MoreThis topic describes the following:
Licensing Remote Commands More
Additional Licensing Information
Instrument features and applications that carry their own model number are sometimes referred to as software options. License models
First for a node-locked (fixed) license with the appropriate subscription date. If not found,
Next for a USB portable (dongle) license with the appropriate subscription date. If not found,
Next for a borrowed floating (network) license with the appropriate subscription date. If not found,
Next for a transportable license with the appropriate subscription date. If not found,
Lastly check out a floating license with the appropriate subscription date.
Thus, if you have floating licensing enabled, your instrument may check out a floating license even if you have a node-locked license present, if the feature you are using requires a subscription date greater than the entitlement of the node-locked license.
Instrument options are those that are reported via *OPT?, and sometimes referred to as hardware options. For example, M9384B-403 is an instrument option and will be reported via *OPT? as 403. The option is composed of the instrument’s model number (in this case M9384B) combined with the option code (403). Instrument options are not available as USB portable, transportable, or floating licenses. Instrument options must be resident when the software application launches, if any change to instrument options occurs the software must be restarted.
Floating licenses (also called network licenses) are available over your network if you have configured a license server. The server has a count for each license and will only allow instruments to "check out" a license up to that count. Once the count is reached for a specific license, further check outs fail until one of the licenses is "checked in" to the server. This means it is possible for an instrument to have different features available to it based on which licenses are available on the server when it tries to get licenses.
Setting up floating licenses is done via Pathwave License Manager (PLM).
For automatic check out operation, the remote floating license server must be configured in PLM before the instrument application is booted. Therefore, there must be an initial reboot of the instrument application after remote floating license server is configured. The steps are as follows:
Boot instrument
Launch PLM
In PLM, specify a remote floating license server
Exit PLM
Reboot the instrument, or exit the instrument application and re-launch the instrument application
Features or applications (software options) enabled via floating licensing
Vector Modulation Signal modes: License is checked out when the signal mode is selected. Licenses are checked in when a preset is performed.
For license model N7653APPC, automatic check out is not available, use borrowing.
When the instrument application is exited, all automatically checked out licenses are checked in.
Because the server may have already checked out the last license for the capability to another instrument, there is the possibility that accessing the capability will fail because a required license could not be checked out from the server. If the server has a limited number of licenses compared to the number of users desiring to use that license, this may mean that switching from capability A to capability B then back to capability A may fail when returning to capability A, because another user checked out the last available license while you were using capability B. Thus, for remote operation when using floating licenses, it is necessary to check SYST:ERR? after the aforementioned actions to verify that it was successful. If the required licenses were not successfully checked out, the instrument will post the error:
-310,"System error; feature not licensed"
There is a potential performance implication when using automatic check out because the instrument must communicate with the server on each license check out and check in. This operation is usually fast (a few milliseconds); it depends on the network communication lag between the instrument and server. For remote servers on slow or congested networks, the time could be significantly slower.
Remote command only.
This query shows whether the specified license is checked out from a server. Since floating licenses may not be available when there are limited licenses available compared to the desired number of users, the features available on an instrument can vary. Use this query to determine if the feature is currently checked out to the instrument. The return value is 1 if the feature exists and is checked out from a server, the value is 0 if the feature is not checked out from a server. Note that querying a license that is local to the instrument (-xFP or -xTP) also returns 0, even though the license exists and is valid, because it does not require a check out. Also, querying a license that does not exist returns 0.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:COUT? <string> |
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SCPI Example |
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Notes |
The <string> contains the feature and the version in the format "<feature>[,<date>]". You must specify the feature, but can omit the date. If you omit the date, the system regards it as the latest one present. <feature> must be an exact match of the license identifier, e.g. Return Value: 0 if not checked out or not a floating license, 1 if checked out. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.07.00 |
Remote command only.
This query lists the licenses checked out from a server in IEEE block format. If there is more than one installed license, each license is separated by a new line-feed character. Since floating licenses may not always be available when there are limited licenses available compared to the desired number of users, the features available on an instrument can vary. Use this command to see which features are currently checked-out to the instrument.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:COUT:LIST? |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:COUT:LIST? #241 N7631APPC,2020.1215 N7653APPC,2021.0131 |
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Notes |
The list entries are the Feature Name and Subscription end date; each item separated with a comma. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.07.00 |
Floating licenses can be borrowed from the license server for a period of time. The maximum amount of time a license can be borrowed is specified in the license installed on the server and is set at the time the license is generated by Keysight. As part of the borrow operation, the user specifies how long to borrow the license. This borrow period is in hours and can be any time up to the maximum allowed by the license. Once borrowed, the license will appear as a local license and can be used even when not connected to the network. The instrument software will treat it the same as other time-based licenses that are installed on the instrument. This means the licenses are validated when the instrument is started and then are used without the overhead of checking them out and back in when switching capabilities. At the transaction of the borrow, a time is specified for how long the license will be borrowed. When that time expires, the license is automatically returned to the license server even if the instrument is not connected to the network. If the user is done with the license before it automatically returns to the floating license server, the license can be explicitly returned earlier.
Licenses are borrowed by using the Pathwave License Manager application. This can be launched from the Help icon then selecting License Managers.
The instrument also implements a remote command for this.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:BORRow "<feature>[,<version>]","<return date>" :SYSTem:LICense:BORRow? "<feature>[,<version>]" |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:BORR "N7653APPC","15-Apr-2021" :SYST:LIC:BORR? "N7653APPC" "15-Apr-2021" |
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Notes |
If the <version> is not specified, the highest available version will be borrowed The <return date> is the day when the borrow will automatically be returned to the server |
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Dependencies |
For the command, when the <feature> is not a valid license or when a license is not currently available for borrowing, one of the following errors will be issued:
Additionally, the return date will be evaluated. If it is not a valid date, the following error will be issued:
The return date may be clipped to the maximum borrow allowed by the license. When this happens, the following warning will be issued:
For the query, the return is the borrow return date (as a string in dd-mm-yyyy format) if the license is borrowed. In all other cases, (not borrowed, not installed, etc.) the return is an empty string. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.07.00 |
The Pathwave License Manager can also be used to see the currently borrowed licenses or return a license before the automatic return time.
Remote command only.
This query returns the list of borrowed licenses in IEEE block format. If there is more than one installed license, each license is separated by a carriage-return and line-feed characters.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:BORRow:LIST? |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:BORR:LIST? #266 N7631APPC,2020.1231,15-Apr-2021 N7653APPC,2020.1215,01-May-2021 |
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Notes |
The list entries are the Feature Name, Subscription end date, and borrow Return date; each item separated with a comma. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.07.00 |
Remote command only.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:BORRow:RETurn "<feature>" |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:BORR:RET "N7653APPC" |
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Dependencies |
When the <feature> is not a valid license or when a license is not borrowed, one of the following errors will be issued:
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.07.00 |
Remote command only.
Returns the instrument's myKeysight Software Support Id. Your Support ID is used to identify your support contract status when registering for Keysight web services and when contacting technical support. The Support ID is the unique model number and serial number of the instrument that serves your licenses.
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SCPI Command |
:DIAGnostic[:CPU]:INFormation:SUPPort:ID? |
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SCPI Example |
:DIAG:INF:SUPP:ID? |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.01.00 |
Remote command only.
This query returns the license data for all installed licenses in IEEE block format. If there is more than one installed license, each license is separated by a carriage-return and line-feed characters.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:LIST? |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:LIST? |
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State Saved |
No |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.02.00 |
Remote command only.
This query returns a comma separated list of installed license names.
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:EXTernal:LIST? |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:EXT:LIST? |
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State Saved |
No |
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Notes |
If no installed licenses exist an empty string ("") is returned. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.02.00 |
Remote command only.
Each license enabled application or option has a support subscription length, use this query to the end date of the subscription. The query returns a string containing the end date in the format "YYYYMMDD".
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SCPI Command |
:SYSTem:LICense:SUBScription:DATE? <String containing license name> |
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SCPI Example |
:SYST:LIC:SUBS:DATE? "N7621APPC" |
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State Saved |
No |
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Notes |
Use :SYST:LIC:EXT:LIST? to determine the installed license names If more than one name is installed parse the list to extract the license you want to query the subscription end date. The return value from the query is a string containing the subscription end date in the format "YYYYMMDD". If the <String containing license name> is not an installed license name an empty string ("") is returned. |
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Initial S/W Revision |
A.02.00 |
Learn about Keysight License Manager applications.
Refer to the Keysight Licensing Administrator's Guide, using one of the links below.
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This link downloads the latest version from keysight.com. |
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This link opens an embedded version when you don't have an internet connection. |