Thin Client Licensing for Maya and MotionBuilder

Autodesk Support

Jan 29, 2023

This document describes how to set up thin client licensing for Maya and MotionBuilder for versions 2020 and later. 

Note: The thin client setup supports network licensing only. It is not applicable to other licensing methods.

Requirements

About license borrowing with thin client

Borrowing a license can only be done through command line tools when using thin client licensing. For information on how to borrow a license using command line tools, see Borrow a license.

Create the AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml file

You will need to create the AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml file and place it on your network share. This file contains configuration settings used to enable thin client licensing.

You can copy and paste the sample file below and edit it to reflect your environment.

  
<?xml version="1.0"encoding="utf-8"?>
<ADLMCUSTOMENV VERSION="1.0.0.0">
    <PLATFORM OS="Windows">
        <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
           <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
           <!--Default: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Adlm-->
           <STRING>C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Adlm</STRING>
        </KEY>
    </PLATFORM>
    <PLATFORM OS="Mac">
        <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
           <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
           <!--Default: /Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config-->
           <STRING>/Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config</STRING>
        </KEY>
    </PLATFORM>
    <PLATFORM OS="Linux">
        <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
        <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
        <!--Default: /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/.config-->
        <STRING>/var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/.config</STRING>
        </KEY>
    </PLATFORM>
</ADLMCUSTOMENV>

Configure a Windows server

  1. Install Maya or MotionBuilder on a staging machine.
  2. Copy the Maya or MotionBuilder files to the network share.
    The Maya files are installed in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya<Version> by default. The MotionBuilder files are located in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MotionBuilder<Version> by default.
  3. Copy the ProductInformation.pit to the same directory as the Maya or MotionBuilder files on the network share. The ProductInformation.pit file is located in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Adlm\ by default.
  4. Create AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml on the network share and edit it to use the UNC path to ProductInformation.pit. For example, if ProductInformation.pit is located in \\MyShare\Maya<Version>\Licensing, change the AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml file as follows: 
          <PLATFORM OS="Windows">
         <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
            <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
            <!--Default: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Adlm-->
            <STRING>\\MyShare\Maya<Version>\Licensing</STRING>
         </KEY>
      </PLATFORM>

Configure a macOS server

Note: MotionBuilder is not available for macOS.

  1. Install Maya on a staging machine
  2. Copy the Maya files to the network share. The Maya files are installed in /Applications/Autodesk/maya<Version> by default.
  3. Copy the ProductInformation.pit to the same directory as the Maya files on the network share. The ProductInformation.pit file is located in /Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config/ by default.
  4. Create AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml on the network share and edit it use the path to ProductInformation.pit. For example, if ProductInformation.pit is mounted to Volume/Maya<Version>/Licensing: 
          <PLATFORM OS="Mac">
         <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
            <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
            <!--Default: /Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config-->
            <STRING>/Volume/Maya<Version>/Licensing</STRING>
         </KEY>
      </PLATFORM>

Configure a Linux server

Note: MayaLT is not available for Linux.

You can obtain the Maya or MotionBuilder files by installing Maya or MotionBuilder on a staging machine and copying the files to a network share, or by generating the ProductInformation.pit file manually without installing Maya or MotionBuilder.

Configure the server by installing Maya or MotionBuilder on a staging machine

  1. Install Maya or MotionBuilder on a staging machine.
  2. Copy the Maya or MotionBuilder files to the network share. Maya is installed in /usr/autodesk/maya<Version> by default. MotionBuilder is installed in /usr/autodesk/MotionBuilder<Version> by default.
  3. Copy the ProductInformation.pit from /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/.config to the same directory as the Maya or MotionBuilder files on the network share.
  4. Create AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml on the network share and edit it to use the path to ProductInformation.pit. For example, if ProductInformation.pit is located in /mnt/maya<Version>/Licensing/: 
          <PLATFORM OS="Linux">
         <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
            <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
            <!--Default: /Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config-->
            <STRING>/mnt/maya<Version>/Licensing</STRING>
         </KEY>
      </PLATFORM>

Configure the server without installing Maya or MotionBuilder

To generate the Maya ProductInformation.pit file manually:

  1. Extract the Maya installation files.
  2. Create a temporary directory. You will be extracting the Maya files to this directory.
  3. Change directory to temporary directory and use rpm2cpio to extract the files from the Maya rpm into the temporary directory:
    rpm2cpio <path_to_installation_files>/Packages/<Maya<Version>_rpm> | cpio -idmv
  4. Create the ProductInformation.pit file using the adlmreg command:
    sudo usr/autodesk/maya<Version>/bin/adlmreg -i N 657L1 657L1 <Version>.0.0.F <serial_number> var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/Maya<Version>/MayaConfig.pit

To generate a MotionBuilder ProductInformation.pit file:

  1. Extract the MotionBuilder installation files.
  2. Create a temporary directory. You will be extracting the MotionBuilder files to this directory.
  3. Change directory to the temporary directory and use rpm2cpio to extract the files from the MotionBuilder rpm into the temporary directory:
    rpm2cpio <path_to_installation_files>/<MotionBuilder<Version>_rpm> | cpio -idmv
  4. Create the ProductInformation.pit file using the adlmreg command in the installation package:
    sudo <path_to_installation_files>/adlmreg -i N 727L1 727L1 <Version>.0.0.F <serial_number> usr/autodesk/MotionBuilder<Version>/bin/MotionBuilderConfig.pit

Once you have generated the ProductInformation.pit file, continue with these steps:

  1. Copy the Maya files in usr/autodesk/maya<Version> or MotionBuilder files in usr/Autodesk/MotionBuider<Version> to the network share.
  2. Copy the ProductInformation.pit from /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/.config to the same directory as the Maya or MotionBuilder files on the network share.
  3. Create AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml on the network share and edit it to use the path to ProductInformation.pit. For example, if ProductInformation.pit is located in /mnt/maya<Version>/Licensing/: 
          <PLATFORM OS="Linux">
         <KEY ID="ADLM_PIT_FILE_LOCATION">
            <!--Path to the ProductInformation.pit file-->
            <!--Default: /Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Adlm/.config-->
            <STRING>/mnt/maya<Version>/Licensing</STRING>
         </KEY>
      </PLATFORM>

Configure a License.env file (Maya only -- optional)

You can create a License.env file that contains the environment variables a client needs to run Maya.

  1. Move the AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml file to the same directory as the ProductInformation.pit file on the network share. This directory must be within the Maya directory.
    For example, if the ProductInformation.pit file is located in /mnt/maya<Version>/Licensing/, move AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml to that directory.
  2. Create a License.env file in the Maya bin folder on the network share.
  3. Set the AUTODESK_ADLM_THINCLIENT_ENV, MAYA_LEGACY_THINCLIENT, and ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE environment variables in the License.env file.
    Set MAYA_LEGACY_THINCLIENT to 1, ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE to the license server, and AUTODESK_THINCLIENT_ENV to the full path to AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml. For example: 
    AUTODESK_ADLM_THINCLIENT_ENV=$MAYA_LOCATION\Licensing\AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml
MAYA_LEGACY_THINCLIENT=1
ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE=@<license_server>

Run Maya or MotionBuilder on the client

If you have configured a License.env file, start Maya on the client machine from the network share where the product binaries are located.

If you are running MotionBuilder, or if you are running Maya without a License.env file, set the following environment variables before starting Maya or MotionBuilder on the client machine from the network share where the product binaries are located.

ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE: Set this to point to your license server. The name of the license server must be preceded by “@”. For example @my_license_server.

AUTODESK_ADLM_THINCLIENT_ENV: Set this to point to the AdlmThinClientCustomEnv.xml file on the network share.

MAYA_LEGACY_THINCLIENT: Set this to 1 if you are using Maya. Do not set this environment variable if you are using MotionBuilder.

MOBU_LEGACY_THINCLIENT: Set this to 1 if you are using MotionBuilder. Do not set this environment variable if you are using Maya.

 

Note: In Maya 2022.1 and later releases, Maya Application Home may appear blank when running Maya from a network share or in Thin Client mode. To work around this, run Maya with the --single-process command line flag when using those configurations. Alternatively, Application Home can be disabled with the environment variable MAYA_NO_HOME=1.


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