You need to be aware of a change that is coming…

From the Autodesk website…

Autodesk is introducing a new, streamlined upgrade pricing model on March 16, 2010. Under our current upgrade pricing model, the price of your upgrade depends on which product release you own. After March 15, 2010, your upgrade from any of the three previous software releases will cost 50 percent of the price of a new license, no matter which release you own.

From the Autodesk FAQ

1. What is Autodesk simplified upgrade pricing?
After March 16, 2010, Autodesk will introduce a new, streamlined upgrade pricing model that changes how Autodesk prices upgrades, cross-grades, and retroactive Subscription fees.

2. How is Autodesk simplified upgrade pricing different from the way Autodesk sells upgrades and cross-grades today?
Today, upgrade and cross-grade prices and retroactive Subscription fees vary depending on which software release you are upgrading from. After March 16, 2010, upgrade and cross-grade prices and retroactive Subscription fees from the three previous software releases will be priced at 50 percent of a full license, no matter which release you are using today.

3. When will simplified upgrade pricing take effect?
The last day to upgrade from Autodesk® 2007, 2008, and 2009 products with the current pricing model is March 15, 2010. The new simplified upgrade pricing model will go into effect after March 16, 2010.

4. Why is Autodesk making this change?
We are streamlining our upgrade pricing based on feedback from customers and resellers that the current pricing model is too complex and no longer meets the needs of most of our customers.
More and more of our customers are choosing Autodesk Subscription as the most convenient and cost-effective way to keep their Autodesk software up-to-date. Customers tell us they prefer the budget and upgrade predictability of Autodesk Subscription. They also cite other advantages over traditional upgrades:

• The option to continue running previous versions of your software so there’s no interruption to your project flow
• Hassle-free and flexible licensing so you can use your Autodesk software in the office or at home (on selected products)
• Web support from Autodesk technical experts
• Self-paced training to help extend your Autodesk software skills
• Incremental product enhancements (on selected products) to increase your functionality between upgrades

For customers without Autodesk Subscription, simple, streamlined upgrade pricing should help make it easier for you to plan and budget your software upgrades. You will pay the same price—50 percent of a full license—to upgrade to the current release from any of the three previous versions, which means you can move when you’re ready.

Read more about it on the links above – there is a lot of info to review.  Then you will know if it is better for you to tap into subscription before this kicks in or after.

If you are thinking of getting on subscription…  time to think hard.

To recap – there is Distributed (a lic file in every office) or Redundant (three lic files on differing hardware to cover hardware failures)

Here is my concern… This does not address the real world issue of disasters.

Redundant is great for most disasters that impact hardware.  If a server fails – it rolls over to the backup server.  But it will not work for the most common, an internet outage between the home office and a remote office.

Please tell me how an individual office stays running in CAD or Revit if the internet connection to the home office is lost.  That happens all the time.  We have internet outages spread around our offices multiple times per year.  We have very high corporate level of reliability, but it happens.  We do not have DSL backup – that would help, but would cost us money.

Well – you say – Go to Distributed.  But this also has its drawbacks.

Distributed allows me to split out my licenses between offices.  But if an office goes offline, fire, flood, whatever, I have a dead license file on that server and cannot tell my people to go to another office and work.  The licenses are captive on the dead server.  I can request a replacement lic file and ADSK is fairly quick, but even if it took only one hour, that is one hour times the number of licenses locked.  30-40 hours of dead time while I wait for a new lic file.

Redundant is best for sharing centrally located licenses, but Distributed is better to insure local access.

My request…

I am looking for one central license file that fails into distributed mode upon loss.  No need for a redundant backup – the distributed files are our backup.

By allowing one lic file to contain all of our seats that fails over to a local lic file that is limited, I think we can achieve what I am looking for.  This would allow each office to work from a local lic until the connection is restored back to the home office.  Worst case is that we are temporarily over our seat count within a maximum of 8 hours until we get the main lic file back online.

ADSK has offered a tricky, fragile and hard to create and manage system of Options files, but that is way to much trouble in my opinion.

Come on Autodesk – can you help me out?  Can you get something better than what is offered now?  I need to stay within my legal seat count without undercutting my ability to keep doing business.

I am having conversations with Autodesk about my vision of how a license should work and what I want and this was offered at the time of deployment.

They have two versions of licensing – Redundant and Distributed – neither of which truly help me with disaster recovery and the daily hiccups of licensing.  They have offered some solutions, but it is a very management heavy process at best.

Anyway – here are the current options…

Redundant server

With the redundant server model, you use exactly three servers to authenticate a single license file. One server acts as the master, while the other two provide backup if the primary server fails. With this configuration, the system continues to monitor and issue licenses as long as at least two of the three servers are functional.

The redundant server configuration requires that all three license servers use either Windows® NT Server or Windows 2000 Server, and be on the same subnet.

Advantages of redundant servers

* If a single server fails all licenses will be available.

Disadvantages of redundant servers

* If multiple servers fail, no licenses will be available.
* All servers must be on same local subnet.
* Cannot be used to provide network fault tolerances.
* Requires Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows 2000 Server edition operating systems.
* Complex to administer.
* Complete pool must be rebuilt in the event of a member server replacement.

Distributed server

With the distributed server configuration, the available licenses are divided (distributed) among more than one license server. Each server functions independently. If one of the servers fails, the licenses on that server become unavailable.

Advantages of distributed servers

* Two or more servers supported.
* Servers may be distributed across a wide area network (WAN).
* May be set up to provide network fault tolerance.
* As long as one server is up, some licenses are available.
* Will work on Windows NT 4.0 workstation or Windows 2000 Professional operating systems.
* Easier to administer.
* Rapid replacement of individual failed servers.

Disadvantages of distributed servers

* If a single server fails some licenses will be unavailable.

“Subject to the terms set forth below, the Home Use benefit commences on the date of the issuance of the authorization code from Autodesk and continues for a period of 13 months from such date, at which time the software program will be disabled and will no longer function.”

So if you get that home use seat up and running, then plan on it going south after a year or so.

It goes on to say…

“Home Use Licenses are not upgradeable and may not be replaced. Home use may be requested only for current versions of the software programs plus the two immediately preceding versions of the software program. You must have originally and validly licensed and have legally in your possession all versions, including prior versions.”

So you can get older releases if you already have the licenses.

Again – for the fine print – check with your reseller or go to http://pointa.autodesk.com

Architectural Desktop
AutoCAD
AutoCAD Electrical
AutoCAD LT
AutoCAD Mechanical
Building Systems
Civil 3D
Inventor Professional
Inventor Series
Land Desktop
Map
3ds Max
Raster Design
Revit
Revit Series
Revit Series Structure
Revit Series Systems Plus
Revit Structure
Survey
Viz

Again – check with your reseller to get exact details. Home Use is not currently
available for all software programs or in all locations.

Autodesk Subscription allows Home Use of software programs that you have under Subscription, subject to the terms and conditions outlined on your subscription site.

So you need to log on to your subscription site at http://pointa.autodesk.com or call your reseller to find out how to get the software.

Home Use is not currently available for all software programs or in all locations. Please contact your Autodesk authorized reseller or Autodesk representative for details on whether Home Use is available for your software program or in your region.

Explanation of Benefit

Home Use means that you, as the licensee of the software program, may install a second copy of the software program at a second location away from your office location under the following conditions:

o Such second location may include installation on a computer located at the home of your employees or on your employees

The multi-seat stand-alone license enables the purchaser to install, register, and activate an Autodesk products on several workstations using a single serial number. The mulitseat stand-alone license simplifies license management for sites that do not want to maintain a network license server. Just one serial number is required to install and activate multiple workstations.

It seems that this is the format of choice for subscription customers, at least in Autodesk’s mind. They seem to be shipping multi-seat stand-alone installs to subscription customers.Each seat of the multi-seat stand-alone license may be installed and activated on one additional workstation for each user, such as a home or remote workstation, provided that the user’s two workstations are not used concurrently, are used exclusively by the same person, and are owned or under the control of the license holder. See my blog on Home Use

Registration and Activation

If the workstation is connected to the Internet, the software automatically retrieves an activation code for each workstation when the product is started for the first time. Note that each installed workstation generates its own unique request code, and the corresponding unique activation code issued by Autodesk cannot be used on any other workstation.

Installation and Deployment

The multi-seat license means there’s only one serial number, one CD, and one manual to keep track of. You could use the Deployment wizard to simplify deployment by creating a server image that users can access to install the software on their workstation.

Be aware, although it’s possible to install each workstation individually from the CD, PAY ATENTION when you do it because any discrepancy in the information entered by users (like typos in the company name or mispellings of anykind) after the initial installation and registration has been completed will cause subsequent registrations to fail.

Well times have changed a little over the years. One change is that AutoCAD installs require “Verification” and “Registration and Activation”. This means that the installation process first Verifies your serial number and then Registers it to the machine it is installed on and Activates the software. If you have installed the product, you know the drill.

By doing this Autodesk has reduced pirated software and sold more legal copies. Something I applaud – I don’t like folks using illegal software to make money.

Here is the wording of the software license agreement related to multiple installs… (you agreed to this when you installed the software)

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3.1.2 Additional Installation. Except with regard to Educational Institutional, Student and Evaluation Versions only, You may Install and Access a second copy of the Software on the hard disk of a second Computer owned by You or under Your control provided that:

(i) the original and second copies are used only by the same person;

(ii) the second copy is Installed and Accessed only on either (a) with respect to Network Versions, a redundant server that makes the Software available for use only when Your primary server on which the active Software copy is Installed becomes inoperable, or (b) a notebook computer or other non-server computer away from Your usual work location for the purpose of enabling You to perform work while away from Your usual work location;

(iii) only one of the Software copies is Accessed at any one time; and

(iv) both copies of the Software are Installed and Accessed exclusively with the copy protection device (if any) supplied with the Software.

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This all sounds good – except… “second Computer owned by You or under Your control.” So if your company owns the software and the first computer – but your User owns their home computer (the second computer) – that would violate the letter of the license. Technically both machines must be owned by the same entity. Hmmm…

I am sure that Autodesk will not hunt you down (unless someone starts making loads of cash from their home based business with your company assets)

The above relates to standalone versions. What about Network copies?

The concept is that you should not allow more installs of home use than the total number of legal seats you own. So let say you have 25 licenses being managed by FlexLM on your LAN or WAN. You have it installed on 35 local machines in the office and it is limited to running 25 at any one time. You can only have 25 home use licenses – not 35.

Let’s think about what this means. Do the right thing. Are you legit? Are you striving to control the software assets that your firm owns? Don’t let home use get out of hand at your company.