ERDAS Software 2009-and-higher offers license borrowing, or "check out," where a user on the network can borrow or check out desired licenses, take the computer off the network (say, take a laptop to the field), and return the license when back in the office and reconnected to the network. This feature eliminates the need for costly hardware keys or multiple licenses, and makes your standard floating licenses more versatile.
Full information on license borrowing is in the FLEXnet Administration Guide at Start > All Programs > ERDAS 2011 > ERDAS-Net Licensing > FLEXnet Administration Guide, or by Windows file path at C:\Program Files\ERDAS\Shared\licensing\bin\ntx86\LicenseAdministration.pdf. It describes the use of the *.opt options file to manage license borrowing.
License borrowing in ERDAS-Net licensing is disabled by default. It is disabled by the erdasnet.opt plain-text file at C:\Program Files\ERDAS\Shared\licensing\licenses\floating-licenses (Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Vista), and c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\erdas\shared\licensing\licenses\floating-licenses (Windows XP and Server 2003), or /usr/local/erdas/licensing/licenses/floating-licenses (Solaris & Linux).
This options file sets an artificially high BORROW_LOWWATER mark of ten thousand for all ERDAS license codes, meaning you would have to have more than ten thousand licenses of a product for any borrowing to be available. The options file looks like this:
BORROW_LOWWATER aaiaasap 10000
BORROW_LOWWATER aaidq 10000
BORROW_LOWWATER ade 10000
BORROW_LOWWATER agfa 10000
...etc., listing every possible license feature code.
To enable unrestricted license borrowing, rename or delete the erdasnet.opt file. Stop and restart the licenses manager (Windows) or re-run lmreread (UNIX/Linux).
To enable managed license borrowing, consult the FLEXnet Administration Guide and use a text editor such as WordPad to modify the options file to your desired configuration. As a simple example, to make five licenses of IMAGINE Essentials non-borrowable, but to permit all other IMAGINE Essentials licenses to be borrowable…
BORROW_LOWWATER imess 10000
…can be edited to:
BORROW_LOWWATER imess 5
Save the text changes and then stop and restart the license manager (Windows) or re-run lmreread (UNIX/Linux).
Licenses may be borrowed for any number of days, from one to forty. The as-installed default is three days, but the borrowing user can select from one to forty. The administrator may use the options file to adjust this default to a value from one to forty.
The maximum period an ERDAS-Net license may be borrowed is forty days. This is fixed in the license file’s encryption, and cannot be changed. Any attempt to borrow more than forty days will fail.
If a borrowed license is not returned to the parent license server by the user, the borrowed license expires on the borrowing computer and automatically returns to the parent computer at the end of the specified borrow period or at the end of forty days, whichever is sooner.
You cannot borrow licenses for products you don’t have installed.
If you edit your options files and make a mistake or otherwise corrupt the file, here is the text of the default options file: erdasnet.txt. Copy and paste it to a text editor and save it as erdasnet.opt.
A working network card is required on the borrowing computer for the duration of the borrow. Floating licenses require TCP/IP to work, and a working network card is required after borrowing, even when not connected to a network.
(Update: 4/3/2009) - Two of the ERDAS Extensions for ArcGIS, Image Analysis for ArcGIS 9.3 and Stereo Analyst for ArcGIS 9.3, do not appear in the license manger's borrowing dialog. You can correct this by adding an XML file to C:\Program Files\ERDAS\Shared\licensing\borrowing. If the \borrowing folder does not exist, create it manually.