Summary

How does a FlexNet Publisher license server work compared to a FlexNet Embedded license server?

Question

What's the difference between how a FlexNet Publisher and FlexNet Embedded license server work?

Answer

A FlexNet Embedded license server and a FlexNet Publisher license server are entirely different animals.

FlexNet Embedded uses regenerative (replacement) licensing, whereas FlexNet Publisher uses iterative licensing (via dynamic license pools). So while FlexNet Publisher would have an active job handle with heartbeats taking up RAM (memory) via the vendor-specific license pool, FlexNet Embedded license checkouts work more like FlexNet Publisher activations.

With a FlexNet Embedded license server, memory activity is limited to when the capability requests are actually exchanged. After that, the server is back to idle again (as all the client licenses are completely refreshed with each capability exchange, per the regenerative model).

Additional Information

Chapter 10 "FlexNet Publisher and FlexNet Embedded Comparison" from the FlexNet Embedded Client C SDK User Guide provides some high-level similarities and differences between the products.