How Does Rhino for Mac Find a LAN Zoo Server?

Product: LAN Zoo
Summary: An overview of how Rhino for Mac finds a Zoo license manager server

When Rhino needs a license from a LAN Zoo server, it determines the name of the LAN Zoo server by looking in the following locations in this order:

The Settings file in the Application Support folder. Looks for the host name or IP address of your LAN Zoo server.
Queries your Domain Name System (DNS) server for the default LAN Zoo server name.
Looks for the LIC file. See Rhino for Mac Managed Distribution.

More information

Settings file

When running as a network node, Rhino determines the name of the LAN Zoo server by first looking in the LicensesZooClient.Settings file in this folder:

Rhino 7

/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/7.0/License Manager

Rhino 6

/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/6.0/License Manager

Rhino 5

/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/License Manager

NOTE: A common mistake is to confuse /Library (the global library) and /Users/[user_account]/Library (the user's library). Please make sure you are looking in the global library.

The contents of this file looks similar to:

Rhino 7

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--Zoo client settings file writen by Rhino-->
<ZooClient>
  <Software_McNeel_Rhinoceros_6.0_License_Manager Server="host name or IP address" />
</ZooClient>

Note: Software_McNeel_Rhinoceros_6.0_License_Manager above is correct.

Rhino 6

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--Zoo client settings file writen by Rhino-->
<ZooClient>
  <Software_McNeel_Rhinoceros_6.0_License_Manager Server="host name or IP address" />
</ZooClient>

Rhino 5

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--Zoo client settings file written by Rhino-->
<ZooClient>
  <Software_McNeel_Rhinoceros_5.0_License_Manager Server="host name or IP address"/>
</ZooClient>

Using DNS

If Rhino cannot determine the name of the Zoo server by searching in the Settings file, it then queries your DNS server for the default Zoo server, which is the following host name:

__mcneel.__zoo5

For example, if your company's domain is mcneel.com, then you can add a DNS alias of __mcneel.__zoo5.mcneel.com which points to your Zoo server.

Zoo