A concurrent use license allows copies of ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, Esri CityEngine, and ArcInfo Workstation to be installed on numerous machines. Named user licenses allow ArcGIS Pro to be licensed via an on-premise Portal for ArcGIS instance.
ArcGIS License Manager, once installed on the network, keeps track of the number of copies of the software that can be run concurrently or in the case of ArcGIS Pro, number of simultaneous sessions. The same 10.3.1 ArcGIS License Manager can be used for all ArcGIS 9.x or 10.x concurrent use, and ArcGIS Pro named user software products.
The number of concurrent use seats in your license file determines the number of copies of each software product that can be run concurrently. The number of named users in your ArcGIS Pro named user authorization determines how many sessions of ArcGIS Pro can be run simultaneously. Please see the License Manager for Portal for ArcGIS Useful Information and Best Practices topic for more information.
You only need one ArcGIS license server per network to manage all your concurrent-use ArcGIS 10.x and 9.x and ArcGIS Pro named user software products. The license server can be a Windows or Linux server and will manage Windows and Linux ArcGIS software products. For example, a Windows installation of ArcGIS for Desktop 10.0 to 10.3.1 can obtain a license from a Windows or Linux ArcGIS License Manager 10.3.1.
Once ArcGIS License Manager is running, any computer on the network can access that license manager to run the software applications.
Authorizing licenses on your license server
After purchasing Esri concurrent-use software products, you will receive an email from Esri Customer Service containing the authorization information for your purchased products. You will need this information to authorize licenses on your license server. You first need to run the license manager installer and use ArcGIS License Server Administrator to authorize licenses before starting the license service.
Detailed installation instructions can be found in License manager installation and startup. For authorizing and configuring ArcGIS Pro named user licenses, information can be found in Configure License Manager for use with Portal for ArcGIS.