By default, a user on Windows Vista, Windows 7, or 2008 Server will be prompted to approve any program they attempt to run if the software is not on a local file system.  This is an annoyance for anyone installing Mentor Graphics software in client/server configuration, assuming of course your security policy does not require a user to be prompted. You could disable UAC entirely, but then you will also disable security features you think desirable.

You can disable the feature of prompting to authorize program execution on your intranet without turning UAC completely off using the Group Policy Editor. Use this tool to configure the system not to prompt the user when they run an executable from a network drive.

Procedure (Note: You must have administrator rights to perform this operation)

1. From the DOS command shell or from the run dialog, enter the command gpedit.msc
   
2. Go to User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Attachment Manager. Double click on "Inclusion list for moderate risk file types".
   
   
3. Select Enable, and add *.exe in the box that says ‘Specify moderate risk extensions’.
   
   
4. You may also add any other known types you want to avoid being prompted for (.pdf, .bat, etc).
   
   

When you grant this exception it allows you to run an application with a .exe extension from the Intranet zone without a prompt, even when UAC is on. You will still be warned before an application from the Internet zone is allowed to run.

The risk you assume is that you must trust that any executables sitting on a network drive (drives mapped to a drive letter or drives you connect through a UNC path) are safe to run without seeing the warning popup.

We are constantly editing environment variables in customer support and we know many of our customers access them frequently as well. Normally, you have to go through Start> Computer, right-click, select Properties, click Advanced system settings, click Environment Variables. Fortunately, you can cut about half that with a keyboard shortcut.

     Windows Key + Pause/Break

Yes, it's that key way over on the upper right of your keyboard.

Hopefully you find this helpful. Free free to share your tips and tricks for quick access to frequently used windows or utilities.

If you have a recent version of Enterprise Expedition flow, then you have likely encountered the iCDB Project Backup tool. In this Tip of the Week, I’ll explain the different types of backups the tool supports.

AutoSave

These are periodic backups done at a fixed interval, which may be configured by the user. Note that this backup will only occur if the design has changed. You may also configure how many backups you want to keep. Older copies get marked for purge. See also Application below.

SessionStartup

This backup gets created when a project (design) is opened. The number of backup copies is user configurable.

SessionShutdown

This backup is created when a project is (design) is closed. The number of backup copies is user configurable.

Application

This is legacy functionality that has been replaced by AutoSave (above). Interval and number of backups is user configurable. You do not need both Application and AutoSave enabled.

DxD Diagnostic

This is a system backup that is automatically created before repairing the design with DxDesigner Diagnostics. It is not user configurable by default.

CES Diagnostic

This is a system backup that is automatically created before repairing the design with CES Diagnostics. It is not user configurable by default.

Database Upgrade

This backup is automatically created before the design is upgraded to new software version. It is not user configurable by default.

User

These refer to backups that are manually launched by the user from iCDB Project Backup utility. The user may configure how many of these backups to keep before they are marked for purge.

There are a few other backup types, but these are the most common ones. You can see them all from the iCDB Project Backup tool when you select Backup > Settings from the pull down menu in the iCDB Project Backup utility.

Note that many of the backup types appear greyed out in the settings dialog. By design, only the user level backups are configurable. You can change this behavior by modifying the iCDB Project Backup tools configuration file.

More information about this tool is available in the Concurrent Design Administrator’s Guide.

That’s it for this week!

Ken Foster

Mentor Graphics Customer Support

This week we'll explore a couple of very useful commands that you can run in the DOS prompt (cmd.exe) -

Tasklist

This command lists all of the processes that are running in memory, similar to opening 'Task Manager' and navigating to the 'Processes' tab. For example:

C:\>tasklist

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
System Idle Process              0 Services                   0         24 K
System                           4 Services                   0      3,668 K
smss.exe                       284 Services                   0        232 K
csrss.exe                      392 Services                   0      2,248 K
wininit.exe                    452 Services                   0        520 K
csrss.exe                      464 Console                    1    128,664 K
winlogon.exe                   508 Console                    1      2,508 K
svchost.exe                    876 Services                   0     17,176 K
svchost.exe                    908 Services                   0    130,312 K
svchost.exe                    956 Services                   0     15,900 K
svchost.exe                    988 Services                   0     63,404 K

For more detailed usage information refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491010.aspx

Findstr

Useful for finding content within files or filtering the output from another command (for example, from 'tasklist'!). For example, to find the string 'pcbexpedition' in any files in the current directory and all sub-directories:

C:\Temp>findstr /s pcbexpedition *.*

Site_12345.txt:INCREMENT pcbexpedition mgcld 2013.120 31-dec-2013 2 DE33165DE25AC2AD3EAC \

Site_12345.txt:#         pcbexpedition              2013.120 12/31/2013 41071002

For more detailed usage information refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490907.aspx

Combining the two commands

We can combine both the 'tasklist' and 'findstr' commands as shown below. Here we're looking to see if the notepad.exe process is running, and as you can see it is! (the process ID (PID) is 16952 and memory usage is 6,204K)

C:\Temp>tasklist | findstr notepad.exe

notepad.exe                  16952 Console                    1      6,204 K

In September, I showed you how to more quickly access your Windows environment variables with a keyboard shortcut. But, it gets better.

Here's how you can set up a desktop shortcut to directly access your Windows variables:

1. Right-click on your Desktop and select New> Shortcut
2. For the location of the item paste in %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe sysdm.cpl,EditEnvironmentVariables and click Next
3. Rename your shortcut Environment Variables and click Finish

Now when you double-click this Desktop shortcut, your Environment Variables window will be opened directly.

System requirements are listed on the Systems Requirements page on Supportnet and you can query system requirements by platform or release with the Platform Query Tool.

Whether you want to deifferentiate multiple processes of the same name or simply see which options were used to start a process, the Windows 7 Task Manager will let you view the command line. This may help in finding which process is using a file or differentiating sessions. The possiblitie are many.

To enable the Command Line column:

1. Open Task Manager
2. Pull-down View> Select Columns
3. Scoll down and check Command Line
4. Click OK

Your Task Manager will now have a column that will show you the command line used to start the process.

A few weeks ago we showed you a handy shortcut to quickly access the environment variables on your machine:

Tip of the Week: Directly Access Environment Variables With a Shortcut.

This week we'll explore a related topic of how to change the environment for a single program session on Windows, via a simple batch script.

Two examples of why you might want to tailor the environment for a single session, each followed by a sample two-line script:

Example #1:

You want to change the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE to point to a different license server (1717@MyDxDserver) when you launch only DxDesigner, and have all your other Mentor applications use the current value that is stored in the environment variable.

When you double-click on the .bat (batch) file the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable gets changed to 1717@MyDxDserver but ONLY for DxDesigner. No other applications are affected by this change.

Example #2:

You're running into a DLL conflict between DxDesigner and an application from another software vendor. You want to reduce the PATH variable used by DxDesigner to only the system values plus the required Mentor Graphics folders, while keeping the PATH value the same for all other applications.

Batch script example (make sure the file ends in ".bat" otherwise it won't execute when you run it):

set PATH=%SDD_HOME%\common\win32\bin;%SDD_HOME%\common\win32\lib;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%MGC_HOME%/bin;%MGC_HOME%/lib

start %SDD_HOME%\wv\win32\bin\viewdraw.exe

I have noticed a recent increase in the number of customers asking for their latest authorization codes (licenses) - so this week's "Tip of the Week" is a reminder.

Licenses for your site are available from Supportnet via the "My Licenses" link in the left navigation bar:

If you subscribe to the SupportPro Newsletter, they are also available from the "Find It Fast" menu:

Finally, if you prefer video, there is a video on the Community site that shows you how to download your authorization codes:

     http://communities.mentor.com/mgcx/docs/DOC-2812

CCleaner version 4.17 of has now been released. In version 4.17 they have concentrated on improving browser support with the addition of Google Chrome and Opera GPU Cache cleaning. This version has improved Firefox and Google Chrome Startup item detection as well as Firefox Aurora cleaning.

Changes in v4.17 include:
Added Google Chrome and Opera GPU cache cleaning
Improved Google Chrome and Opera Download History cleaning
Improved Firefox Aurora Session cleaning
Improved Firefox and Google Chrome Startup items detection
Added PhotoScape, BlueStacks and ManyCam cleaning
Improved AntiVir Desktop and Wondershare cleaning
Minor GUI Improvements
Minor bug fixes

Download location: https://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

A useful but often overlooked feature in the InfoHub documentation system is the custom tab that allows you to provide access to your own documentation from the InfoHub.

Using the custom tab, you can provide links to important documents or create document groups. Here is an example of how I used the custom tab to provide quick access to some Mentor web sites I refer to often. I also created a group of links for some of the Mentor Graphics Communities sites that I visit:

Getting started is easy. Open the InfoHub, and look for the Custom Tab link at the bottom of the page:

That's it for this week! Come back next week for another licensing and infrastructure tip.

-K

Sometimes users are running applications that are older than you would like or maybe you're just curious. Either way, you can gain insight into the application versions users are running by looking at the usage status of your license server with lmstat. The lmstat command shows not only the version of the license checked out but the version of the license the application requested. The requested version can be used to find who is running older versions. For example:

$ lmutil lmstat -f msimviewer -c 1717@server

lmstat - Copyright (c) 1989-2013 Flexera Software LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Flexible License Manager status on Fri 9/26/2014 15:26

License server status: 1717@server

    License file(s) on server: /opt/mgls/mgcld.txt:

     server: license server UP (MASTER) v11.11

Vendor daemon status (on server):

     mgcld: UP v11.11

Feature usage info:

Users of msimviewer:  (Total of 25 licenses issued;  Total of 1 license in use)

  "msimviewer" v2015.070, vendor: mgcld

  floating license

    user host 141.31.25.46:013453_1 (v2011.05) (server/1717 25360), start Fri 9/26 15:26

The license version (aka Exact Access Date or EAD), made bold for the example, usually corresponds to the release date of the application but you can check the application's release notes on SupportNet for confirmation. Better yet, find the user running the application and confirm the version they're running. You may want to point them to the latest release.

The first time the Registrator runs (during the VX install) it prompts for the local WDIR folder location, and the value entered is stored into the WDIR_<product_root> environment variable. For example, PADS VX product root is "PADSVX.0" and therefore the variable name is WDIR_PADSVX_0. The value of this variable becomes the "WDIR" once the applications launch (see TechNote MG586180 on SupportNet for more details).

When the Registrator next runs (launched from the Start Menu or via the Release Switcher) the WDIR prompt is populated based on the WDIR_<product name> environment variable. If you change the value, the variable is updated. Do NOT attempt to update the WDIR environment variable in the system area, as it will be over-written by the WDIR_<product_root> environment variable (e.g. WDIR_PADSVX_0 for PADS VX.0) as soon as the application launches.

While you can edit the WDIR_<product_root> environment variable in the system area , the recommended way to change the WDIR is to run the Release Switcher or Registrator.

Refer to the screen-shot below to see the relationship between the WDIR_<product root> variable and the WDIR prompt in the Registrator.

Related TechNotes:

Setting (and silencing) the WDIR variable (on SupportNet)

VX installation did not set environment variables, is this expected?

There are two messages which we regularlyget asked to explain.  They are similar, but refer to different areas of licensing, and have different solutions.

FLEXlm version of the vendor daemon is too old

This means that the tool you are trying to run requires a newer version of software on your license server.

You can check which version you are running with the command "lmutil lmstat".  It should show that you are running version v11.11 for BOTH lmgrd and mgcld.

If the version you are running is not the latest (v11.11), then update it using the instructions in technote mg66951.

License server does not support this version of this feature

This means that your license file does not include the correct version of license to run this version of the tool.

The version number appears as the 4th entry on each INCREMENT line in your license file:

     INCREMENT wgascentl2 mgcld <version> <expiry_date>

For example the license below has the version 2014.120:

     INCREMENT wgascentl2 mgcld 2014.120 31-mar-2015 ...

If you have a current support contract, ensure that you are using the latest license file available from Supportnet.  This should have a license with a newer version number.

If you do not have a support contract, you will be restricted to older versions of software.  For example, a license with version 2012.120 will only enable you to use software released in 2012 and earlier.  To use later versions, please contact Mentor Graphics Support.

What does this license error message mean?

There are two messages which regularly we get asked to explain.  They are similar, but refer to different areas of licensing, and have different solutions.

FLEXlm version of the vendor daemon is too old

This means that the tool you are trying to run requires a newer version of software on your license server.

You can check which version you are running with the command "lmutil lmstat".  It should show v11.11 for BOTH lmgrd and mgcld.

If the version you are running is not the latest (v11.11), then update it using the instructions in technote mg66951.

License server does not support this version of this feature

This means that your license file does not include the correct version of license to run this version of the tool.

The version number appears as the 4th entry on each INCREMENT line in your license file:

     INCREMENT wgascentl2 mgcld <version> <expiry_date>

For example the license below has the version 2014.120:

     INCREMENT wgascentl2 mgcld 2014.120 31-mar-2015 ...

If you have a current support contract, ensure that you are using the latest license file available from Supportnet.  This should have a license with a newer version number.

If you do not have a support contract, you will be restricted to older versions of software.  For example, a license with version 2012.120 will only enable you to use software released in 2012 and earlier.  To use later versions, please contact Mentor Graphics Support.

I recently received a license file for Questa Core, the installation of which had me wrapped around the axel for a few minutes.  Spoiler alert: it was the line endings.

I'm consulting at a painfully small startup, which explains why every computer here is a Windows machine. Having a long and storied history in ASIC design, when confronted with the Windows OS, I will do my design and development work using Cygwin (www.cygwin.com). For those of you not familiar with Cygwin, it is "a large collection of GNU and Open Source tools which provide functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows." I think Cygwin is great, but you can expect to encounter Windows (DOS, really)/Unix line-ending interoperability problems.

Why am I telling you this. Because my experience with Cygwin has implanted some sort of watch-dog process in my brain. When confronted with very weird results for what should be a minor and straightforward effort, the watch-dog gets triggered, and it sends this message to my brain: "Maybe it's a line-ending issue."

And it was. Our license server (FlexLM) is hosted on a Windows computer. But the license was in Unix format. And try as I might, I couldn't get the license server to start *or* produce a log file.

LSS (long story short), my internal watch-dog got triggered, I ran Cygwin's unix2dos utility on the license file, and Bob's your uncle (that's British for "that fixed everything". No, I don't know why it means that).

So, is the moral of this story "When in doubt, maybe it's the line-endings!"? Not so fast.

A subsequent search of supportnet, Flexera's website, and even Google yielded no mention of this license file issue . Am I one of only a handful of people to encounter this? I would think this issue would be much more common these days. Have any of you, esteemed readers, ever tripped over this issue. Please let me know.

But in the meantime, when in doubt, maybe it's the line-endings.

Testing an Oracle Server Installation

Use SQL Plus to verify that the database connection with the Oracle Server is okay.

Note:
The Oracle version installed is 11gR2, 11.2.0.3.0

Procedure

In Services, check that the Oracle listener is started.

In Services, check that the Oracle database service is started.

Open a command prompt and use the cd command to navigate to <oracle_home>\BIN:

For example: C:\app\myuser\product\11.2.0\dbhome_1\BIN

Enter this command:

sqlplus system/<password>@<instance>

<password> is the password entered for the SYSTEM user when Oracle was installed

<instance> is the database instance.

Result

If the database can be accessed using the credentials you have entered, sqlplus
lists information about the Oracle version and about the database, and displays
the prompt SQL>.

Example

C:\app\myuser\product\11.2.0\dbhome_1>cd bin

C:\app\myuser\product\11.2.0\dbhome_1\BIN>sqlplus system/mypassword@mydb

Successful output:

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.3.0 Production on Tue Dec 18 15:11:32 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connected to:

Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.3.0 - 64bit Production

With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL>

If you have automation for removing the local WDIR in your Windows environment, then you know the challenge is that %WDIR% can be made of up several paths, like this one:

WDIR=C:\WDIR;\\my\corporate\wdir;C:\MentorGraphics\7.9.5EE\SDD_HOME\standard

In most circumstances all you really want to remove is the first folder in the path, the local WDIR. You could hard code the paths to it in your script, but then you'd have to depend on everyone using a standardized name or passing it as an argument.

Here is some nifty code you can but into your batch script that will parse the %WDIR% variable, get the first path name (the local WDIR path), and assign it to a variable:

:: These commands are required so that variable expansion works in your script environment

setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion

:: Echo WDIR, then using ; as a delimiter, get the first token and assign its value to MY_WDIR

for /f "usebackq tokens=1,2 delims=; " %%w in (`echo %WDIR%`) do set MY_WDIR=%%w

:: Now that we've isolated the local WDIR folder, we can remove the folder

rmdir /s /q %MY_WDIR%

There you have it. I hope this tip is useful.

-K

The lmstat command will report the quantity of a particular feature with the -f option. However, if you have multiple versions of a license feature, they're rolled up into a single count by default. For example:

Z:\>lmutil lmstat -c 1717@lic_server -f qhsimvl

lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2011 Flexera Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Flexible License Manager status on Fri 10/31/2014 14:09

[Detecting lmgrd processes...]

License server status: 1717@lic_server

    License file(s) on lic_server: C:\MentorGraphics\License_Files\lmstat_test.txt:

lic_server: license server UP (MASTER) v11.11

Vendor daemon status (on lic_server):

     mgcld: UP v11.11

Feature usage info:

Users of qhsimvl:  (Total of 10 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)

This might leave you with the impression that you have more features available for the version of the application you're running than you really do.

Note:Every Mentor Graphics application requires a minimum version of a license feature, usually tied to the build or release date of the application.

Fortunately, adding the -i option to your lmstat command will break down the overall count of a feature into separate counts for each version of that feature. For example:

Z:\>lmutil lmstat -c 1717@lic_server -f qhsimvl -i

lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2011 Flexera Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Flexible License Manager status on Fri 10/31/2014 14:09

[Detecting lmgrd processes...]

License server status: 1717@lic_server

    License file(s) on lic_server: C:\MentorGraphics\License_Files\lmstat_test.txt:

lic_server: license server UP (MASTER) v11.11

Vendor daemon status (on lic_server):

     mgcld: UP v11.11

Feature usage info:

Users of qhsimvl:  (Total of 10 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)

NOTE: lmstat -i does not give information from the server,

      but only reads the license file.  For this reason,

      lmstat -a is recommended instead.

Feature                 Version   # licenses    Expires         Vendor

_______                 _______   __________    _______         ______

qhsimvl                 2014.030              5         10-nov-2014     mgcld

qhsimvl                 2015.100              5         10-nov-2014     mgcld

In this example, I could run up to 10 simultaneous Verilog simulations using a version of Modelsim that requires a qhsimvl with a minimum version of 2014.030 or older (2013.110 for example). However, I could only run 5 simultaneous simulations using a version of Modelsim that requires 2014.040 or newer.

Keep the -i option in mind if you ever suspect you're not able to use the full count of a particular feature.