Network License Manager (NLM) uses cascading, in which NLM automatically switches or substitutes licenses according to a ranking hierarchy. NLM uses lower-ranking licenses whenever possible. It uses higher-ranking licenses only when necessary. For example, NLM uses higher-ranking licenses when a customer is running two or more suite products, or when all lower-ranking licenses are in use. During this process, NLM surveys license usage every two minutes. As it surveys, it redistributes licenses among customers and retrieves licenses that have been unused for longer than the allowed timeout period.
NLM consumes licenses in this order:
- Multi-user licenses for a product
- Perpetual and maintenance licenses
- Licenses for industry collections that include the product
- Finally, licenses for design and creation suites that include the product, if available. (Note: This applies only to customers who have LT suites or old perpetual licenses.)
License cascading is most effective in a large user group when NLM has a pool of different license types available for distribution. For example, suppose that the pool includes product-specific licenses for several products, licenses for an industry collection, and licenses for a suite. In this case, NLM has many options for determining the most efficient way to manage the licenses. If a customer runs multiple products, NLM can assign single-product licenses as individual products start up and replace them with an industry collection or suite license.
You can disable cascading for product releases 2016 and later. Set the value of the environment variable ADSK_CASCADING_OVERRIDE to 0 (a setting of 1 enables cascading). This setting applies across all products.
Important: Cascading is essential for suite licensing. Don't disable cascading for suites.