Web Hosted Licensing |
 
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Web Hosted Licensing |
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Flexcom 8.10.1 onwards provides an option to use a web hosted licensing system, also known as "Licensing as a Service" (LaaS). This system offers additional flexibility to users by enabling ready to use licensing entitlements with less set-up overheads compared to traditional dongles. Several licensing types are available with LaaS:
Web hosted licensing is where entitlements are stored and checked via an internet connection, and so it does not require the use of an on-site dongle to run the software. Note however that it does require a relatively stable internet connection.
One of the added benefits of web hosted licensing is that it offers the ability to use the software on any PC which has an internet connection, and so a user can access their licenses even when they are outside the company office or network.
The web hosted license provider for Flexcom is NetLicensing and more information can be found on their website.
Note that cloud-based licensing, which involves the delivery of a software license, plus associated computational power and storage facilities, is a distinct license model for acquiring Flexcom and should not be confused with web-hosted licensing.
Under web hosted licensing, these license model provide floating seats. A floating seat is one that can be used anywhere as long as the seat is available and the user has an internet connection. While in use, the seat is not available to other users. A floating seat is held by a user until Flexcom exits.
To elaborate a bit further, a license file is provided to the user which points to the web hosted license server and the Network Licensing Client will get the license from the server as shown below.
A rental model will get the license from the web hosted server in the same manner as the perpetual, and will also issue a warning in the Analysis Status message window when the rental licence has less than 7 days remaining as shown below.
A stable internet connection is recommended for such licenses. However the system is also designed to tolerate some level of intermittent connectivity.
The web hosted licensing system also provides a Pay-Per-Use (token based) license model to facilitate users who do not need a full time rental license and may only need to use Flexcom on an ad-hoc basis. With this model users must purchase a number of tokens upfront and then these tokens are consumed as the user performs simulations in Flexcom. In other words, a certain number of tokens will be consumed on the successful completion of each Flexcom simulation (if a simulation fails for any reason, no token consumption occurs).
The rate of token consumption is dependent on the type of simulation being performed, as shown in the table below.
Simulation Type: |
Cost in Tokens |
Static analysis types (static analysis, including quasi-statics) |
1 |
Basic dynamic analysis types (including regular wave time domain analysis, all frequency domain simulations, and modal analysis) |
5 |
Complex dynamic analysis types (i.e. random sea time domain) |
20 |
Inclusion of wind turbine modelling |
+1 |
Post-processing (including database, timetrace, summary, summary collation, clearance & interference, code checking, fatigue analysis and all custom post-processing) |
0 |
Automatic file generation based on template variations |
0 |
The quantity of remaining tokens can be viewed on the title bar of the user interface as shown below.
The token usage and remaining token amount will be reported by the Analysis Status View as shown below.
•Token-based licenses require an active (and stable) internet connection. If the user is not online, it will not be possible to perform any simulations as token consumption cannot take place.
•Users should be aware that large Analysis Jobs can consume a significant amount of tokens. The software issues an information message at the beginning of each job which alters the user regarding the likely level of token consumption for an entire job. If you anticipate running a large number of simulations on a regular basis, then it may be more cost effective to acquire a monthly rental, annual subscription or ownership license.