Single user access for VDI

[SteveBennettTD]

What happens on a VDI when you access software via this new license method?

[DarrenP]

this is about using multiple versions: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/subscription-changes/working-on-multiple-projects/td-p/9340982

how this will work in a virtualized enviroment don’t know someone else asked this question in this forum they are waiting on an answer

[lynn_zhang]

Hi @SteveBennettTD 

Could you elaborate a bit more on your question? You want to know how you would access the product in a virtual desktop environment under the Single-user model, am I correct? For starters you can check here for some general information: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Autodesk...

But it would be helpful if you could provide a bit more details, e.g. the type of VDI you're on, the product you try to access, etc. Thanks!

[DarrenP]

@lynn_zhang see this thread: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/subscription-changes/multiple-users-on-same-system/m-p/9359206

[SteveBennettTD]

From my understanding, there are potentially 3 types of ways to present apps to a user in a virtualized system. I'd be interested to know what happens in all 3 of these scenarios. 

1. You host the app on a server and present it to them - they have a local desktop and double click an icon that spools up the app, Revit for example, and they work on their local machine using a remote software
2. You build dedicated virtual machines on a server, people log into the same 'virtual' machine name each day using remote desktop and then access the software of the 'virtual' machine from inside their remote desktop session.
3. Similar to Citrix ZenApp (or comparable solutions), you build a master 'machine configuration' that contains all the apps you want a user to have access to. They double click a specific icon on their local device that spools up a fresh virtual system where they run the apps in the cloud. When they log off the session, the virtual machine is destroyed/deleted. The process repeats each time someone logs in/out of the system.

[amanda.k]

Hi @SteveBennettTD,

I wanted to acknowledge that we have seen your questions, and I am working on getting you detailed answers. I'll update this thread again as soon as I have them.

Thank you for your patience, 

Amanda

[chriswade]

Why should it be so hard to provide an answer to a question we have been asking ever since there was slightest rumor of network licenses going away, this should be something that not only has a ready answer, but should have been answered in the FAQ up front.

[amanda.k]

Hello again @SteveBennettTD,

Thank you again for your patience - I understand your frustration at the delay, but wanted to make sure I personally provided the best answer possible. As I am not a virtual licensing specialist I felt it needful to consult with teams here to ensure the accuracy of the information I am passing on. 

All of your scenarios are supported. You can work on a virtual desktop (VDI) with a single user subscription. You cannot run the same single user subscription concurrently on 2 virtual desktops at the same time. This licensing and setup works the same way as a physical desktop in terms of not being able to use the same subscription concurrently.

I did look up your support case referenced in the other thread and saw that you may have been getting an error message along the lines of this. This is due to the fact that you cannot run more than two instances of the software on your virtual terminal. The workaround for this could be to either set up another terminal to hold that 3rd license (or more, depending on the situation / users), or go through a different virtualization method. 

While researching, I also found the Virtual Installation Guidelines that may have some information you haven't seen before. For the purposes of other customers seeing this thread and wanting to learn more, I encourage them to read it. Please do note what it states about technical support:

"We provided technical support to make sure that your Autodesk software is working properly. We do not, however, provide technical support for your virtual environment. If you have an issue that requires technical support, we may ask you to verify that the issue is related to your software and not the virtual environment. 

Our technical support experts will ask you to replicate the behavior in a physical environment. If it can be replicated, we will provide support. If it can't be replicated, contact your virtualization provider for support."

I also wanted to make sure that you have seen this article on virtualization as well in case it had any new insights for you.

Thank you,

Amanda

[chriswade]

Once again, it is clear you don't fully understand this, we are not trying to run one user on two machines at the same time, it is very obvious that would not be permitted and that would be a violation of the license.

What we have is a terminal server that has say 15 people logged in at once, all of whom use AutoCAD. Currently with single user licenses, we would get a message saying that only two instances of AutoCAD can run on a terminal server and that we need a network license to do more. So we have network licenses, once again, one license per user, but we have say 15 on the same machine at the same time, this uses 15 licenses, but works just fine.

So, the question now becomes are you fixing AutoCAD so that more than two instances can be run on the same machine with single user licenses since named licenses are being used instead of serial numbers, we shouldn't have this artificial restriction, but we need confirmation that you fully understand what we are asking, in short we want 15 users on the same computer, yes we expect that to need 15 licenses, but we want 15 people on the same machine running AutoCAD at the same time.

[thkoehler]

Hi Amanda,

---

I did look up your support case referenced in the other thread and saw that you may have been getting an error message along the lines of this. This is due to the fact that you cannot run more than two instances of the software on your virtual terminal. The workaround for this could be to either set up another terminal to hold that 3rd license (or more, depending on the situation / users), or go through a different virtualization method. 

---

The KB article that you linked related to the "Only 2 instances" message states as the reason for this behaviour:

The error is due to the fact that it is not possible to use more instances of AutoCAD than what your license gives entitlement for. Especially if you are using the software under VMWare or Remote Desktop, this may breach the End User License Agreement.

This somewhat contradicts the whole Autodesk argumentation about why Virtualization is only allowed with Single User licenses:

If you have a subscription with single-user access or a Enterprise Business Agreement, the answer is yes! Go ahead and virtualize your software. We allow virtualization since IT managers can deploy the software to multiple devices, but only the individual user can access the software at any given time – so you can stay compliant.

If you have a subscription with multi-user access, you are unable to virtualize your software to use on desktop workstations at this time. Although we would like to provide virtualization for all subscriptions, the lack of identified users means we cannot verify user access for license compliance.

Would appreciate any more insight and a different solution than having to configure one individual VM per every 2 users.

[lena.talkhina]

Thank you @thkoehler  for more details you mentioned.

We are looking into this and will bring more information back to you when it become available.

[thkoehler]

Hi Lena,

Any update on this?

Best regards,

Thomas

[lena.talkhina]

Hi @thkoehler !

Thank you for your patience.

I could be wrong because don't have a lot of tech experience regards VDI, but what I learnt from our tech support team is that you can run 2 instances on 1 VDI server, but clients can be as much as much licenses you have.

One thing I am personally miss understand (be aware, it's my personal opinion), that in cloud based licensing you don't need a VDI to manage clients. You can manage your users from Autodesk Account and use VDI only for IT architecture. Let me know if I am wrong here.

[thkoehler]

Hi @lena.talkhina 

Every user that starts AutoCAD on the terminal server will trigger a separate instance being started, up to the maximum allowed limit of 2 concurrent instances. A third user can then not start AutoCAD.

VDI is the deployment method. Instead of having a separate installation of AutoCAD on each users PC, there is one central terminal server with one installation of AutoCAD and all N users (with N > 2) want to work on the same terminal server at the same time (with their own instance of AutoCAD). Each user has a separate Single User license linked to their Autodesk account.

As others have posted, this is a very common deployment scenario nowadays.

Best regards

Thomas

[lena.talkhina]

Thank you @thkoehler  for details.

Yes, we see a lot of the same message about VDI on this board and this is all I have now.

Your question is a technical one so I would suggest to raise a request on tech support from your Autodesk Account and they provide more information about configuration.

You can link them to this thread.

Sorry I can't help more.

[thkoehler]

Hi @lena.talkhina 

We do already have a support case for this which is in a similar state as @chriswade has described in other posts (no solution since months).

Again, this is not some special scenario edge case, but a very common deployment scenario and we would expect that Autodesk provides guidance on how to handle that, especially now with the discontinuation of Multi-User licenses (which technically supported that scenario).

When you cannot help further here, who within Autodesk can? How can we escalate this?

Best regards,

Thomas

[lithivm]

Any luck with getting an answer on this?

This is a HUGE problem when Network licenses are going away. We have many clients using Network licensing on terminal servers. So far you cant run more than two instances of AutoCAD with non-network license.

In todays "cloud" age not having a clear answer from Autodesk. Or at least having support that understands the actual question is very bad.

[thkoehler]

Hi all,

we got a reply to our old support case regarding this issue and Autodesk Support says that the issue was resolved with AutoCAD 2020.1.2 and that it will also work with AutoCAD 2021. We will test this and report our findings.

Best regards

Thomas

[lithivm]

Thank you so much for you reply. Thats good news.

We will also try it on a test terminal server.

Thanks again for sharing.

[thkoehler]

Hi again,

I can now confirm that more than 2 AutoCAD sessions on a terminal server are indeed working both on AutoCAD 2020.1.2 and AutoCAD 2021 🤗. Under 2021, the old warning message with "no more than 2 instances are allowed" is still shown, but operation continues after that is confirmed with OK and the instance is no longer killed. Strangely enough, 2020.1.2 does not show the warning.

Interesting side note: Version 2020.1.2 was made available back in November 2019 🤔

Thomas