Rhino for Mac Managed Distribution

Product: Zoo
Summary: Discusses how to deploy Rhino for Mac configured to use the Zoo

Question

We recently purchased a Rhino for Mac Education Lab License. What are some strategies to help deploy it configured to use a Zoo license server on several computers at our university?

We use Casper and other management systems to build packages and push applications out to client systems. This usually includes bundling the license configuration information with the distribution application.

In addition to the LIC file, Rhino looks for a LicensesZooClient.Settings file. It contains the host name or IP address of your Zoo server. See How Does Rhino for Mac Find a Zoo Server? for details.

Answer

To Deploy Rhino 8:

  1. Install Rhino for Mac on a computer, and license it to connect to your LAN Zoo server.
  2. Rhino creates the /Users/Shared/McNeel/Rhinoceros/8.0/License Manager/Licenses/59ff75c9-9c71-4ef8-a290-6b590f3fc63a.lic
  3. Deploy a copy of the license folder (/Users/Shared/McNeel/Rhinoceros/8.0/License Manager) to the same location on the target computers.
  4. Change the file and folder access permissions to match (chmod 644).
  5. Deploy Rhino to the target computers.

To Deploy Rhino 7:

  1. Install Rhino for Mac on a computer, and license it to connect to your LAN Zoo server.
  2. Rhino creates the /Users/Shared/McNeel/Rhinoceros/7.0/License Manager/Licenses/59ff75c9-9c71-4ef8-a290-6b590f3fc63a.lic
  3. Deploy a copy of the license folder (/Users/Shared/McNeel/Rhinoceros/7.0/License Manager) to the same location on the target computers.
  4. Change the file and folder access permissions to match (chmod 644).
  5. Deploy Rhino to the target computers.

To Deploy Rhino 6:

  1. Install Rhino for Mac on a computer, and license it to connect to your LAN Zoo server.
  2. Rhino creates the /Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/6.0/License Manager/Licenses/55500d41-3a41-4474-99b3-684032a4f4df.lic
  3. Deploy a copy of the license folder (/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/6.0/License Manager) to the same location on the target computers.
  4. Set the file and folder access permissions to match (chmod 644).
  5. Deploy Rhino to the target computers.

To Deploy Rhino 5:

  1. Install Rhino for Mac on a computer, and license it to connect to your LAN Zoo server.
  2. Rhino creates the /Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/License Manager/Licenses/781b000c-8d0b-4ed3-8ead-213bdb848f39.lic
  3. Rhino creates /Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/License Manager/LicensesZooClient.settings
  4. Deploy both files to the same location on the target computers.
  5. Change the file and folder access permissions to match (chmod 644).
  6. Deploy Rhino to the target computers.

NOTES:

  1. 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.
  2. Also, Rhino 6 and Rhino 7 create the Zoo license files under License Manager in explicit 6 & 7 subfolder, while Rhino 5 creates its files in the root of License Manager and License subfolder. In other words, Rhino 5 does not create a 5 subfolder.
  3. For standalone licenses, the license file is encrypted, unreadable, and unique per system. It cannot be copied to different computers for deployment.
  4. For LAN Zoo and Cloud Zoo licenses, the license file is clear text, and can be moved between one system and another.

More information

How does Rhino for Mac find a Zoo server?