The license file has the same structure on all platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux. In this section, the most important parts of the license file are explained. Below is an example of the contents of a license.dat file:

Comment lines can be included in the license file by starting them with the hash symbol #. These lines have no effect on the license server or client.

In the license.dat file, the line starting with SERVER should contain:

The USE_SERVER line, with no arguments, does not impact the license manager but has implications for the client. When a COMSOL client sees the USE_SERVER line, it ignores everything in the license file except the preceding SERVER lines and transfers checkout validation to the vendor daemon. This means that if you are running COMSOL on one computer, and the license manager on a different computer, your license file can only contain two lines: the SERVER line and the USE_SERVER line.

The VENDOR line defines the name of the LMCOMSOL vendor daemon. This name cannot be changed. The vendor daemon is a process that has to be running together with the license manager and is automatically started when the license manager is started. The LMCOMSOL vendor daemon requires its own port number. In the example above, the default port number 1719 is shown.

Using the example license file above, configure the firewall to allow access to the port numbers 1718 and 1719. If you have chosen other port numbers and modified the license.dat file accordingly, configure the firewall to allow access to your chosen port numbers. If you are unsure about which port numbers are free or how to enable firewall port access, contact your system administrator.

You cannot modify anything in the license.dat file except the license server name and (if necessary) port numbers, or the license might not work.

The SERIAL line contains information on the license type, license number, and the products included in the license.

The INCREMENT or FEATURE lines contain a license feature name, version, expiration date, and the number of available licenses. The example file above shows that the user has a perpetual (permanent) COMSOL 6.2 Floating Network License allowing four concurrent users of COMSOL Multiphysics and two concurrent users of the Heat Transfer Module. Borrowing is enabled and BORROW=720 sets a time limit to 720 hours. “SN=” shows the license’s serial number. The number after “SIGN=” at the end of each INCREMENT line contains a license key. Long lines can be broken by a continuation character (\).

Each COMSOL Desktop process checks out a COMSOL feature, a COMSOLUSER feature, and a COMSOLGUI feature. The COMSOLGUI feature is checked out by a COMSOL Desktop process. The COMSOL feature is checked out by all COMSOL Multiphysics processes, whether it has a GUI or not. The COMSOLUSER feature is checked out to count the number of distinct COMSOL Multiphysics users.

If you run an attached batch job from COMSOL Desktop, the COMSOL feature and add-on product features are passed along from COMSOL Desktop to the batch job. When the batch job is finished, or when you detach from the batch job, COMSOL Desktop takes back the licenses.

When you run distributed jobs on a cluster, the CLUSTERNODE feature is checked out from each node.

With COMSOL Desktop, you can use batch features by selecting the Use batch license check box in the Cluster Sweep and Cluster Computing nodes. From the command line, you can use the option -usebatchlic to use batch license features.

The name of the batch feature for COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOLBATCH, and for an add-on product it is, for example, RFBATCH for the RF Module. In general, BATCH is appended to the feature name corresponding to the add-on product.

A concurrent user can run an unlimited number of distinct batch processes using a single license as long as the models in those jobs only differ by parameter values, as defined in the Model Builder under Global Definitions>Parameters. This is implemented by computing a hash value based on model object features using the hash value as vendor value for the DUP_GROUP=UV keyword.

The CLUSTERNODE feature is checked out when batch features are used. When you run distributed jobs on a cluster, the CLUSTERNODE feature is also checked out from each node.

A COMSOL Multiphysics server process will not check out any license features until you connect to it. When you connect using only the COMSOL API it will check out a COMSOL feature and a COMSOLUSER feature, as well as features corresponding to the add-on products that you use. If you connect to the COMSOL Multiphysics server from COMSOL Desktop, all license features that have been checked out from the desktop will be passed from COMSOL Desktop to the COMSOL Multiphysics server, including the COMSOLGUI feature. When you disconnect from the COMSOL Multiphysics server, the license features will be passed back from the server to COMSOL Desktop.

In addition to the above, when you connect to a COMSOL Multiphysics server from a remote computer, the COMSOL Multiphysics server checks out a CLIENTSERVER feature. The CLIENTSERVER feature is available for floating network licenses. When you run distributed jobs on a cluster, the CLUSTERNODE feature is checked out from each node.

For add-on products that use the CAD kernel, the CADIMPORT feature is always checked out, in addition to the feature corresponding to the add-on product. For example, when you use the Design Module, the CADIMPORT feature is checked out in addition to the DESIGN feature.

The CADIMPORTUSER feature is checked out to count the number of distinct CADIMPORT users, including Desktop users and batch users for floating network licenses.

Under certain circumstances a single CADREADER feature may also be checked out when using CAD functionality.

If you have a Class Kit license for academic use, and enable it by using the -ckl option, CKL features will be checked out.

The name of the Class Kit license feature for COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOLCKL, and for add-on products it is, for example, RFCKL for the RF Module. In general, CKL is appended to the feature name for the corresponding add-on product.

Each COMSOL Server process checks out a COMSOLSERVER feature and there is no limitation on the number of such checkouts. When you start running applications with COMSOL Server, the server checks out CSL and CSLU features corresponding to the add-on products. The CSL features are used to allow each user to run four applications, and the CSLU features are used to count the number of users.

The COMSOLUSERCSL feature will also be checked out to keep track of distinct COMSOL Server users.

The name of the COMSOL Server feature for COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOLCSL, and for add-on products it is, for example, RFCSL for the RF Module. In general, CSL is appended to the feature name for the corresponding add-on product.

The name of the COMSOL Server user feature for COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOLCSLU, and for add-on products it is, for example, RFCSLU for the RF Module. In general, CSLU is appended to the feature name for the corresponding add-on product.

You can launch batch jobs from applications run with COMSOL Server. Batch jobs can only be started from running applications and not from the command line. The application always uses COMSOL Server batch license features. The batch jobs will check out a COMSOLUSERCSL feature as well.

The name of the batch feature for COMSOL Server is COMSOLBACSL, and for add-on products it is, for example, RFBACSL for the RF Module. In general, BACSL is appended to the feature name for the corresponding add-on product.

A concurrent user can run an unlimited number of distinct batch processes using a single license as long as the models in those jobs only differ by parameter values, as defined in the Model Builder under Global Definitions>Parameters. This is implemented by computing a hash value based on model object features using the hash value as vendor value for the DUP_GROUP=UV keyword.

The COMSOLUSERCSL feature will also be checked out to keep track of distinct COMSOL Server batch job users.

The CLUSTERNODECSL feature is checked out when the BACSL license features are used. When you run distributed jobs on a cluster, the CLUSTERNODECSL feature is also checked out from each node.

The name of the compiler feature for COMSOL Multiphysics is COMSOLCOMPILER, and for add-on products it is, for example, RFCOMPL for the RF Module. In general, COMPL is appended to the feature name for the corresponding add-on product.

For information about the TIMEOUT and TIMEOUTALL settings, see the FlexNet Publisher License Administration Guide for FlexNet Publisher. See also the following section.

It is possible for the license administrator to configure how FlexNet handles license features. To do so, create an options file (usually called LMCOMSOL.opt) in the format described in FlexNet Publisher License Administration Guide for FlexNet Publisher. Additionally, COMSOL has made the following decisions that cannot be overridden by the license administrator: