Floating licence versions of IDA use LM-X License Manager from X-Formation to ensure license compliance.
A license server is required for floating licence versions. It needs to be installed on a machine in your network which is accessible over TCP/IP from the workstations that will run IDA.
The license server binaries are available for all three platforms:
Note: the license server does not have to be for the same platform as IDA; any license server can manage IDA versions for different OSes.
In addition to the license server binary (lmx-serv-hexrays) you will need the floating license file (ida_XXXXXXXXXXXX.lic) which lists licenses issued to you. This file is locked to the machine the license server will be running on (not the machines IDA will run on). To request the file for the first time, you will need a Host ID (an Ethernet MAC address). You can either get it using the system tools (ifconfig/ipconfig), or using the LM-X End User Utility bundled with the server download. From command line, run:
lmxendutil -hostid > hostids.txt
Then open hostids.txt and look for an ETHERNET ID. Please choose a physical card which is always present. The selected Host ID can then be used to request the .lic file using this page:
https://www.hex-rays.com/activate.shtml
Note: once a Host ID is submitted, it is fixed in our database and can be changed only by a manual request. You can, however, request the .lic file again by entering the same Host ID.
The license server has many options, to list them use:
lmx-serv-hexrays --help
For testing, put the .lic file next to the executable and start it. It should detect the file and parse licenses from it.
If you prefer a different path, use -l path/to/file.lic switch.
By default, server uses TCP port 6200 to serve license requests. If it's not available or you prefer another port, use -port switch. Note that then you will have to specify the new port on client machines, see below.
To install the server permanently as a service, you can use the -i switch on Windows:
lmx-serv-hexrays -i -l c:\myfiles\mylicense.lic -lf c:\myfiles\lmx-serv.log
For Linux/OS X, a sample startup script is provided in lmx-serv-run.sh.
Once the server is running, you can control it using its web interface, available at port 6200 by default (see the server log):
http://hostname:6200(requires Java support).
Alternatively, you can use the lmxendutil to query the server:
lmxendutil -licstat
For Windows, a GUI utility lmxconfigtool.exe is also available.
For even more details, consult enduser.pdf in the server download package.
In the simplest case, you won't have to do anything - IDA will automatically search for the license server on the network using broadcasts on the UDP port 6200. In case the server is on another subnet or running on another port, or automatic discovery does not work for some reason, you will have to specify it manually using the following environment variable:
HEXRAYS_LICENSE_PATH=[port]@hostname
Where hostname is the host name or IP address of the machine where the license sever is running. Optional port is required if the server is running on a port different from 6200.
Please see enduser.pdf in the license server package or online version here.
To monitor license usage, you can use X-Formation License Statistics. The free version allows monitoring up to 50 users and 2 license servers.