Software restrictions
Software Restrictions narrow the software catalog for a workspace. Members see and can run only the applications you select, which is how you keep people on the solvers you actually hold licenses for.
Find it at Workspace Admin > Policies > Software Restrictions.
An empty list permits everything
The list is an allow-list, and an empty one is not a restriction. Selecting nothing permits every application in the Rescale catalog rather than blocking all of them, which is the opposite of what the word "restrictions" suggests. The page states this itself, in a last sentence that is easy to read past:
Restrict the set of available software for this workspace. Your members will be allowed to run jobs with only the selected set of software. Unrestricted if none selected.
The practical consequence is that restricting a workspace means positively selecting every application members are allowed to use, including the obvious ones. Omit a solver your teams depend on and you have not left it permitted, you have removed it.
Restricting the catalog
- Go to Workspace Admin > Policies > Software Restrictions.
- Use Filter software by name to find an application. The unfiltered list is the entire Rescale catalog, which runs to hundreds of entries, so filtering is faster than scrolling.
- Select each application members should be allowed to run. Each one you select is added to a panel on the right, where you then decide which of its versions to permit.
- Click Update Software Restriction.
Repeat the filter-and-select step for each application before you save. The filter only changes what is displayed; it does not clear selections you have already made.
Choosing which versions to allow
Selecting an application does not commit you to every release of it. Each application you add carries its own choice between two options, and the default is the permissive one.
All Versions permits every release of that application, including ones Rescale adds later. This is what you get if you select an application and save without looking at the version panel, and it is usually what you want for an application your teams are simply allowed to use.
Specific Versions replaces that with a checkbox per release, and members then see only the versions you tick. Tick at least one, or you have selected an application and permitted none of it.
Pinning versions is worth the extra effort in two situations. Where results have to be comparable across a program, holding everyone on one release keeps a solver upgrade from showing up as a change in your data. Where a license agreement covers particular releases, the version list is what stops someone running a release you have not licensed.
An application pinned to specific versions stays pinned. When Rescale publishes a newer release, it does not appear for members until an administrator comes back and ticks it, which is the trade for the control: a version pin is a standing decision, not a one-off.
An × beside an application removes it from the restriction entirely, which is different from unticking its versions. Removing the application drops it out of the allow-list, so members can no longer run it at all.
What this does and does not cover
It restricts the catalog, not the license. Restricting software controls what appears during job setup. It does not provision licenses, and it does not stop a job failing at license checkout if your license server has no free seats. The two are separate controls that need to agree.
It is a workspace policy, not an organization one. Each workspace has its own list, so a workspace running Ansys and one running Simcenter are configured independently. There is no organization-wide software restriction.
It applies to jobs and workstations both, because both draw from the same software catalog.
Software Restrictions decide which solvers and versions a member may choose from. They do not decide how the member configures the run around that choice. If you want people running only configurations you have approved rather than assembling their own, the Template Settings group in workspace settings can restrict job creation to templates, and the two controls together leave very little to chance.
Related
- Hardware Policies — the equivalent control for coretypes
- Browsing the software catalog — what members see once you have restricted it
- Licensing — connecting license servers and on-demand licenses
- Workspace Policies — the rest of the Policies menu, and which parts of it are documented elsewhere