License Server Technology
Our floating licenses are hosted by SoftwareKey. Our software connects to their server to track the people currently using the license.
Design Master Loaded but Not Being Used
When a user opens their CAD program or Revit, Design Master is loaded, but we don’t count that as an active Design Master license at that point.
Checking Out a Design Master License
When a user runs a command, we connect to the server and mark them as an active user. They then have a license checked out for 10 minutes. We don’t recheck the license in that 10-minute period. If they don’t use a command after 10 minutes, it reverts to not being in use. If they do, we check out the license again.
Exceeding Your License Count
When the maximum number of people have a license checked out, and someone else tries a Design Master command, they get a dialog telling them they are over their license count. They can choose to ignore the license overage and continue working, or they can stop and wait for someone else to stop using Design Master.
If they continue working, the license overage is recorded in the license server database. After 10 minutes, we check the license count again. If the number of users is below the maximum, they won’t get a warning. If they are still above the maximum, they will get another warning message. Based upon how the timing works for licenses, the warning will probably bounce around between various people in the office.
If a user stops working, they can use the Check In Floating License command to release the license they are no longer using.
Ribbon: DM->Utilities-> 
 ->Check In Floating License
Pulldown Menu: DM->Utilities->Check In Floating License
This allows another user to immediately start working without having the license overage recorded in the database.
The idea is to fail in such a way that you can still get work done. If an error occurs in our licensing software, you are not prevented from working. Also, if you really need an extra person to use the software to get the project out the door, you can do that, and we can discuss adding more licenses later.