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Floating Licenses

Floating licenses are powered by LimeLM TurboFloat Server from wyDay.

This guide helps you install an on-premise license server and configure BroTools to obtain licenses from it. The server can operate on Windows, Linux, MacOS, and FreeBSD, as long as it's reachable over the network from the BroTools host machine.

Floating Licenses are recommended for studios because they allow multiple users to share licenses on different machines. However, if you're an individual, purchasing a Floating License isn't necessary to transfer your license between workstations. For personal use, consider one of the standard licensing options instead, which can be found here: Regular Licensing.

Make sure to download a 'Bundled' version from the email sent to you upon purchase or by requesting one from the Downloads page on the website. Network Installer and Updater are not supported for Floating Licenses

Looking for Regular, Site or Enterprise licensing?

If you are looking for Regular, Site or Enterprise licenses, please, proceed here.

Overview

  1. Acquire server software and TurboActivate.dat (located in BroTools/core/system or provided via purchase email)
  2. Place TurboActivate.dat file beside server executable
  3. (Optional) Customize the configuration file.
  4. Use Product Key to activate the server
  5. Run the server

Where to find TurboActivate.dat file

A link to appropriate TurboActivate.dat file is emailed to you upon purchase. You can also find the file inside BroTools bundle archive at BroTools\core\system\TurboActivate.dat, which you can copy and use in further steps as well.

Linux

On 64-bit systems, you can run these commands. Refer to the .zip file for non-Linux platforms.

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mkdir turbofloat
cd turbofloat
wget https://api.brotools.tech/v2/download_turbofloat/TurboFloat-Server-Linux.zip
wget https://api.brotools.tech/v2/download_turbofloat_dat/BroTools -O TurboActivate.dat
unzip TurboFloat-Server-Linux.zip
mv bin-linux/x64/turbofloatserver ./
chmod +x turbofloatserver
./turbofloatserver -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER"
./turbofloatserver -x

To enable TurboFloatServer auto-launch at startup, consider using systemd (Linux) or similar tools based on your distro/preferences. Add -silent flag to prevent console output when run as a service: turbofloatserver -x -silent.

Autostart with systemd

Example systemd unit file

Put this into a file at /etc/systemd/system/brotools_turbofloat.service

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[Unit]
Description=BroTools TurboFloat server
User=root # Optional
Group=root # Optional

[Service]
Type=simple 
ExecStart=/path/to/turbofloatserver -x -silent

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then run

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sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable brotools_turbofloat.service
sudo service brotools_turbofloat start
sudo service brotools_turbofloat status

More details

Windows

  1. Get TurboFloat Server (TFS) for Windows
  2. Unpack the zip and go to bin-windows. You'll see platform folders there with their respective TurboFloat.exe. Generally, pick bin-windows\x64\TurboFloat.exe.
  3. Put your TurboActivate.dat near the picked TurboFloat.exe.
  4. Move the TurboFloatServer-config.xml from the archive next to your chosen TurboFloat.exe.

After these steps, your Windows system should be ready to run TurboFloat Server.

You don't have to do it exactly this way

In the end you just need to have a folder with 3 files in it: TurboFloat.exe, TurboFloatServer-config.xml, TurboFloat.dat, like this:

Screenshot

Activate

To start the TurboFloatServer, run this command in CMD, PowerShell or Windows Terminal:

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TurboFloatServer.exe -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER"

No response typically indicates successful activation.

Launching and Installing

Run the TurboFloatServer.exe via PowerShell or CMD with the -x flag for a temporary session:

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TurboFloatServer.exe -x
# Floating license server for BroTools (TFS v4.4.3.0)

Please note that this doesn't persist across system restarts. To ensure permanence, install the server by running PowerShell or CMD as administrator and executing:

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# As Administrator
TurboFloatServer.exe -i
# 2021-05-24, 17:42:34 <notification>: Service installed successfully.

The installation process performs these tasks:

  • Sets up the TurboFloat Server as a Windows Service, configured to initiate upon system startup and operate in the background.
  • Enables incoming connections through the Windows Firewall for the TurboFloat Server (except if the Windows Firewall service is off, in which case it omits this action).
  • Initiates the TurboFloat Server instantly after installation.

Subsequently, test BroTools in Maya to verify if it can obtain a license correctly.

Configuration

To modify TurboFloat's default port (which is 13), follow these steps:

  1. Locate the TurboFloatServer-config.xml file.
  2. Find the line <bind port="13"/>.
  3. Replace 13 with your desired port number, say 1231. The updated line should look like this: <bind port="1231"/>. Save the changes and restart the server.

Please note that you might want to alter the port due to common restrictions on lower ports, especially in Windows systems which often block them.

More details

MacOS and FreeBSD

For these operating systems you can refer to the official TurboFloat documentation.

Download TurboFloat Server (TFS) for MacOS

Maya, Workstations

Now that you have your license server up and running it is time to set up BroTools to connect to it.

To use Floating licensing BroTools can be installed in a central network shared location or on each machine individually.

Make sure that TurboActivate.dat file exists under BroTools/core/system folder.

After that, on each Workstation you will need to set an environment variable BROTOOLS_FLOATING. For example:

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# In Windows CMD you can permanently set environment variable like this
SETX BROTOOLS_FLOATING "192.168.1.69:1231"

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# Environment like bash. You may need to use other features e.g. $HOME/.bashrc or /etc/environment to make these variables permanent
export BROTOOLS_FLOATING="192.168.1.69:1231"

To make changes persistent, for example, on CentOS 7 you can do it like this: 

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echo "BROTOOLS_FLOATING=192.168.1.69:1231" >> ~/.bash_profile
echo "export BROTOOLS_FLOATING" >> ~/.bash_profile

And reboot.

To unset this variable, remove those lines from ~/.bash_profile file and reboot. I'm sure there could be a better way of doing this which I may not know of.

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# Python - environment variable must be set before BroTools plugin is loaded
os.environ["BROTOOLS_FLOATING"] = "192.168.1.69:1231"
cmds.loadPlugin("BroTools.py")

The format of BROTOOLS_FLOATING is {ip-address}:{port-number}. Where port-number is the port number you chose in TurboFloatServer-config.xml.

TurboFloat Server Offline activation

To launch TurboFloat Server without internet connection, use these commands on your TurboFloat Server:

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TurboFloatServer.exe -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER" -areq="C:\Location\To\Save\ActivationRequest.xml"

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./turbofloatserver -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER" -areq="~/ActivationRequest.xml"

Then email the resulting file to [email protected]. Within 2-5 working days you will receive an ActivationResponse.xml file in a response email which you can place anywhere and then run the second command:

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TurboFloatServer.exe -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER" -areq="C:\Path\To\Downloaded\ActivationResponse.xml"

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./turbofloatserver -a="YOUR-SERIAL-NUMBER" -areq="~/ActivationResponse.xml"

This process will be automated in the future.

VM Activations

LimeLM, by default, does not allow TurboFloat server activation on Virtual Machines. To install it on a Virtual Machine, contact [email protected] post-purchase using the same email as your purchase or an email from the same company domain along with your license key or purchase email.