I recently received a question about licensing via a network server running Windows on the network.
I’m definitely no licensing expert, but this MIGHT give you a push in the right direction. (Or get you totally far out) 😉
So, the guy that contacted me had a problem regarding the license utility not showing up when starting Maya.
Autodesk support had turned him down, as the platform (or rather the distribution) used was not “supported” by the giant.
This should not be a barrier, and I seriously think that Autodesk should be able to offer SOME sort of support to paying network licensees that pay $$$ an mas for their overpriced products, no matter what Linux distribution they choose to use. (hopeless).
So here it goes:
Well, the license utility usually pops up on the first launch of Maya.
The error:
Tried Maya Unlimited 2010 (657B1 2010.0.0.F), error 41
The F (657B1 2010.0.0.F) in the error stands for floating license I think.
The FlexLM errorcode 41 stands for “Feature was never checked out”
You obviously should have access to the license file and that this is registered with AD and in order, as the
licensing works on the Windows clients. This is done using the LMTOOLS on the
Windows licensing server.
So, on the client side:
First find out where the lmutil executable is installed on your local machine.
I think what you need to do is to first locate the licensing server with:
./lmutil lmhostid -hostname
This should show the servername.
Then you need the License server ID, to get this:
./lmutil lmhostid
The twelve-character host ID should show up.
So with this information you should be able to get the same interface to licensing
on the Linux box with the license tool “lmutil” located somewhere in /opt/Autodesk/Adlm/ path.
(if this is where you installed).
Do a search for the file if you dont find it.
This is the executable license utility that looks the same on all platforms.
But, if you cant get by with this, I must wave the white flag, as I’m no licensing expert!
😉
The Thoughts of a Madman 
We recently ran into this issue when trying to install Maya2010 onto an NFS mount for use on multiple systems. Maya2010 requires activation *before* even bothering to check your license.
pg25 http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/maya2010installationlicensingguide.pdf
-(Stand-alone licensing)
/usr/autodesk/maya2010-x64/bin/adlmreg -i S
2010.0.0.F
/var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/Maya2010/MayaConfig.pit
-(Network licensing)
/usr/autodesk/maya2010-x64/bin/adlmreg -i N
2010.0.0.F
/var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/Maya2010/MayaConfig.pit
this scribbles a small file to /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/.config/ProductInformation.pit which can then be copied over to your NFS mount and symlinked, then it will query your license server.
*UPDATE*
if you call AD and say the magic words (thin client install) they provide a special pdf which contains some magic to make maya2010 work from the network without using symlink hacks!
What makes you believe that? The licensing part is the least difficult, so setting up a license server won’t “magically” make Maya 2010 run on an Ubuntu client machine.
The rules of AD is:
If you don’t run a “supported distribution” they decline the support case all together.
This was about a Linux client, not “officially” supported. (Like ancient commercial (not possible to buy anymore) leftovers from Redhat, Suse etc.)
You’re right, licensing is the easy part, however error 41 is about a product not being registered.
from AdlmErrorCodes.xml:
Product Information Table file is not found
It wont even check for a license if it doesnt find the PIT. see previous blurb about adlmreg on how to generate this file.
We have done NFS installs for all versions of Maya as it simplifies management, the bit about a thin client install I thought may be helpful for those who are also looking after more than a handful of workstations.
We ran into a similar situation deploying Maya2010 on a Debian etch based client network. Support at autodesk did point me towards the MayaConfig.pit file but the real problem is the lack of support for the mesa-libGLw librarys for etch.
The work around we used was to install on a lenny based setup and then grab the /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/Maya2010 folder including the .config folder within and include it in the tar we are using on the etch based distribution (The MayaConfig.pit is the same on every install). so far Maya seems to be communicating with the license sever and what ever is in the binary files of the .config folder does not seem to be mac address specific so we are able to distribute it to the network this way without having to run the license utilities on the clients.
Getting MatchMover and Toxik to work without the mesa-libs may be a different problem however. I think we will be upgrading to a different distro soon…