Ansys 2021 changes

Why?

Starting with version 2021, Ansys Inc. made a major change with how software licenses are managed.  ECN was forced by the vendor to adopt this new licensing system.

Who is affected?

It affects people using Mechanical and CFD software (such as fluent.)  Ansys Mechanical and CFD software older than version 17.0 (released in 2016)  will no longer work.  You  may see errors that look like:
Request name ... does not exist in the licensing pool. No such feature exists

Also affected is Ansys EM software (Electronics Desktoip, HFSS, Maxwell.)   You may see errors that look like:
Failed to enable fIeature using current license settings. Note that Pro, Premium, Enterprise licenses are available on your server...

Other Ansys software (such as LS-DYNA and Granta) should not be affected by this change in licensing.

What should you do?

Start using the latest version.  It should work without requiring any workarounds using the new license system.  If you are using the latest version, you will be able to open files saved from older versions (but not visa-versa.)

What are other options?

If you do not want to use the latest version, you may continue to use older versions back to version 17.0 (for Mecahnical and CFD.)  You may need to reset the license configuration for old versions (see below.)

Ansys EM versions older than 2021 may not work on Windows OS systems.   But, they may work on Linux systems.  So, you may have no option except to use version 2021 or newer.

What if it still does not work?

There may be unanticipated problems with how I have configured the new Ansys license system.  Please report problems to ECN.

The safest way to proceed should be to use the latest version of Ansys software.

How to reset the Ansys Mechanical and CFD license configuration:

You may need to do this with versions older than 2021.

For Windows OS systems, the steps below will reset the Ansys configuration:

1. Close Ansys
2. Open Windows Explorer (you can do this from the Start button by choosing Documents)
3. Enter %appdata% in address bar of the Windows Explorer
4. Rename or delete the folder named Ansys
5. Start Ansys again

For ECN Linux systems, you could use the following shell command to reset the Ansys configuration:

1. Close Ansys
2. Run the command:

   mv $HOME/.ansys $HOME/.ansys-prev

3. Start Ansys again

For ITaP/RCAC systems, you may need to reset the Ansys configuration in the same way used for ECN linux systems. Also, you will need to override the way RCAC has configured the software using the folloiwng shell command:

unset ANSYS195_PRODUCT

The above name will vary depending on the version of Ansys that is used.  Use "module show ansys" after loading the module to see what version is being used.  Look for the environment variable name starting with "ANSYS" and ending in "_PRODUCT" and use that (if it is present.)

How to reset Ansys EM license configuration:

Versions older than 2020 are no longer supported.

You may need to do this with versions 2020 and newer:

1. Start the Ansys EM  software.
2. Select the following menus: Tools > Options > General Options
3. Select Desktop Configuration under General
4. Check the box for "Use Electronics Pro, Premium, Enterprise product licensing" and select OK
5. Close Ansys EM software

When the Ansys EM software is opened next, it should work without errors.

Ansys Discovery AIM is missing

Starting with version 2021, the Discovery AIM and Discovery Live products have been discontinued   The licenses for the older vesions are no longer available so  software will no longer work.

They have been integrated into one product named "Ansys Discovery" which is available in Ansys versions 2021 and newer..  Here is the new product page