Installation & Licensing Center
HOW TO - Enable the Ansys Idle Timeout Feature
Authored by Caleb Scharf
September 28th, 2024
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KB1197550
Description
When enabled, the Idle Timeout feature will automatically check-in the licenses used by Ansys clients that are open by the user, but not actively being used by the user, so that these licenses can be made available to other users. When the original user returns to using the application, it will immediately attempt to checkout a new license. The lowest idle timeout period that can be set is 75min. By default, this feature is not enabled, and open applications keep licenses checked out indefinitely, so long as they remain connected to the license server.
Compatible Applications
Currently, only the following Ansys products participate in using the idle timeout feature:
- Mechanical
- Fluent
- CFX
- Electronics
- Ensight
What is considered Idle and Active?
| Application is running & open on screen and the user is clicking in the application. | Active |
| Application is running in any state while performing a solve. | Active |
| Application is running & open on screen and the user is not using the computer. | Idle |
| Application is running, but minimized, user is using other applications. | Idle |
| Application is open and on screen, but other non-Ansys applications are over top of it that the user is actively using. | Idle |
"Idle Timeout" vs “License Disconnect Timeout”
The Idle Timeout and License Disconnect Timeout and two separate features. The License Disconnect Timeout period is duration after which the License server is hard coded to automatically check-in licenses from clients that have been disconnected, so that they can be used by other users. This period of time is different for different versions of Ansys - See HOW TO - Release a Stuck/Reserved/Abandoned License for what this time period is.
Solution
These instructions and more info can be found in section 4.5.1 (pg. 42) of the Ansys License Management Guide.
- You must obtain an updated license file containing the Ansys Idle Timeout license increment. This feature will not work without it. To get this license, contact your SimuTech account manager.
- Idle timeout is enabled and set via the options file. If the options file does not exist, you will need to create the options file.
- After creating the options file, add either of the following settings to the file and then restart the License Server:
# TIMEOUTALL Example (Time in seconds that all products will time out in)
TIMEOUTALL 3600
# FEATURE TIMEOUT Example (time in seconds for just the ansys Mechanical feature to timeout)
TIMEOUT ansys 3600
- In this example, any participating application will return its license after approximately:
[client heartbeat period] + [the defined Idle timeout] = Effective Idle Timeout Period
[900 sec] + [3600 sec] = 4500 seconds or 75min
Note: The minimum value for the idle timeout is 3600 seconds (1 hour). Additionally, the heartbeat value is hard coded and cannot be modified.
- After a client application has been inactive for the idle time duration, other users will be able to use that license. When the idle application becomes active again, it will attempt to check out the necessary license(s) immediately.
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