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Autodesk Licensing Changes Date: April 2017
ABSTRACT With the recent release of new (and updates to existing) Autodesk Knowledge Network (AKN) articles comes changes to the licensing aspect of Autodesk’s applications. Unless otherwise specified, information referenced in our article related to multi-user/network license is solely based on generating a network license for the 2018 product line.
Author & Contributor Mark Lancaster
Darin Green
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With the recent release of new (and updates to existing) Autodesk Knowledge Network (AKN) articles comes changes to the licensing aspect of Autodesk’s applications. Unless otherwise specified, information referenced in our article related to multi-user/network license is solely based on generating a network license for the 2018 product line.
Definitions: Previous Use Rights: Allows a user to install and access specified previous versions of
Autodesk products on an active subscription or maintenance plan
Subscribers: Customer who maintain monthly/quarterly/annual maintenance on their products
Point Product: Individual application such as AutoCAD, Revit, or Inventor
Clic License: Cloud based license type that’s activated using your Autodesk login. No serial number is provided
Multi-User License: Network licenses that are managed on an internal server for distribution of licenses.
Single-User License: Standalone licenses where users are required to sign-in to authenticate and activate their named user license. Contract Managers are responsible to assigning users access.
Previous Use Changes License Files - 2018 & Onward
All Collection Multi-User licenses ONLY will have the ability to use up to 4 versions back (2018 – 2014)
Current Version Only
Current + 3 versions back
Current + 4 versions back
Point Products Products not on
Subscription All licensing types
(Perpetual & Term)
Suites
Collections
Single-User Licenses (Standalone)
Multi-User Licenses (Network)*
*This is meant to help users upgrade their software to a non-retired version (current to 3 version back). That being
said, your Autodesk Account will not have that 4th version available for download.
IMPORTANT: Autodesk is starting to enforce Previous Use request of versions beyond your entitlements, which will
make it harder, if not impossible to continue using those legacy version licenses.
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License Cascading In the past, licenses would dynamically cascade depending on the application launched and/or opened.
Maintenance Only
If the user launch AutoCAD 2017 they would consume an AutoCAD license from the pool. Then, without closing
AutoCAD, the user launch Inventor Professional, the AutoCAD licenses would be returned to the pool and a Suite
License would be pull for the user resulting in 1 license for that user.
Point-Product (Maint. & Subscription) w/ Collections With Collection
Product Number of licenses
AutoCAD 5
Product Design Collection 5
With the 2018 release, this process changed and the license consumed by AutoCAD is NOT returned and the user
ends up consuming two (2) licenses (AutoCAD & Collection) when they launch a vertical product like Inventor.
Below are the results of this cascading behavior…
Without Collection
Product Number of licenses
AutoCAD 5
Product Design Suite Ultimate 5
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Order of launch Due to the new License Cascading behavior, users should launch the higher product first, then the lowest license
after (i.e. Open Inventor Professional first, then AutoCAD afterwards). That way, the user would only consume 1
license.
Launching the Lower Product First:
AutoCAD InventorResult in 2
licenses
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Launching the Highest Product First:
IMPORTANT: If a user intends to have two (2) applications open concurrently, be sure to open the higher product
first.
One License Multiple Versions A multi-user Industrial Collection license will only consume a single license if the user launches different versions of
the product within the collection on the same machine. For example if AutoCAD 2016 is launched with a
Collection (multi-user) license and AutoCAD 2017 was also launched by the same user/machine, only a single
license would be consumed. Same holds true if 3Ds Max 2015 was launched along with AutoCAD 2017 on the
same machine, a single Collection license is consumed. Note: As per 2017 & 2018 generated license file.
Multi-user licenses of Point Product or Suites work as normal and will consume separate license to support the
launching of products across yearly releases.
Products that are no longer on Maintenance If you have a combination of Subscribe and non-Subscribe products, DO NOT combine licenses into one file. They
will need to be on different servers/workstations/virtual machines to avoid incorrect licensing count.
Revit AutoCADResult in 1 Collection
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Example:
Subscription and Non-Subscription licenses
AutoCAD 2015 (Non-Subscription) 15
AutoCAD 2018 (Subscribed) 20
Total seats if Combined: 20
Total seats if hosted on separate servers: 35
With 15 AutoCAD 2015 perpetual license not on maintenance and 20 AutoCAD 2018 perpetual license on a
maintenance plan, your total license quantity for AutoCAD 2015 will now be at 20 (coming for the entitlement
under 2018) and not at the grand total of 35 license for 2015.
In this case the product not on a maintenance plan should be defined on its own licenser server in order to
maintain the product quantity you are entitled to.
License Borrowing (Collection licenses only) When borrowing a license from the server where collection licenses are being issued, it will only borrow a license
for the product you choose. There’s currently no way of borrowing an entire collection license. If you borrow a
license while AutoCAD 2017 is opened, it will borrow a collection license of AutoCAD not the entire collection. So,
if you need access to the software offsite, you need to borrow a collection license for each product you intend to
use offline. Note: As per 2017 & 2018 generated license file.
Clic (Cloud License) Clic licenses are new, and only exist when purchasing from the Autodesk E-Store. These licenses are not issued a
serial number associated with the current version. When installing and activating these seats, you only need to
provide your Autodesk login information. However, previous versions, there is a serial number associated which
will be in the format of 919-<contract number>.
At this time, not all applications available through the Autodesk E-Store are Clic enabled. There’s no list of which
applications support Clic license, but the list is growing according to Autodesk.
IMPORTANT: Recommended to always go through a reseller/VAR to purchase software as they will determine the
right products and solutions for your organization.
General The Autodesk business rule is that a user can only have up to 2 Autodesk products open concurrently.
When Term Based subscription licenses were introduced, a given Autodesk ID can be signed in 3x simultaneously
performing different functions and duties. Unless otherwise specified, a given Autodesk ID can only be used once
to launch and authorize a single user subscription application.
A single user Industrial Collection subscription allows a user to launch a Collection application on one machine, go
to another machine, sign in, and use another (Collection) application as long as they stay within the Autodesk
business ruling and it’s the same person/Autodesk ID. The ruling does not permit a single Autodesk ID to authorize
applications on separate machines such that different end users are using the application.
A multi-user Industrial Collection subscription does not permit a given user to consume another Collection license
on a separate machine.
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Bonus This only applies to NETWORK / Multi-User licenses. If you have collection licenses and want to create a single
deployment package, you can use one of Suite packages (Building, Infrastructure, or Product Design Suites) which
includes multiple applications. This will allow you create and manage one deployment. When the software is
launched on a client machine, it will pull a collection license first.
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References
Understanding Package Licenses and Previous Version Support https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/network-license-administration/managing-network-licenses/package-licenses
What Is a Clic License https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/What-is-a-Clic-License.html
How To Create The Previous Version For Clic License https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-create-the-previous-version-for-clic-licenses.html
Combining License Files For Multiple Autodesk Products https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/network-license-administration/managing-network-licenses/combining-license-files/combining-license-files-for-multiple-autodesk-products
Industry Collections Licensing https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Industry-Collections-Licensing.html