fewer licenses are available, only the first set of reservations (up to the license limit) are used.

If this data were in file `/usr/local/flexlm/options/local.options`, then you would modify the license file DAEMON line as follows:

    DAEMON xyzd /usr/local/xyzd \
    /usr/local/flexlm/options/local.options

| Note: The above example should appear on one line in your license file for pre-v3.0 FLEXlm software. After v3.0, it can appear either on one line, or continued by the “\” or backslash character on a second line as shown.

### Limiting Access for Multiple Users

Each INCLUDE, INCLUDEALL, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDEALL, and RESERVE line must have a single user name (or group) listed. To affect more than one user name create a GROUP. For example to exclude “bob,” “howard,” and “james” from using the feature called “toothbrush” we could create the following options file:

    EXCLUDE toothbrush USER bob
    EXCLUDE toothbrush USER howard
    EXCLUDE toothbrush USER james

There is an easier way though. Create a GROUP and exclude the list of users from using the feature. Like the previous example, the following options file would exclude “bob”, “howard” and “james” from using the feature called “toothbrush”:

    # First define the group “Hackers”
    GROUP Hackers bob howard james
    # Then exclude the group
    EXCLUDE toothbrush GROUP Hackers

Now when you want to allow or deny access to any feature to that group, you have an “alias” list to make it simple.

The GROUP function works for a list of user names prior to FLEXlm v4.0. To control access to multiple displays (and hosts in pre-v4.0 FLEXlm) you must use multiple option lines in your options file. For example, in pre-v4.0 FLEXlm to exclude all users logged in on the hosts “fred” and “barney” from using a feature called “f1” add these lines to your options file:

    EXCLUDE f1 USER fred
    EXCLUDE f1 USER barney

In FLEXlm v4.0, you can use HOST_GROUP to allow, deny or reserve licenses for multiple hosts. For example, to exclude all users logged in on the hosts “fred” and “barney” from using a feature called “f1” add these lines to your options file:

| Note: See “GROUP” and “HOST_GROUP” for more information about defining groups.

### EXCLUDE Example

    #First Define the group “painters”
    GROUP painters picasso mondrian klee
    EXCLUDE spell GROUP painters
    EXCLUDE spell USER bob
    EXCLUDE spell HOST bigbrush

This options file would:

- Prevent the users “picasso,” “mondrian,” and “klee” from using the feature “spell” on any machine on the network.

- Prevent the user “bob” from using the feature “spell” on any machine on the network.

- Prevent any user logged into the host “bigbrush” from using the feature “spell”

- Allow any other user, as long as they are not on “bigbrush”, and they are not in “painters” and they are not “bob” to use feature “spell” (By implication.)

Note that “bob” could have been added to the group painters. However, “painters” might be used for some other purpose in the future so the license administrator chose to handle “bob” as a special case here. In this case, the two EXCLUDE statements concatenate to create a list of four users.

### INCLUDE Example

    INCLUDE paint USER picasso
    INCLUDE paint USER mondrain
    INCLUDE paint HOST bigbrush

This options file would:

- Allow the user “picasso” to use the feature “paint” on any machine on the network.

- Allow the user “mondrain” to use the feature “paint” on any machine on the network.

- Allow any user, as long as they are on the host “bigbrush”, to use feature “paint”

- Deny access to the feature “paint” to anyone except “picasso”, “mondrain” or anyone from the host “bigbrush” (By implication.)

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