Summary

Proper Use of the TIMEOUTALL Value

Synopsis

This article discusses how to get the license server to properly use the TIMEOUT (TIMEOUTALL) option.

Discussion

TIMEOUT (TIMEOUTALL) is a vendor enabled function. It needs to be implemented in the application for it to be fully used in the license server.

Even though the application may look idle to the user, it may not be idle to the license server. If the application continues to send heartbeats to the license server, it will never appear idle to the license server, and the TIMEOUT will never take effect. When the application comes back out of idle, it needs to request a license again, and have a safe method of handling the possibility that there are none currently available.

The default setting in the vendor daemon (LM_A_TCP_TIMEOUT) is 2 hours, but can be configured to be between 15 minutes and 4.5 hours. Only the vendor knows what the setting on this is, if it has been changed. The TIMEOUT / TIMEOUTALL setting in the options file can be set lower than the LM_A_TCP_TIMEOUT setting, down to a minimum of 15 minutes.

Even if it has not been implemented in the application, the TIMEOUT will at least be effective in removing "hung" licenses, those from applications that were running on machines that crashed.