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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

KSEC designs better with Solid Edge

This tobacco processing machine maker moved from 2D to 3D design with Solid Edge (Siemens PLM Software) and gained better fit-and-function analysis. KSEC partnered with Siemens PLM Software and purchased 200 seats of Solid Edge software for use throughout its engineering departments. With Solid Edge, KSEC is now able to show large 3D assembly models rather than 2D paper drawings. "A 3D model communicates a complex assembly far more effectively than drawings. Teams can now quickly visualize design intent, which lets them more effectively evaluate new products at design reviews," said Fu Ya Li, director of the KSEC information center. http://ow.ly/MiRJw



Try Solid Edge for free

Learn how Solid Edge can save you time on design and development at http://allyplm.com/solidedge/ or sign up for an informative webinar at http://allyplm.com/futureofcad/

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Anglo Platinum designs better with Solid Edge

The mining machinery maker moved from 2D to 3D CAD and, with Solid Edge (Siemens PLM Software), reducing mine design time up to 12 months. Drawing/design man hours are saved by using 3D designs and automating the generation of 2D drawings. Anglo Platinum recorded significant savings in engineering, construction and interest costs. "Switching to 3D CAD has helped us reduce the time required to design, fabricate and construct a 200,000-ton-per-month mine complex significantly," said Len Pretorius, general manager for project services at Anglo Platinum.


Try Solid Edge for free

Learn how Solid Edge can save you time on design and development at http://allyplm.com/solidedge/ or sign up for an informative webinar at http://allyplm.com/futureofcad/

Friday, December 4, 2015

NX Tip of the Week December 4


NX Tip of the Week
December 4, 2015

NX - Exporting to a Spreadsheet from Navigator 

Hello everyone,

In this week's Ally PLM Tip of the Week, we will take a look at a how to export content from the Assembly Navigator.  In any navigator window, we can configure the content that shows up in the columns.  Once these columns are configured, we can easily export this information to a spreadsheet for capture.

Here is a short video that demonstrates this tip:


Thank you,
Brandon Carter
Senior Application Engineer
Ally PLM Solutions, Inc.


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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

NX Licensing Issue regarding Include Statement

I thought I would share this NX Licensing issue as it was a tough one:

1.       I asked for a new NX license file to install NX on my machine that has the TC Server working on the VM.  I received a license file, but could not get it to work.  I kept getting this (I removed the ip address and servername for privacy…
Flexible License Manager status on Wed 12/2/2015 10:28
[Detecting lmgrd processes...]
Error getting status: License server machine is down or not responding.
See the system administrator about starting the license server system, or
make sure you're referring to the right host (see LM_LICENSE_FILE).
Hostname:      XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
License path:  28000@servername;
FLEXnet Licensing error:-96,491
For further information, refer to the FLEXnet Licensing documentation,
available at "www.flexerasoftware.com".
____________________________________________________________________________
2.       Looking at the log file I saw this.  With about 30 of the INCLUDE missing things listed. 

10:53:00 (ugslmd) USER_BASED license error for prd_ps_teamcenter_access (INCLUDE missing)
10:53:00 (ugslmd) USER_BASED license error for prd_vkrc1_ps_controller (INCLUDE missing)
10:53:00 (lmgrd) ugslmd using TCP-port 53740
11:04:23 (lmgrd) ugslmd exited with status 58 ()
11:04:23 (lmgrd) Since this is an unknown status, license server
11:04:23 (lmgrd) manager (lmgrd) will attempt to re-start the vendor daemon.
11:04:23 (lmgrd) EXITING DUE TO SIGNAL 1

3.       So I knew that it was reading the license file and the CID had to be right or it would error on that.  I had never seen this before.  I knew this had to do with the Flex options file as INCLUDE is a statement in the options file.  I did some googling and found that this was looking for the options file to have a list of users for these features.   What I did not know was why as this was not the way it was before – GTAC did not know why either.  So, I called the guy I know at Siemens that is the most knowledgeable person on licensing.  He had not seen it either so he talked to the developers.  Here is his response to me.

So what we have found out is that the TCDIST is a user based license and it actually requires an options file.  All of the following lines are because of the missing options file that would have the INCLUDE line in it:

(ugslmd) USER_BASED license error for planner export (INCLUDE missing)

The options file is just a text file and has to be named ugslmd.opt  I have attached the one that I used.  There is one thing that I did find with this is that the file is case sensitive.
You should be able to put this file in your directory and restart the flexlm service and it should start with no errors. You can change the user names to fit your environment and users.

4.       So now I created an Options file and tried to get it to work (see my blog post on Flex options files at http://allyplm.com/knowledgebase/2014/9/26/reserving-a-license-for-an-individual-or-group?rq=options%20flex).  However, NX requires you to use the name ugslmd.opt and you do not need to add it to the license file.  It must be located in the same directory as the license file and they both must be in the Siemens…PLMLicenseSever directory of the license server install.  Here is what is in my options file contained (just a notepad file renamed ugslmd.opt).  You have to have the same amount of Includes as licenses available.  Since, I have 4, I have to have four usernames (replace WindowsUserName with your NX users Windows User Login Name).  When I put in 5, it gave an error saying I had 5 in the log file and the max was 4.

INCLUDE TCDIST USER WindowsUserName1
INCLUDE TCDIST USER WindowsUserName2
INCLUDE TCDIST USER WindowsUserName3
INCLUDE TCDIST USER WindowsUserName4

5.       So, I did a stop, start, reread as I usually do.  I got a license reread failed at the bottom of LMTools.exe.  Talking again with my license guru revealed that in the middle of the log file, you see the following:

11:59:30 (ugslmd) NOTE: Some features are USER_BASED or HOST_BASED
11:59:30 (ugslmd)   If a reread is done, and the INCLUDE list changes for these
11:59:30 (ugslmd)   there is a delay of 12 hours for this to take effect.
11:59:30 (ugslmd)
11:59:30 (ugslmd) Licenses are case sensitive for ugslmd

6.       So, even though it said failed, it was ok.  I loaded NX and was able to open it fine.  It was just that I had to have an options file for the include statements. 


Madison Rye
Application Engineering Manager
Ally PLM Solutions, Inc.

Diamond Systems designs better with Solid Edge

Food processing machinery maker upgrades from 2D to 3D design and cuts change orders by 40 percent with Solid Edge (Siemens PLM Software). The move to 3D also results in first prototypes being ready for field testing and that other preliminary prototypes are no longer needed. With the competition still presenting 2D drawings to customers, Diamond Systems' industry-leading reputation has been ensured.




Try Solid Edge for free

Learn how Solid Edge can save you time on design and development at http://allyplm.com/solidedge/ or sign up for an informative webinar at http://allyplm.com/futureofcad/