Installation & Licensing

[#1]

Hello -

The network consists of an NT4.0 server and Win95 clients, running tcp/ip.
We successfully installed the adlm and deployment location on the server and
got A2K running on the clients.

Then we installed additional licenses in the adlm for ADT2 and a deployment
location for ADT2.

Since then, the clients don't see the server in Network Neighborhood
anymore, although they do find A2K licenses after a long delay.

How can we get the clients to see the server again? We'll be tackling this
Monday morning -- maybe I don't need to bother autodesk support if some of
you have suggestions!

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#2]

The server reappeared on the network after sitting idle over the weekend (go
figure), so we were able to install ADT2 to the clients from the deployment
location on the server. But only some of the clients can run ADT2. Most
hang up when loading the aec stuff. That's probably when it tries to grab
an ADT license, so I still think it has something to do with the adlm.

No networking people in autodesk support have responded yet, so we are still
hurting here.

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#3]

That makes some sense. I don't know how big your network is, or if your IT
department was doing something to your servers over the weekend. NT
assigns 1 (and only 1) computer on the network as the Master Browser. This
computer is responsible for maintaining the Browse list (the list you see
in Network Neighborhood). This "replication" is very slow and can take up
to 53 minutes. If the computer that maintains the Browse list was down,
then you would not have seen any computer in Network Neighborhood that was
not logged onto the network before it was taken down.

Just a thought.
--
----------
Kevin Nehls
for reply remove -ns-

Chuck Wheat wrote in article
<83mbes$ie310@adesknews2.autodesk.com>...
> The server reappeared on the network after sitting idle over the weekend
(go
> figure), so we were able to install ADT2 to the clients from the
deployment
> location on the server. But only some of the clients can run ADT2. Most
> hang up when loading the aec stuff. That's probably when it tries to
grab
> an ADT license, so I still think it has something to do with the adlm.
>
> No networking people in autodesk support have responded yet, so we are
still
> hurting here.
>
> --
>
> Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA
>
>
>

[#4]

Well, the server with the adlm and the deployment location was only down
very briefly when we restarted it once or twice. But something along the
lines of what you described must have happened.

Anyway the real problem now is the fact that most clients can't run ADT2,
apparently because they can't grab licenses, while others do run it. It
would be nice if this problem also healed itself after a couple of days of
inactivity!

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#5]

That it would, that it would. Can the clients that are not able to run
ADT2 see the server now as well? Is your problem machine specific, or can
you recreate it on any machine even the ones that are able to run ADT2?
--
----------
Kevin Nehls
for reply remove -ns-

Chuck Wheat wrote:

> It would be nice if this problem also healed itself after a couple of
days of
> inactivity! (snip)

[#6]

All the clients see the server now and all can run A2K (well, there's one
strange exception, but never mind!). When they try to run ADT2, they work
initially in a new drawing (or one with no aec content). At that point,
they have grabbed a product code 150 license but not a code 151 (ADT)
license. As soon as you run an ADT-specific command, though, most of
clients will hang. Only a couple manage to grab an ADT license and run.
The clients are all identical new Gateway 450MHz Pentium III machines. It
seems like the problem is machine-specific, even though the machines are
essentially identical!

Oh, maybe you could answer a second question, more of an NT issue. On the
server, there are several redundant installations of autocad run trees and
deployment locations. I can't delete them, even though I'm logged in as
Administrator. I get a vague error message saying that maybe I don't have
rights or maybe the files are in use. Any idea what I need to do to delete
these?

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#7]

What versions of acad are installed on the server? And were the
installations installed on the server or were they copied there? Do you
get the same message if you go through the control panel and use the
add/remove programs applet?
--
----------
Kevin Nehls
for reply remove -ns-

Chuck Wheat wrote in article
<83omia$mo431@adesknews2.autodesk.com>...

> Oh, maybe you could answer a second question, more of an NT issue. On
the
> server, there are several redundant installations of autocad run trees
and
> deployment locations. I can't delete them, even though I'm logged in as
> Administrator. I get a vague error message saying that maybe I don't
have
> rights or maybe the files are in use. Any idea what I need to do to
delete
> these?
>
> --
>
> Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA
>
>
>

[#8]

When installing network autocad on a server, you only get an entry in the
control panel uninstall list if you choose the server install option. The
client install basically just copies files onto the server, creating a
deployment location. I made three installations (not counting the adlm):
client a2k, server a2k and client adt2. So the current server a2k
installation is the only one that shows up in the uninstall list, and I
don't want to uninstall it. The other folders that I would like to delete
are either old client deployment locations or maybe the remains of old
server installation run trees. Thus, the uninstall list is correct and does
not reference anything that I want to delete now.

The installations I made were done from the cd, not copied from somewhere.
I'm pretty sure that's true of the older ones that I want to erase, too.

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#9]

Just so it's clear, in case someone at Autodesk reads this next week -

The current problem is that ADT2 fails to grab a license when it needs it.
In a new drawing, ADT2 runs up until the time an actual ADT command is
invoked, having grabbed an A2K license at the beginning. As soon as it
needs the ADT2 license, ADT2 hangs. On a network with about 20 clients, 2
or three machines can successfully run ADT2 and the rest have this problem.
The machines are identical, new Gateway 450MHz Pentium III's.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

--

Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA

[#10]

Hi Chuck,

I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but you could write a resource file
to hold your ADT 2 license files.

Hope this helps.

Bud

Chuck Wheat wrote:

> Just so it's clear, in case someone at Autodesk reads this next week -
>
> The current problem is that ADT2 fails to grab a license when it needs it.
> In a new drawing, ADT2 runs up until the time an actual ADT command is
> invoked, having grabbed an A2K license at the beginning. As soon as it
> needs the ADT2 license, ADT2 hangs. On a network with about 20 clients, 2
> or three machines can successfully run ADT2 and the rest have this problem.
> The machines are identical, new Gateway 450MHz Pentium III's.
>
> Any suggestions will be appreciated.
>
> --
>
> Chuck - cwheat233@yahoo.com - Denver, Colorado, USA