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Deploying AutoCAD 2014 for Mac to computer labs

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Message 1 of 21
sdobswreg
6410 Views, 20 Replies

Deploying AutoCAD 2014 for Mac to computer labs

We're excited to receive Education licenses for AutoCAD 2014 for Mac for our school's OS X - based Tech Ed and Business Ed labs. But, we're not so excited to not be able to find any deployment how-tos.

 

Please tell me I am missing something and that there is documentation for customizing deployment and installation of AutoCAD 2014 for Mac! Certainly we're not the only folks who would be deploying AutoCAD for Mac to dozens of computers used by dozens of users! We do not install software manually on dozens of machines; lack of automated deployment support will be a deal-killer for us.

 

Specifically:

- We automate installation on new and reimaged Macs; deployment frequently occurs at the login screen with no user logged in, so the installation package cannot require user interaction nor a "current console user"

 

- AutoCAD360 "launch by default" must be optional.

 

- Licensing will be via single license server, but different labs will have different licenses. The license information can certainly be kept in a separate deployment package; where is license info stored?

 

- AutoCAD preferences need to be managable system-wide, trickling down to user-level preferences. In other words, we should be able to define default system-wide preference that apply to all existing or new users on the machine, which can then be overridden by personal preferences as necessary.

 

 

Thanks,

Mike Pullen

Computer Tech

School District of Baraboo, WI

20 REPLIES 20
Message 2 of 21
maxim_k
in reply to: sdobswreg

Welcome to Autodesk Forums!
Hi Mike,
Yes, you are right- there is no deployment tools in AutoCAD for Mac and you need to do everything with installation "by hand".
- about installation: if you can find an application which will allow you to install application by running installation package without user interaction, I think you can be able to use it to install AutoCAD.
- about Autodesk 360 - not sure, but maybe it is possible to change AutoCAD installation package to disable installation of this application. Or maybe you can use some additional software (Automator, Apple Script based) which will run just after installation and will remove Autodesk 360 from Ligin items for the particular user.
- about AutoCAD preferences: do you need to fine-tune preferences, or default settings are just what you need? If you will know the exact location of AutoCAD preferences, than you will be able to setup preferences on one Mac and then copy AC preferences to other machines after you install AutoCAD on them.

Maxim

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Maxim Kanaev
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MARSS

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Message 3 of 21
mah60
in reply to: maxim_k

I see that AutoCAD 2015 for Mac is now available. Have there been any improvements with deployment? We decided not to deploy AutoCAD 2014 because there are no feasible deployment options available, so at this point anything would be an improvement.

 

Thanks,

 

Matt Hansen

Penn State University

Message 4 of 21
fangh
in reply to: sdobswreg

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for raising this. Currently there is no special deployment support in AutoCAD for Mac. Understanding an automated installation is crucial for large scale administration, here are a few suggestion I can offer:

 

1. It seems you've already had some automatic OS deployment or environment setup system, is there any utility that you can take advantage in AutoCAD installation, i.e., how do you handle other software deployment on Mac and can it apply on AutoCAD as well? Meanwhile, we can provide a bash script to install AutoCAD silently through Terminal if you'd like to, though it's not a prefect end-to-end deployment solution it might be able to integrate into your current system.

 

2. Autodesk 360 (AdSync) automatic launch with OS setting may be overrided with bash command as well, I'll need to take a look.

 

3. You can pass the serial number as the key license information argument in bash script so that in different group the different license is offered.

 

4. Theoretically per user settings can be overrided safely if you deploy them to $HOME\Library\Application Support\Autodesk\local and roaming folders. But if you want to customize the per machine preference you can modify the templates HKLM.plist or HKCU.plist in AutoCAD app > Contents folder though it might be risky to mess up the whole settings for AutoCAD so please use it very carefully (or you end to have to reinstall AutoCAD).

 

Please contact us for more information or your thought at feedbackacadmac@autodesk.com.

 

Thanks

Hao Fang

AutoCAD for Mac team, Autodesk

Message 5 of 21
mah60
in reply to: fangh

Hao,

 

With any Mac OS X software deployment tool it should be easy enough to install a standard Apple package installer. When looking through the AutoCAD 2015 for Mac installer package it is worrying to see references to the $USER variables or other dependencies on having a logged in user. In many cases software like this would be deployed when no user is logged in, possibly before any users exist on the system and potentially onto an unbooted volume. With that said, it does seems like the AutoCAD package installs correctly in our environment. I haven't noticed any issues in my limited testing so far.

 

The shell script you described would be incredibly useful, for us the challenge is adding the license information (network or individual) to each install. Walking around to each system and manually entering this is not feasible when managing hundreds of lab systems distributed in a large environment.

 

Can you post the script here or otherwise share it somewhere publicly?

 

Thank you,

 

Matt Hansen

Penn State University

Message 6 of 21
fangh
in reply to: mah60

Hi Matt,

 

Thanks for your feedback about the script. I can understand your concern that it's user account dependent, as this is only a quick workaround definitely it's not a perfect deployment solution, which I'd appreciate more and more voices like yours to make happen. Yet glad to hear it's working with the installation in your environment we still don't want it to be a public solution as it's not.

 

About the license activation, it's a real problem to be automated. Under current constraint, it seems you have to delegate this task to the 1st person who use the product after installation. If your concern is to input a bunch of different serial numbers during bash installation, I'm wondering whether you can put them in some file and pass it one by one to each machine with some preset logic. However, here the best way I think is to use network license for your labs. In this case, you will only need to set up the network license server and automatically install all AutoCAD with one serial number (or only a few of them). And you don't need to worry about the activation during launch.

 

Regards,

Hao Fang

Message 7 of 21
RCCSD
in reply to: fangh

I am in the process of deploying AutoCAD 2015 to multiple Mac labs in our school district. I need a way to silently activate these installations without having to touch each computer. If there's a script you can send me, that would be great. I can install the package with our deployment software, but I need a way to add the serial number. Thanks.

Message 8 of 21
sdobswreg
in reply to: mah60

Hao,

 

If possible, please make sure that the folks who develop and package AutoCAD for OS X take a look at these really important guidelines for creating readily-deployable packages for enterprise-type Macs. Software that follows these "commandments" gets love from the Mac enterprise community; software that doesn't is despised and denegrated. Even in our little school, there have been purchase decisions that have been swayed by whether software follows these rules or not.

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

Message 9 of 21
fangh
in reply to: RCCSD

Currently we don't have a way to silently activate a product. The only workaround I can think of is to use network license instead of standalone license, so that no activation dialog appears.

Message 10 of 21
fangh
in reply to: sdobswreg

Thanks Mike for your suggestion. I'll take a look about the article you provide.

Message 11 of 21
RCCSD
in reply to: fangh

I already have a network license setup for Maya, so using a network license is not a problem. Maya has support for a silent installation as shown here. I can't find any similar options for AutoCAD. Is there a way to add the serial number and server name to AutoCAD through a script post installation, or during installation?

 

 

Message 12 of 21
RCCSD
in reply to: RCCSD

The teachers in our district are ready to use AutoCAD 2015, so I'm revisiting the install. I have a network license setup and have confirmed that everything works after using the GUI installer. When I run a CLI/silent install, the application won't open, it just bounces in the dock and then closes.

 

I found that there are two files that appear to deal with licensing under /Applications/Autodesk/AutoCAD\ 2015/AutoCAD\ 2015.app/Contents. There is a file named "licpath.lic" with the path to the network license server and "HKLM.plist" which contains the serial number and product code. I've tried copying these files from a computer that is working as well as manually editing/creating these files after a silent install. Neither method worked. I've dug through the package and tried to figure out a way to get a silent install to work with the proper licensing information, but haven't had any luck.

 

If there is a script that you can provide that will allow a silent installation using a network license, can you please post it or send it to me? Thanks.

Message 13 of 21
mah60
in reply to: RCCSD

What software deployment system do you use? I've semi-translated this to bash from the deployment script we utilize. You can adapt it for your needs but the trick is to place the /tmp/acodeAutoCAD2015 text file before running the installer package and create the licpath.lic file after the install is complete. Just fill in your product license key and fqdn to your license server. I also disable the prompt to join the customer improvement program.

 

Let me know if this works for you or if you'd like any more details. I know figuring this process out is a huge pain so I'd be happy to help.

 

# download Install Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 for Mac.pkg to /tmp/Install Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 for Mac.pkg

/bin/echo '
<license key>
777G1
Single_License_Server
your.license.server.fqdn.edu
US
END_OF_FILE
' > /tmp/acodeAutoCAD2015"

/usr/sbin/installer -pkg "/tmp/Install Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 for Mac.pkg" -target /

/bin/echo '
SERVER your.license.server.fqdn.edu 0 27002
USE_SERVER
' > "/Applications/Autodesk/AutoCAD 2015/AutoCAD 2015.app/Contents/licpath.lic"

# Disable MC3 Framework (Customer Improvement Program)
/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.autodesk.MC3Framework MC3Enabled -int 0

 Matt Hansen

Systems Administrator

Penn State University

Message 14 of 21
RCCSD
in reply to: mah60

That worked perfectly! I spent most of the day fiddling with this, so thanks a lot. I wish I had caught the file being created in the /tmp directory. I've certainly learned a few things. It looks like the licpath.lic file is automatically created as long as the other file is there during the install.

 

Hopefully Autodesk will think about putting this information out there for eveyone else to use.

Message 15 of 21
sgillaspy
in reply to: RCCSD

We spent hours looking at this too.

 

If the main installer .pkg is already installed, is there any version of this script that could just get the registration piece working post install?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Message 16 of 21
mah60
in reply to: sgillaspy

If you have a copy of the `adlmreg` utility from another AutoDesk product you can try running it against AutoCAD. That may work but I haven't tried it. When picking apart the installer I couldn't figure out what actually did the activation and used that file in /tmp.

 

Otherwise I think your best bet is to just redeploy the entire AutoCAD package.

Message 17 of 21
rsmu
in reply to: mah60

BRILLIANT!!! Absolutely brialiant!!!

 

I just spend 2 days trying to reverse engineer the installer when I came accross this thread. I've got a classroom of 20 iMacs that I wanted to deploy AutoCAD and Maya 2015 to and have successfully done so thanks to you Matt. I use puppet to deploy everything to the fleet of 100 or so Macs so automation is key. I copy the 'acodeAutoCAD2015' file to the /tmp dir then install AutoCAD 2015. I don't use a lic server so my file looks like this:

 

<myserialnumber>
777G1
Standalone
-
US
License Transfer Utility

 

This worked on all 20 iMacs. The only minor set back is that on first launch the license has to be verified so the first user one each iMac will have to tick the EULA and allow proxy auth.

 

Thank you very much.

Message 18 of 21
autocadhe2014
in reply to: fangh

Dear Hao,

 

We use autocad for mac 2015 and deploy with casper suite to about 400 clients.

You mention a bash script to deploy and activate ACAD 2015 for MAC.

We are running into various deployment and configuration issues witch could be resolved if we could deploy it and script the activation afterwards.

 

Appreciate it if you have any scripts to help!!

 

Kind regards

 

Kim van Gils

Message 19 of 21
fangh
in reply to: autocadhe2014

Hi Kim,

 

Would you send an email to feedbackacadmac@autodesk.com? I'll try to help you out there.

 

Regards,

Hao Fang

Message 20 of 21
wtkonrad
in reply to: rsmu

I am trying to do the same thing with Munki but have not had much success. I also am using a stand alone license so my first try was to create the file acodeAutoCAD2015 using a modified version of mah60's script. it created the file and then ran through the pkg installer via the command line. When I try to launch the app it bounces once or twice but doesn't launch.

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