level.txt is a text file that specifies which particular level of a network license (such as Basic, Plus, Ultimate, etc) should be retrieved from the license server in the case there are licenses for multiple levels of the same product available on the license server. It can be also used to speed up the loading of standalone licenses.
On this page:
Usage
The level.txt file should be created using Notepad and saved in the directory that contains the executable file for the particular CSI program to which this level.txt file should be applied.
The content of the level.txt file is the license level that should be retrieved from the license manager server, such as BASIC, PLUS, ADVANCED, ULTIMATE, etc. Please note that different levels are available for different CSI programs.
Available levels
The available levels are different for different CSI products as listed below.
CSiBridge
The available levels for CSiBridge are listed in "CSiBridge <version>.ini" file located in the program installation directory and are as follows:
Version 2014 (v16) and Version 2015 (v17)
- ADVANCEDRATING
- ADVANCED
- PLUSRATING
- PLUS
- ADVANCEDRATINGC
- ADVANCEDC
- PLUSRATINGC
- PLUSC
- ADVANCEDI
- PLUSI
Version 15
- ADVANCED RATING
- ADVANCED
- PLUS RATING
- PLUS
- ADVANCED RATINGC
- ADVANCEDC
- PLUS RATINGC
- PLUSC
SAP2000
The available levels for SAP2000 are as follows:
- ULTIMATE
- ADVANCE
- PLUS
- BASIC
- ULTIMATEC
- ADVANCEDC
- PLUSC
- BASICC
- ULTIMATEI
- ADVANCEDI
ETABS
The available levels for ETABS are as follows:
- ULTIMATE
- NONLINEAR
- PLUS
- ULTIMATEC
- NONLINEARC
- PLUSC
- PLUSCD
- PLUSCC
- PLUSCS
- ULTIMATEI
- NONLINEARI
- PLUSI
SAFE
The available levels for SAFE are as follows:
- PT
- PTC
- PTI
- STANDARD
- STANDARDC
- STANDARDI
FAQ
If there is no level.txt file, which license level will be retrieved first?
Question: Let's say that the user is running SAP2000 and has several network Plus, Advanced and Ultimate licenses. If there is no level.txt file, which license level will be retrieved by the program?
Answer: SAP2000 will try to get the highest level license first (Ultimate), the 2nd highest level (Advanced) if the highest level is not available and so on. Also a Standalone license will be looked for before a Network license.
What happens if all licenses whose level is specified in level.txt are in use?
Question: When there is a level.txt that specifies Plus level, what will happen if all the Plus licenses are in use? Will SAP2000 not run because it is unable to get the Plus level, or will it pull a higher level license? If it pulls a higher level license, will it pull Advanced or Ultimate as the first choice?
Answer: The program will continue to look for a license as if there were no level.txt, see the above FAQ item.
Is it possible to use level.txt to force the user pull certain level of the license?
Question: Let's say that the IT Admin wants certain users to get only the Plus level and no higher level (as the Advanced and Ultimate licenses are reserved for a different group of users). Is there a way to enforce it by specifying Plus in level.txt (such that when all Plus licenses are in use, the user will not be able to get any higher licenses)?
Answer: It is not possible to enforce this via level.txt, because the program will be looking for other level licenses as described in the above FAQ items. However, the there are the following two options:
- Use a reservation file. Reservation file is described in the Sentinel RMS SDK System Administrator's Guide.
- If the reservation file setup is too complex or not flexible enough to meet your needs, you may consider setting up two different license servers, each with certain license levels and then point users to the respective license server.
