Suite Licensing and Installation - Best Practices

[OwenWhitehouse]

We have a number of AutoCAD suites...IDSP, BDSS, PDSS, PDSP & PDSU. We also have non-suite licenses of AutoCAD and NavisWorks Simulate. In the interest of standardizing my installation process, I have a number of questions related to best-practices.

1. I'm confused about serial numbers. I would prefer to have the same install package for all my Plant & P&ID users, but I only have 2 PDSU licenses. If I use the same deployment for all of them, they would all be pointed at my PDSU serial number, and the network licenses should cascade, using our lower-cost licenses first, even if they are different serial numbers. Is this correct?
2. If a PDS user start an 'as AutoCAD' profile, will that use one of our non-suite AutoCAD licenses rather than a PDS license, or would I need to do a separate install of AutoCAD?
3. Are any of the programs the suites install different than their non-suite versions? If so, which ones?
4. Are there any good utilities for visually assessing license usage?
5. How many out there are simply downloading the individual programs that come with a suite and installing them a la carte, rather than as a suite, and are there any issues with doing that?

TIA! I've been doing network licensing for a while, but we just jumped to a new level of complexity and any input would be appreciated.

[DarrenP]

1. yes you are correct about the cascading

2. yes if a user starts autocad it will grab the autocad licenses first

3. not really autocad structural detailing is the one not offered as a non suite package

4. this is a good tool from what i have read: http://jtbworld.com/jtbflexreport/index.htm

5. i download as a suite no issues with downloading all the products separately since you have a network license

with standalone licensing this maybe an issue

[DarrenP]

another tip

generate all license files the same day

otherwise this will cause problems with cascading

[OwenWhitehouse]

Thanks for the info! I was aware of the need to have the files all use the same date stamp, but that is a good one to repeat.

Now that I've gotten a look at the reality of the number of programs that come with the Suites, I don't think I'm going to do full suite installations. There is simply too much to configure, and I've been hearing that the suite versions of some of these programs are slightly different from the standard, and that SPs don't always work with the suite versions. We do quite a bit of customization, so modifying all that code to work with all those programs seems unnecessary.

As a best practice, what are others doing with installations of suites? Are you installing the whole thing, or just piecing it together with standard versions of the programs?

[DarrenP]

i don't install the whole suite i just install what i need

for example i don't install sketchbook designer

are there going to be machines that have multiple suites on them?

[OwenWhitehouse]

There willbe a few that have products from multiple suites, so if there are issues with that, I'd appreciate any info you might want to share.

I've decided that Suites are really not what I want to use....I cannot tell them to not install 360, TrueView and Design Review, it seems. Now the problem is one of software downloads. With the PDSU suite, we get Inventor w/ Routed Systems, but I cannot find it anywhere to download, and I've looked on the UpAndReady site too. Is there a version that I can install a la carte?

Speaking of a la carte, here is a list of programs that we have with our various suites. Are there any here that I can NOT download as a single installer?

3DS Max Design
AutoCAD
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoCAD Map 3D
AutoCAD MEP
AutoCAD P&ID
AutoCAD Plant 3D
AutoCAD Raster Design
AutoCAD Structural Detailing
AutoCAD Utility Design
InfraWorks
Inventor with Routed Systems
NavisWorks Manage
NavisWorks Simulate
ReCap
Revit Structure
Showcase
Sketchbook Designer

[DarrenP]

Inventor Routed systems

you only download inventor which includes the pro version
and infraworks

i think the rest you can download from here:

You can access most current + previous supported version Browser Download links (including the Design & Creation Suites) through Matt, Autodesks Virtual Assistant. http://autodesk.creativevirtual15.com/autodesk/bot.html?isJSEnabled=1&businessArea=Root.Front%20Desk...
>download links

[DarrenP]

autocad structural detailing only 2014 from here: http://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad-structural-detailing/free-trial

[DarrenP]

autodesk recap from here: http://www.autodesk.com/products/recap/get-started

[OwenWhitehouse]

The virtual agent is not working for me at the moment, so that kind of hurts my efforts. It attempts to start, them closes and starts a new tab in my browser. Not sure what is up.

Anyway, I think that what you're indicating is that the version of Inventor I need is Professional. Since that is not part of the suite, are you certain it will work?

Further, you're saying that I should install the trial versions of a couple of the others. I assume I can simply punch in the the serial number once they are installed, but if I understand how those installers work, there will be no option to create a deployment. Is that correct?

Thanks, DarrenP!

[DarrenP]

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@OwenWhitehouse wrote:

Anyway, I think that what you're indicating is that the version of Inventor I need is Professional. Since that is not part of the suite, are you certain it will work?

Further, you're saying that I should install the trial versions of a couple of the others. I assume I can simply punch in the the serial number once they are installed, but if I understand how those installers work, there will be no option to create a deployment. Is that correct?

Thanks, DarrenP!

---

yes inventor pro will work

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17437350&linkID=9242018&CMP=OTC-RSS...

you can not install a trial as a network license

all the products you listed should have a deployment option

[DarrenP]

it doesn't seem the Virtual Agent is working anymore

[OwenWhitehouse]

I apologize, do you mean plain Inventor or Inventor Professional?

[DarrenP]

you need to install inventor professional for the licensing to work