For the last many years, the network license server for Autodesk has had a “cascading” feature. This is a definite plus of using Network Licenses, but it is often overlooked or misunderstood. And I get it, setting up a network license server can be a pain in the butt, and the last thing most IT folks look for is an oddly named feature.
“Oddly named” is really too harsh now that I think about it. But “cascading” isn’t the first word that comes to mind here.
This is what I think of when I hear the word “cascading”
Put simply, when you run an Autodesk program, and you are using network licenses, your PC is going to try to check out the least expensive license.
Practical example: you own 2 dozen seats of Revit Arch and 4 seats of Building Design Suite Ultimate (you know… for Navisworks Manage because really, all you want is the clash detection.) When a user opens Revit Arch, it is going to check out that Arch licenses, and not touch the Suite license. The only time it’s going to grab a Suite license is when you open up software that is ONLY in that suite.
Essentially, this works EXACTLY like you hope it works and makes using Network Licenses MUCH more attractive.
If you’re like me, you get annoyed with extra software getting installed on your user’s PCs without your control. I like streamlining deployments as much as possible, I do all I can to keep users from installing software on their own, etc.
With the 2015 branded software, Autodesk introduced the Autodesk Application Manager. In theory, a cute little piece of software that can let you know when your Autodesk programs are out of date. In my environment it’s another memory suck, another pop-up, and another phone call from a user. My users simply cannot install the updates on their own even if they knew about them. They don’t have admin rights.
Luckily, according to the FAQ, if I don’t want it for a network deployment I can just uncheck the box! Perfection!
(Cue ominous music)
My AutoCrap deployment and my Revit deployment did this wonderfully. Uncheck the box, no Application Manager. And then I got to 3D Max Design…
If Autodesk had pants, they would be on fire right now
Of course we had a problem. The deployment wizard said I couldn’t have Max if I didn’t install the App Manager.
Well, I wanted Max. There are some notes in the FAQ about editing the setup.ini file for a non-deployment installation, but I worried since I wasn’t doing a stand-alone install, this wouldn’t work.
The workaround I opted for was to tweak the Application Manager settings before the deployment. Like a lot of the software, you can first install it, set it up the way you like, and then save the settings to apply to your deployment. So that’s what I did.
I got Application Manager installed on my machine and tweaked the settings to tell it to not start on Windows start-up, to only check for updates once a week, and to not show any pop-up when it finds updates. Not ideal, but it should at least stay hidden mostly from my users. Mostly.
Once that is done, you export your settings as a tiny .ini file. I put mine in the same location of the deployment, just in case.
When you created you deployment, under the options for Application Manager, you can then import this .ini file to suck up those settings.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!! When you export your settings to an .ini file, there is a setting for “Files Location”. The default is the current users Windows Documents folder. The installer will NOT re-interpret this as a variable username and will deploy with the precise path that’s in there, so BEFORE you export your settings, change this to some universal non-user specific file location.
I’m having a lot of fun with my 30 day trial of Infraworks 360. Being in the arch end of the design world, I never paid much attention to Infraworks Naught, but our friends at Autodesk have been pushing the 360 end of it hard, specifically Model Builder.
“Pushing”. We’ll come back to that in a second.
The Model Builder is easy to get started and get your initial data downloaded. Amazingly easy, actually. I found the importing of AutoCrap and Sketchup models to be a little confusing when trying to place (be sure to tell Infraworks what type of thing your thing it is), and my Revit test model didn’t even load up properly.
But so far, the slickness of the software has impressed me. I might need to get a few copies. And that’s where the fun comes in.
Our Suite subscription allows us to have a handful of Infraworks licenses (sidenote: Infraworks is surprisingly hard to type, and really hard to say). This is NOT Infraworks 360, which is what you need to have the Model Builder awesomeness. Bear with me here. My Infraworks licenses are networked, so I have a nice pool of available seats and can maximize usage, and can leverage expenses and all that business jargon crap. Infraworks 360 requires you to upgrade an Autodesk 360 account to be able to access it, which limits who can use it and totally makes me shrug and say “wha?” BEYOND THAT, the use of 360 is going to require Cloud Credits (don’t get me started on Cloud Credits), but Autodesk can’t tell me how many yet.
Yeah. The pusher. They are going to get us hooked and then tell us how much it costs for the sweet sweet GIS and satellite and infrastructure candy.
So, I am EXTREMELY cautious about buying even a single seat of Infraworks 360. Even if that is not a huge investment, who knows if it will be prohibitively costly to use the portions we want to use. My suggestions: dump the extra license fee for 360. I know how much I spend on my Ultimate Suites. You can have Showcase back. Gimme Infraworks 360, or at least Model Builder. On top of that, let me know how many cloud credits I am going to have to spend. I REALLY want to share this new technology with everyone, but I am REALLY nervous to do so right now.
So, yeah, get the 30 day trial and use the Model Builder, but watch out for when the pusher comes to you with the bill.
We had to renew two months ago and went through the same questions. We ended up being optimistic (safely, I think) that the building sector slump will turn around prior to dropping and re-adding subscription seats made sense. I want to say it’s like a six or seven year time frame for calling it even.
Design Tech Field Guide 