How to Check Minitab Licenses with FlexLM

Minitab is professional statistical software used for data analysis, quality control, and Six Sigma. Widely used in manufacturing, healthcare, and the service sector, Minitab helps companies make decisions based on real data by providing advanced tools for statistical analysis, regression, DOE (Design of Experiments), and process control.

Minitab license management—typically in floating mode—relies on the FlexLM manager, which allows licenses to be shared among multiple users, ensuring optimized usage. Properly monitoring these licenses is essential to avoid production downtime, excessive use, or non-compliance with contractual terms.

1. Installation and Configuration of Tools

To begin monitoring Minitab licenses, you need the lmutil application, provided by Flexera, which is compatible with both Windows and Linux. This tool allows you to query the license server directly to obtain real-time information on license availability and usage.

Preliminary Steps

1. Download lmutil: Make sure that the version of lmutil is the same as or later than the version on the license server to avoid errors or incomplete output.
2. Identify the server and port: In the license file, you will find the communication port and the server name to use in query commands. Remember that the server name should often be specified without domain suffixes to avoid DNS resolution errors.

2. Commands for Monitoring Licenses

After configuring lmutil, you can query the Minitab FlexLM server to obtain all the information regarding available features and active licenses.

Check Available Licenses

To find out how many licenses are currently available, you can use the following command:

lmutil lmstat -i -c porta@nomeserver

For configurations with multiple servers in a triad (high availability) setup, the command will be as follows:

lmutil lmstat -i -c porta@server1;porta@server2;porta@server3

or on Linux:

lmutil lmstat -i -c porta@server1,porta@server2,porta@server3

Sample Output

Feature           Version   #licenses  Expires        Vendor
minitab           21.0      20         31-dec-2025    MINITABLM

In this example, we see that there are 20 Minitab licenses available, valid through December 31, 2025.

Check the licenses in use

To check which users are currently using the licenses in real time, use the following command:

lmutil lmstat -S minitab -c porta@nomeserver

This command will return a detailed list of logged-in users, workstations, and session start times. Example:

Users of minitab:  (Total of 20 licenses issued; 5 licenses in use)
  "minitab" v21.0, vendor: MINITABLM
  floating license
    user1@PC01 (v21.0) (SERVER/27000 1234), start Tue 07/01 08:45
    user2@PC02 (v21.0) (SERVER/27000 1235), start Tue 07/01 09:05

3. Automate Monitoring with Observer

Manually verifying licenses may be fine for small teams, but for companies with many users and distributed servers, it’s more practical to use an automated monitoring system like Observer.

Observer allows you to:

• monitor Minitab licenses in real time without having to type complex commands
• receive automatic notifications about due dates, expired licenses, or denied connection attempts
• generate detailed reports to optimize management and plan for any new purchases
• Manage multiple high-availability license servers from a single, centralized interface

Observer periodically queries the FlexLM server, analyzes and formats the data, and makes it available through dashboards and graphical reports, ensuring that usage spikes, historical trends, and anomalous situations are always under control.

Properly monitoring Minitab licenses ensures the continuity of your company’s analytical processes, prevents costly downtime, and helps you comply with your license agreements. With Observer, you can achieve continuous, streamlined monitoring, drastically reducing errors and manual tasks.

Would you like to find out how Observer can improve Minitab license management at your company? Contact us to request a free demo and try out automated monitoring!