Stata is a stand-alone application and does not have separate server/client components. Therefore, the installation of a network license on a server would typically be the same as a single-user license on a local machine.
However, Stata can take advantage of either a server’s resources or a client’s resources, depending on how Stata is installed.
There are three common ways to install Stata:
- Directly on all client machines; the executable runs on the client machine.
- On a file server, with client machines accessing the executable and related files across a mount or share. The executable runs on the client machine. This type of installation may be easier to administer since the application is installed in one central spot. However, there can be a slight performance penalty due to the executable always having to go across a network mount/share to access things it needs in the installation directory on the server.
- On a computer server, with client machines just being used to allow users to log into the computer server. The executable runs on the server. In a Windows environment, Terminal Services would typically be used to allow client machines to log into a server to run the executable there.
Installing Stata 16 for Windows on a network drive
Installation
You will need a network license before you can install Stata on a network drive. Once you have your network license, you can install Stata directly from the server itself, or, if you have the appropriate privileges, you can install Stata onto a mapped drive.
The installation procedure is the same as it is on a stand-alone workstation, except you select the appropriate drive. The default working directory (where Stata will store files and where it will look for any files it is asked to read) will default to the user’s documents directory on the server you install Stata. You will need to override this with the shortcut on the local machine.
You must install Stata 16 on a 64-bit Windows server, and all workstations to run Stata must use 64-bit Windows.
License initialization
Once Stata is installed, you will need to run it once to initialize the license.
When you have done that, you can mount the Windows share on which you installed Stata and run Stata from there. If the network share will be mounted as the same drive from all workstations, it may be easiest to create a shortcut to it.
Creating shortcuts on workstations
Let's say you mount the share as the S: drive and the Stata SE executable is at S:\Stata16\StataSE-64.exe. Right-click on the background to bring up the menu, point to New, and then select Shortcut from the list. Type the path into the box, or Browse to the executable. Enter Stata for the name of the shortcut.
Once the shortcut has been created, right-click on it and select Properties. Change the Start in: field to a local drive to which users will have write access. This is where Stata will attempt to store files. If the machine will be used by more than one user, you will probably wish to use a local directory to which all users can write or the user home directory specified using the environment variables %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%.
License renewal or changes
There will be times when your license needs to be changed: sites with an annual license will need to renew the license or the numbers of users may change. The procedure is the same in all these circumstances.
You will be making changes in the directory in which Stata is installed, and you will need the license and authorization information that is on your License and Authorization sheet or in the email you received from StataCorp.
- Change to the directory in which Stata is installed.
- Right-click on the STATA.LIC file, and select Rename from the menu.
- Change the name of the file to STATA.LIC.OLD.
- Run Stata, which will prompt you for your license information and re-create the STATA.LIC file.
- Once you have entered the license information, it is always a good idea to run Stata as an unprivileged user to ensure that it runs correctly. If Stata runs for the privileged user but does not run for the unprivileged user, check the permissions on the STATA.LIC file.
Concurrent use of Stata Network licenses (Floating licenses)
Stata network licenses can be installed as node-locked (named user/locked client) licenses, or concurrent/floating licenses. Concurrent usage licenses may be installed on a server or on an unlimited number of stand-alone machines within a single geographic location.
Stata does not have any specific license management facilities built into the software. This allows system administrators to use the method of license tracking that they wish to use. There are many license tracking packages and schemes for Windows, Linux and Macs and it is left up to the users (or administrators) to maintain license compliance. The one that we hear from about the most from our users is Sassafras Keyserver. You can also use i.e. Windows folder sharing features, and set concurrent usage to the number of licenses (Windows: Right-click folder > Properties > [Sharing] > Advanced sharing > Concurrent usage setting).
This change was made to provide more flexibility to network administrators so that they could use whichever license tracking software as desired. We trust our customers to monitor the number of
licenses being used.