Please note that all the SIEpedia's articles address specific issues or questions raised by IAC users, so they do not attempt to be rigorous or exhaustive, and may or may not be useful or applicable in different or more general contexts.

How to borrow an IDL license

The most recent versions of IDL and of the Licence Manager allow a user to "borrow" an IDL licence and use it locally on her laptop without being connected to the network where the server running the floating licences is located. In practice, by borrowing the licence your laptop will acquire a node-locked license for the specified time period.

Thus you can use IDL in a plane, on a beach, on the peak of Mont Blanc, while hang gliding, or anywhere else no Internet access can be obtained (or it's too expensive).

For a detailed and exhaustive description of this functionality, visit the [[ Manage Node-Locked and Served Client Licenses -> https://www.l3harrisgeospatial.com/docs/license-activate-online.html]] webpage, which includes a section about license borrowing.

Here are the basic steps to borrow the IDL license, for Linux and for Mac,

Instructions for IDL v8.8

1. Change to the directory containing the "activate" command, tipically:
   cd /usr/local/harris/idl88/license_utils/bin.linux.x86_64/ (Linux)
   cd /Applications/harris/idl88/license_utils/bin.darwin.x86_64/ (macOS)
2. Execute the following command (with sudo if you have permission issues)
   [sudo] ./activate -a licensecode -s servername:7070 -t 172800
   where the last number is the time period in seconds. Ask us for the licensecode and servername values.
3. To check the license details, so as to make sure that the step above was successful:
   [sudo] ./activate -l
4. Disconnect the laptop from the network, and check that IDL starts correctly with the borrowed licence (the expiration date and time should be displayed in the startup message).

To return the borrowed license:
[sudo] ./activate -r -s servername:7070

Policy

Since a borrowed license is taken off the pool whether you run IDL or not, please borrow it only for those cases in which you absolutely need IDL and you cannot connect to the IAC via VPN. If you use IDL at home, or in some place where an internet access is provided (research center, hotel, conference site, etc.), please set up a VPN connection to the IAC so as to use the IAC floating licenses.

Please borrow the license only for the time you do need it.

Older releases (<=8.5)

SIE's support for borrowing IDL licenses for version 8.5 or earlier has been discontinued. Please update your IDL installation.