Network Vs. Standalone (Also posted in LDD NG)

[Bratz2]

Can anyone give me the Pros, and Cons to both of these types of situations? Our Company is going to switch over from Eaglepoint to LDD R3, and during this process they may wish to switch from individual seats to a Network License I like to know if anyone has had a bad experiance running from a Network Vs. Standalone. We run simple a simple Network (Windows 2000 Server & Stations Have NT). Now they are also trying to figure out if the Network Lisence could be used more as a "mobile style" (i.e. logging into our network here in the office from home, is this even possible? I could use all the feedback I can on this issue... I'm also going to post this in the Network portion of AutoCAD, so I can get an "Admin" take on this subject.

[Anonymous]

PLEASE, search the newsgroups before you post questions. This question has
been asked MANY times, by many people with a myriad of configurations.

The short answer is to go to Network licensing, and don't look back.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
IT Manager
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com

Search before you ask, it's been asked before.

[Bratz2]

Actually I did do a search, and came up with nothing, hence the posting of the question.

[Anonymous]

Go here:
http://discussion.autodesk.com/WebX?14@@.ee77aa7

Search for this:
"stand alone network license"

Just from a quick glance, there was one on:
3/5/02
1/8/02
11/20/01
9/21/01
8/15/00
7/12/00

--
Kevin Nehls


"Bratz2" wrote in message
news:f114bfb.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Actually I did do a search, and came up with nothing, hence the posting of
the question.
>

[Bratz2]

ah, I did Network Vs. Standalone, Network or Single, and a few others, thanks for the help.

[Anonymous]

Yea, their search engine could you some refining.... 😉

--
Kevin Nehls


"Bratz2" wrote in message
news:f114bfb.3@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> ah, I did Network Vs. Standalone, Network or Single, and a few others,
thanks for the help.
>

[Bratz2]

Alright I've read through most of these now, and I still need a bit of Explination here. There is a difference Between loading the "Actual Software" on a Server Vs. Loading the "Actual Software" on Local Machines, and havng them look to the Network Machine for A license, is that correct? Secondly (and so far in my company most importantly) can either of these situations be configured in a way that someone from the office can use this software while working at home? There was so info on it, but some of it is a bit convoluted so a very simple Yes or no would suit me fine.

[Anonymous]

There is a difference between "network heavy" (acad.exe installed on the
server) and "client install". The client install is better, IMO, for
performance and maintainence. The reason that it's better for
maintainence/administration too is becuase to install an SP on a client you
just do it. To install an SP to an installation of AutoCAD that is in a
"network heavy" configuration you have to get everyone off of AutoCAD,
install the SP on the server, then install the SP on each client before they
can get back on (what a PIA). The reason you still have to install the SP
on each client is becuase even the "network heavy" install still installed
about 60MB of files to the client that usually have to be updated with an SP
update.

So basically go for Client side only installation that connects to the
license server to get a license if you want to have an easier time of it. 😉

I've read that you can get remote VPN connections to contact the license
server over the internet, but I have not done it. Yes it can be done, how I
don't know .

--
Kevin Nehls


"Bratz2" wrote in message
news:f114bfb.5@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Alright I've read through most of these now, and I still need a bit of
Explination here. There is a difference Between loading the "Actual
Software" on a Server Vs. Loading the "Actual Software" on Local Machines,
and havng them look to the Network Machine for A license, is that correct?
Secondly (and so far in my company most importantly) can either of these
situations be configured in a way that someone from the office can use this
software while working at home? There was so info on it, but some of it is a
bit convoluted so a very simple Yes or no would suit me fine.
>

[Bratz2]

Alrighty then, I'm pretty much back where I started 🙂 I appreciate the information. I guess the only "real" issues would be the network "going offline" (in which case we still could not work on the drawings due to those being on the network as well). And the potential for the SP may arise. I mean is that a pretty fair "assumption"?

[Anonymous]

I think that's a fair assumption, I've had to install several service packs.
For us, using network licensing has saved $1,000's becuase we have several
users that are not full time. Our license server is on the same server that
all of our autocad drawings are on. So if it goes down who cares that you
can't get into AutoCAD since we can't get at our drawings or any other files
that are stored there.

--
Kevin Nehls


"Bratz2" wrote in message
news:f114bfb.7@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Alrighty then, I'm pretty much back where I started 🙂 I appreciate the
information. I guess the only "real" issues would be the network "going
offline" (in which case we still could not work on the drawings due to those
being on the network as well). And the potential for the SP may arise. I
mean is that a pretty fair "assumption"?
>

[Bratz2]

Speaking of money and savings let me ask you this.... We are Five users we will be upgrading our 2000i to LDD 3 at arounf 1350.00 an upgrade (not including a 200.00 rebate per seat), would it save us any money to switch to a Network type of environment?

[Anonymous]

If they are all "full-time" users, then definetly not. Esspecially since
Autodesk has added a 15% price increase for network licenses. You can only
really save money going this way if you don't have to buy a license for
every user.

You really need to find out of all your users, how often everyone is in
AutoCAD. The more users you have the easier it is to justify.

In your office I'd probably spring for stand-alone seats for everyone unless
you know for sure that you can share 3 or 4 license between all 5 users,
although 4 network seats might cost more then 5 stand-alone seats.

Example:

We have (well had) ~15 users. We purchased 9 license to "float" around the
office. Of those ~15 users we had about 6-7 "full-time" users so the other
~8 users had to basically "share" 2-3 licenses. With the networked version,
that's easy, with the standalone U.S. version it's not possible.

--
Kevin Nehls


"Bratz2" wrote in message
news:f114bfb.9@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Speaking of money and savings let me ask you this.... We are Five users we
will be upgrading our 2000i to LDD 3 at arounf 1350.00 an upgrade (not
including a 200.00 rebate per seat), would it save us any money to switch to
a Network type of environment?
>