NI Volume License Manager (NI VLM) 2.1.1

[Mads]

Has anyone found NI Volume License Manager (NI VLM) 2.1.1 on the ni site?

There are documents here at ni.com that refer to it as the proper volume license manager for the new LV 8.6 DVDs (hopefully they will allow us to make 1 installer of all the DVDs instead of 4 separate...(?)), however no copy of it is available. There is a version 2.1, but no 2.1.1.

[ThomasC]

Hi Mads,

NI VLM 2.1.1 has not yet been released although it should be along in the near future (unfortunatly I can't confirm a date).  Your best bet is to keep checking back on the ni.com downloads section. 

Sorry I can't be any more help than this.

Tom

[Mads]

Version 2.1 does not seem to work 100% with LV 8.6 (installer does not retrieve serial number form the VLM-server), is it correct then that there is no VLM ready for LV 8.6? I'm sure it's possible to work around it easily, but it does not seem very ideal...

[ThomasC]

Hi Mads,

How exactly are you trying to use VLM?  If you can give me some more information about what you are trying to do I would be glad to help resolve any problems you are having as LabVIEW 8.6 is supported by VLM 2.1.

Thomas Clark

[Mads]

The Volume License Manager has always been a bit cumbersome to use (having to make multiple network installers, one for each CD/DVD when it's really just one e.g.) so it's never good to say whether everything works as it should, however the point was that with LV 8.6 the distribution comes as one unified installer with its files pread across 4 DVDs. This is a change, so I though perhaps there had been made changes to the VLM as well, and from a search on ni.com I indeed found documents about 8.6 and VLM that refers to a version of VLM that has not yet been released (it seems) - 2.1.1.

With 2.1.1 not available though we moved on and created network installers with VLM. This process normally produces slightly modified installers that will not ask the users for a serial number or activation - everything is set up to link to the VLM...As it turns out this either does not work now, or has changed, because the network installer asks the users for the serial and also asks them how to activate - as if the VLM is not there(?) This is why I thought maybe the update to 2.1.1 perhaps was needed...

[ThomasC]

Hi again Mads,

Unfortunately there are limitations with using VLM 2.1.1 with 8.6 and I apologise that there is a bit of a gap between the release of the two products.  The software engineers are working on getting it out as soon as possible so hopefully you will be able to use it to resolve your difficulties soon.

Sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause,

Tom

[James@Home]

While working on an issue related to LV 8.5.1 and VLM 2.1 an NI support engineer told me the release of VLM 2.1.1 is scheduled for September 1st.  I guess this information is meaningless until we actually see it available for download.  This release should have been a high priority since it is required for LV 8.6 with all customers who have volume licenses agreements. 

I cannot wait to distribute the Block Diagram Cleanup Tool to all those who refuse to uncheck Enable auto wiring (the Auto-Messy Diagram Tool).

Meanwhile all my new DVDs are just collecting dust....

[Mads]

By coincidence I discovered that 2.1.1 is now released, it can be downloaded from:

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/1125/lang/en

I have not yet tested wether this actually fixes the LV8.6 issues though, I'll report back when I have...

[James@Home]

Thanks Mads!!

I thought NI would e-mail their VLA customers when it was released?

🐵