Licensing and technical aspects of running GAMS by multiple users

GAMS
1

Hello!

Considering purchasing computer(s) we wonder about this issue: using or running GAMS by multiple users (sometimes at same time) on the same computer (preferably Windows Server, but we will also consider Linux).

I skimmed the docs and it mentions in the “Installation Notes for Windows” the possibility of “installed for all users”, so the answer seems to be yes, but I rather check here too. Especially about the “run at same time” part. So: Can two instances of GAMS be started at the same time? Is that supported? Or should each user install GAMS into a separate folder?

As for licensing, which type of license would be recommended for this scenario? Single User or MUD?

I am just a comuter guy who been asked for purchasing advice (for the hardware, not licenses) by an employee in an academic institution that already uses GAMS for quite a few years. They use it typically in a “one computer, one user” way, but now they are considering a single (or few) powerful machines for several users.

Any help welcome, thanks.

David

2

GAMS runs concurrently for different users with a single installation just fine (Windows and other OS). Users can customize their GAMS environment (e.g. their default solvers) by using a gamsconfig.yaml (see https://www.gams.com/latest/docs/UG_GamsCall.html#UG_GamsCall_GAMSConfigYAML) location in some user directories. So there is technical no problem with a single installation for multiple concurrent users. Get a machine with plenty of RAM and cores if you expect heavy concurrent use. Windows/Linux is a matter of taste (if your users use Excel a lot, Windows is probably the way to go). Both work fine from the GAMS perspective. With GAMS Studio you have an graphical IDE for both systems.

For a proper license you should contact your GAMS distributor or sales@gams.com. There are many options. Single user license for a multi user setup does not sound right (although each user can bring their own single user license to the machine, if they have different needs for solver components). GAMS also sells MUD licenses (for a couple of named users) of but also machine based licenses (for many and changing users).

-Michael