The MOSEK software is licensed software which means you must have a valid license in order to use MOSEK.

In practice a license is a file which specifies

• How many copies of MOSEK you are allowed to use simultaneously.
• Which features in MOSEK you are allowed to use. An example of a feature is the mixed integer optimizer (PTOM) .

The licenses is managed by the FLEXnet license manager which is a program supplied with MOSEK. The FLEXnet license manager handles two types of licenses:

• Demo: A demo license is not tied to any particular computer but is time limited. As the name indicates a demo license is  only used for evaluation purposes.
• Floating:  A floating license is tied to a particular computer i.e. the computer that runs the license server service.  However, MOSEK can be used on any computer connected to the license server (usually trough the local area network). In particular  MOSEK can of course be used on the computer acting as the license server.

You may think of the license server as a computer with a bag of license tokens. Whenever a client computer starts using MOSEK, a license token is requested from the license server, and when MOSEK completes it sends back the license token to the license server. This implies that you can't use more license tokens than you actually have at any given point in time.

The advantages of a floating license are:

• An unlimited number of users can share a limited number of licenses.
• The license server can be installed on any operating system MOSEK supports.
• The license can be used on a terminal server or a Citrix server by default.

FLEXnet has many advanced features for instance:

• It is possible reserve a number of license for a group of hosts or users.
• It is possible borrow a license from the license server and use it on a non networked computer for a limited time period.

For information on these features please consult the license administration guide.