Retrieving a Compute Server license

If you have purchased one or more Gurobi Compute Server licenses, you'll need to perform a few setup steps in order to start your Compute Servers. Once started, client machines will be able to offload the work of solving an optimization model onto these servers. The clients and the Compute Servers can run any mix of supported operating systems. Thus, for example, multiple Linux machines could submit jobs to a pair of Compute Servers, one running Windows and the other running Linux. Any machine that can reach the Compute Server(s) over your network can be a client (including the Compute Servers themselves).

Once you've chosen a machine to act as a Compute Server, you'll need to run the grbgetkey command on that machine to retrieve your Gurobi license key. Note that the machine must be connected to the Internet in order to run this command. An Internet connection is not required after you have obtained your license key.

If your computer isn't connected to the Internet or if your network security system does not allow the command below to function, we also offer a manual license key process. You'll find manual instructions at the bottom of the License Detail page (by following the link labeled click here for additional instructions).

The exact command to run for a specific license is indicated at the bottom of the License Detail page (e.g., grbgetkey 253e22f3-...). We recommend that you use copy-paste to copy the entire grbgetkey command from our website and paste it directly into the Windows Search box (and then hit Enter):

Image startrun
If you are unfamiliar with running command-line commands on a Windows system, you can learn more here.

The grbgetkey program passes identifying information about your machine back to our website, and the website responds with your license key. Once this exchange has occurred, grbgetkey will ask for the name of the directory in which to store your license key file (gurobi.lic). You should see a prompt that looks like this:

Image getkey_windows

You can store the license key file anywhere, but we strongly recommend that you accept the default location by hitting Enter. Setting up a non-default location is error-prone and a frequent source of trouble.

Using a non-default license file location

When you run the Windows version of the Gurobi Optimizer, it will look for the gurobi.lic key file in three different default locations. It will always look in your home directory. In addition, Gurobi Optimizer 7.02 will also look in c:\gurobi and c:\gurobi702. Note that these default paths are absolute, so for example Gurobi will look for the license key file in c:\gurobi, even if the software is installed in d:\gurobi.

If you would like to use a non-default license key file location, you can do so by setting environment variable GRB_LICENSE_FILE to point to the license key file. Important note: the environment variable should point to the license key file itself, not to the directory that contains the file.

On Windows systems, environment variables are created and modified through the Control Panel. Searching for Environment Variables from the Control Panel search box will lead you to the appropriate screen. You will need to add a new System variable named GRB_LICENSE_FILE, and set it to the location of your license file (e.g., d:\gurobi\gurobi.lic). Important note: your new environment variable must be a System variable, not a User variable.

Once you have followed the steps above and have obtained a license key file, your next step is to start Gurobi Remote Services.