Overview of licensing: some definitions

All customers must have a software license to run Maya. A license is a coded record of your software purchase. The license resides in a license file on your machine or a license server machine. Whenever a Maya session is launched, the license management software, FLEXlm, searches the license file to check out a license for that session.

Serial Number

A record of what you purchased from Autodesk, required for obtaining a license through Online Product Activation. For example:

MCF030-B-3322-0933-7182-1111-0000 or 123-45678901

If you did not receive a serial number when you purchased your Autodesk product, contact your local Autodesk sales office or your reseller.

Hardware ID (Host ID)

An alphanumeric code that identifies the machine that is authorized to run the software, required for Online Product Activation. This number can be an ethernet ID (also known as a MAC Address) or a hardware key (dongle).

Online Product Activation (OPA)

An automated activation process where you submit an online form with your serial number and hardware ID, and a license is automatically generated and sent back.

Product Configuration Wizard

An Autodesk tool that uses Online Product Activation to allow you to request and install your license.

Standalone license

(Node-locked license.) A license for a single computer. It lets you run Autodesk Maya only on the computer where the license is installed. (Or, in the case of hardware locks, on the computer where the hardware lock is attached.)

Standalone licenses look similar to the following sample:

FEATURE Maya sgiawd 9.000 09-jan-2006 \ uncounted 7CD390F11000 HOSTID=000000000000

Network license

(Floating license.) A license to be shared by various computers on a network. The Autodesk Maya software is installed on many computers, each with a license file that accesses the network license server. Network licenses require client and server setup.

Network licenses look similar to the following sample:

SERVER pc-server 000000000000 7111 

VENDOR sgiawd  

FEATURE Maya sgiawd 9.000 10-nov-2005 1 \ FC29A6FBF000

License file

A file with encrypted data that enables Autodesk Maya to run on your machine.

Hardware lock

A hardware lock (dongle) allows you to run Maya on different computers (one computer at a time) without having to obtain a unique license for each computer. To run Maya on different machines, you move the hardware lock. You must have a duplicate of the license file on each computer. The software is licensed to the hardware lock rather than the computer’s hardware ID.

A hardware lock attaches to the USB port of your computer.

Client

In network license configurations, the machine that requests a license from the license server

Server

In network license configurations, the machine that provides licenses as requested by users on client machines.

NoteIf you purchased a USB hardware lock (dongle) from Autodesk for your Maya license, or own a parallel port dongle for Windows, see Installing your hardware lock.

If you have problems configuring your hardware lock, see Confirming hardware lock driver activation or go to:

www.autodesk.com/maya-support

License file

The location and name of the license file is:

• (Windows) C:\FLEXLM\aw_servername.dat or aw.dat, where servername is the name of your license server.
• (Mac OS X) /var/flexlm/aw_server.dat, aw_client.dat, or aw.dat.
• (Linux) /var/flexlm/aw.dat or /var/flexlm/aw_servername.dat, where servername is the name of your license server.

The licensing process comments out licenses for previous versions of Maya, but leaves them otherwise intact. Licenses are backwards compatible; that is, a Maya 2009 license lets you run previous versions of Maya.

Installing your hardware lock

• Be careful not to force the lock into the USB port incorrectly. Secure the parallel connector with the thumb screws so it won’t fall off and interrupt a Maya session.
• If you go through the licensing process and it fails to detect the hardware lock, you may need to reboot. As well, see Confirming hardware lock driver activation.
• To avoid damaging a lock, exit Maya or stop Maya license server operation before removing the lock. For details, see (Windows) To stop and start the license server, If you are having problems starting your licensing server, and stopping and then restarting your service as in the above instructions does not solve your problem, do the following:, and (Mac OS X) To start the license server.

Where is your serial number?

New customers who purchase Maya receive a serial number in one of the following ways:

• in an email from your reseller or from Autodesk
• on a sticker in your Maya package

After installing Maya and entering the serial number, new customers obtain a Maya license to activate their software. For more information, see Activating the software from a serial number.