What is Revit Series 1.0

[Doug]

What is the difference between Revit 6.0 and AutoCAD Revit Series? I need to upgrade.

Baffeled???

Doug

[Wes Macaulay]

AutoCAD Revit Series, as it's called, would make you think that they've combined the two programs into one.

As if!

ARS (we call it "arse" in our office - haha) is simply Revit and AutoCAD 2004 sold together. They're locked to a certain computer, so you can't break it up and run AutoCAD on one and Revit on another. But you can them both at the same time on one computer, and it's like getting full AutoCAD for a few hundred bucks more than Revit.

I was kinda hoping Autodesk would just throw in AutoCAD LT for free with Revit - that would have been a nice combination :wink:

[hand471037]

ARS seems best suited to firms that are either migrating to Revit, want to at some point in the future, or still do a lot of work with AutoCAD (like a 'mixed' firm, still using both Revit & AutoCAD). People already using Revit fully that also don't still work with AutoCAD don't really need to look at this package.

If you were gonna upgrade, and you have no need for AutoCAD, just go with Revit 6.0 IMHO.

[cphubb]

You forgot firms who have principals who are nervous about Revit and want to maintain an Autocad base. We got burned on ADT and now my boss is really edgy about anysoftware that promises to make architectural drafting easier and involves 3d. He is of course trying to jump between hand drafting and the magic button cadwhere there is no user thought. LOL.

We just ordered ARS and I will let everybody know what I think of the arraingement. My primary concern is the mixed Revit / ARS licensing issue, but we will deal as is and maybe upgrade our Revit licenses to ARS if that becomes fesible.

Anyone else using it? What do you think?

Chris

[Chad Smith]

... my boss is really edgy about any software that promises to make architectural drafting easier and involves 3d. He is of course trying to jump between hand drafting and the magic button cad where there is no user thought.

That sounds very similar to our Architect / Office Manager who has never used a CAD prgram in his life.
Everytime I make a suggestion to upgrade the menus or write a program for the AutoCAD users, and more recently suggest upgrading everyone to Revit, he goes on this scripted style spiel (that he probably read somewhere) about how he's concerned about how the software is making it too easy to draw and users won't think about what their drawing. He's too blind to the fact that by making the software easier to use, there is more time to allocate to the designing.

I don't need to tell you guys that that is exactly what Revit has been designed for.

[gregcashen]

We are a small mixed office, meaning that we have Architectural, Structural and Civil under one roof (3 people), plus a draftsman, and a business manager. We havve 3 CAD stations: 2 Revit, 1 Civil Design. We have a lot of legacy CAD drawings that we want to be able to work with, and I prefer to work directly in Autocad. Also, for topo imports, it really helps to be able to clean these up in Autocad before importing them.

You certainly don't NEED autocad to use Revit, but if you can get it for so little money and you have a use for it and you aren't trying to backdoor your way into 10 users on 5 seats of software, then it works quite well. Just remember that each seat of Revit Series is considered one software license, not two. You can have as many sessions of ACAD and Revit running on the same machine at the same time, but not on multiple machines at the same time.

[Scott D Davis]

Just today, the one Principal of our firm that is convinced we don't need to move beyond AutoCAD r14, may have finally 'seen the light'!

He went to an interview for some new work, and saw some of the competition's presentation material, which included 3D models. He came back to the office, and talked to our IT guy. He basically said "What's the best way we can do some 3D models?" Our IT pulled up Revit, explained the basics, and the benefits of the parametric capabilities and drawing coordination. The principal has seen Revit before, but for some reason, he is now really impressed, and wants to begin to roll it out in his studio!

Now, if this particular Principal can see the benefits, and be willing to change, our office is destined to be full Revit in a much shorter time frame than I had thought!

Moral of the story: Even the Architects that are the most resistant to change, will understand that Revit is a change that must be made to stay ahead of the competition!

[Steve_Stafford]

Cool beans Scott! Good news!

I don't recommend mixing seats of ARS and Revit in an office if you are using network licensing. You'll find yourself boxed into a corner because you can't presently install Revit on the same computer ARS licensed products are. So if you run out of licenses of ARS you won't be able to tell em to use the other version...

Forewarned....

[gregcashen]

you can't presently install Revit on the same computer ARS licensed products are. So if you run out of licenses of ARS you won't be able to tell em to use the other version...


That's just f'ing lame.

[Wes Macaulay]

Yeah - it's a problem for firms that are mixing networked ARS and Revit licenses. If you have 12 CAD people in your office, you could have 10 ARS licenses, or 8 Revits and 2 AutoCADs... you'd have to think about what would work best for you.

Steve's problem leads me to think that mixing networked Revit and ARS in an office should only be done if you've got some people who will never need to use AutoCAD.

[cphubb]

Yeah I'm not looking foward to the mixing. We are thinking to upgrade Revit to ARS when renewing subscriptions. Its only $410 +- per license to upgrade. Right now we have one person who refuses to use Autocad. Claims ignorance (I think he secretly knows it but will not use it), and he will have Revit on his station. I still don't know what to do with the other yet. I agree that mixing may turn out to be a bad thing. I'll find out

Chris

[cphubb]

Well I found out. We just got our Revit Series in the mail and when I went to setup the license server it would not work. The second service for ARC would not start. I thought it kind of strange but installed one workstation anyway to see what would happen. Fire up ACAD 04 and it works fine. Look at the license server and discover that I am using 2 Revit (not ARS) licenses. Contact support. I am told I need 2 servers to run the different software. Is this common for Adesk products? I was under the impression that I could run different software with the license server. It is even in the documentation for the license manager software. Has anyone else had this problem? I paid an extra network activation fee and was never told I would need a second box. I'm not a happy camper now.

Chris

[Steve_Stafford]

You running 5.1 and ARS or 6.0 with ARS?

[cphubb]

6.0 and ARS

[Wes Macaulay]

Two servers? That's odd - I might have thought you would need a second service in FlexLM, but still the LMTools program would only need to run on one computer.

[Steve_Stafford]

With network licensing, to run 5.1 and 6.0 side by side, you definitely need two servers so the old license mgr and the new FlexLM based mgr don't collide.

I did not know that there is a similar issue with ARS and 6.0. They "should" have separate product codes and work within the existing Adskflex service. Did you get a authorization file and add it to your existing pool of licenses? You can't have two FlexLM services on the same server if I remember my documentation correctly, but you can use one service to manage many products...

[Danny Polkinhorn]

Chris,

The license server for 6.0 and RS is the same, you do not need two servers.

Even if you had an old license manager (AdLM for older Autodesk products) and the new manager (FlexLM), they will both run on the same machine.

HTH...

[Steve_Stafford]

It's a known issue about 5.1 and 6.0 needing separate servers because the FlexLM mgr and the old Revit license mgr see each other and the FlexLM service shuts down the other....but I agree with the new license scheme, something sounds amiss.

[cphubb]

For me it was just the opposite. I was running Revit 5.1 (not L) and 6.0 on the same server since 6 was released and never had a problem. I just recetly shut the 5 service down since we had made the complete transition to 6. Now I have two different license files and have configured two Lmtools services (see attachment) and which ever one I start the other will not start (it says it is but isn't). Opening Revit or ARS will take a license from either service which effectivly cuts my licenses in half. Arrrrgh.

Chris

[Steve_Stafford]

Combine the license file for ARS with the license file for Revit, then run the Revit service using the combined file. That's how the documentation describes doing it, that should work. Only one Flex service can run on a server.

FYI, There is a way to just place each license file in the same folder and have the one flexLM service do the work of reading both too...that's how you do it, right Danny?

[cphubb]

Combining the files doesn't work either. Here is what the server status says when I have 1 Revit and 1 ARS running. The third instance is refused.


--------
Status
--------
Flexible License Manager status on Wed 2/11/2004 14:34

[Detecting lmgrd processes...]
License server status: 27000@GAPDC
License file(s) on GAPDC: C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\License\REVIT5enlicense.lic:

GAPDC: license server UP (MASTER) v8.3

Vendor daemon status (on GAPDC):

adskflex: UP v8.3

Feature usage info:

Users of 47600REVITS_1_0F: (Total of 2 licenses issued; Total of 2 licenses in use)

"47600REVITS_1_0F" v1.000, vendor: adskflex
floating license

ChrisH EUPHRATES EUPHRATES (GAPDC/27000 101), start Wed 2/11 14:32
chrisnt rhine rhine (v1.000) (GAPDC/27000 201), start Wed 2/11 14:33



Here is what tech support told me:

The Revit Series and Revit are slightly different in that their licensing is separate. If you have the standard Revit on a network, you would need to run those Revit Series on another server. The server does distinguish between Revit and the Revit Series. A Revit network install of 5 seats and 2 of the series, would be 5 and 2, and not 7.

It looks like it won't install on the same server.

[Steve_Stafford]

I won't buy ARS until this sort of thing is ironed out...my warning earlier...but you should have two authorization files from Autodesk. These two files uniquely identify them in the same way ADT would be different. I have several Autodesk products all authorized via one flex service. It should be no different for ARS. The BIG thing is you can NOT run TWO services on the same server.

I'll be glad to send you a copy of my lic file if it will help you see what I'm getting at. Your status message does not show the result you'd see with a combined file. You probably have more of the other file pasted in that you should. It isn't the entire file just the portion from Increment down for each.

Heading home for now...send me an email via the link below my post and I'll send you a screen capture of the format...when I get home.

[Danny Polkinhorn]

FYI, There is a way to just place each license file in the same folder and have the one flexLM service do the work of reading both too...that's how you do it, right Danny?

Yes. In LMTools, where it asks for the license file, specify a directory WITHOUT a trailing backslash, and it will load all license files from that directory. This is especially useful if you have many Autodesk products which you need to license.

If you want to combine the license files together, open one of them. In the file, you will see two sections. The first section is information about the server. The second section refers to the product you're licensing. When combining the files together, do not repeat the first section, just add the (second) sections together for each product. Like this:

First Section about server
Second Section for Viz
Second Section for ARS
Second Section for MDT
...

Chris, one more point to clarify. Revit 5.1L, 6.0, ARS, and AutoCAD 2004 should all have the same licensing scheme, and may be combined in the same server and service. 5.1 and earlier are different and may not be combined with 5.1L or later. Is Autodesk saying something different?

[cphubb]

Yes I think so. We ran 5 and 6 on the same box for 2 months +- with no problem. We have 6 working on the network and the problem arose when we added ARS 1.

When it wouldn't start I emailed support and from the message it looks like we need another box. (See my post above for the actual quote from Autodesk.) I have not confirmed that since they will not return my email replys. I am going to try fresh in the morning.

Steve and I have been emailing each other trying different scenarios and none have worked so far. I have combined the license file and it looks very much like the one Steve showed me. Still no luck.

Thanks

Chris

[Steve_Stafford]

Knowledge Base Article #TS83099 (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=3831093&linkID=3770375) mentions the separate server req'mt for 5.1 and 6.0 licensing mgrs. We had a conflict, if you didn't your domain must be configured differently?

I suspect that this KB article is being incorrectly identified as your problem by support at the moment? They need to understand that it is the Feature Code for Revit and ARS at issue. At least that's what it looks like to us.

[cphubb]

Well here is the official word from Autodesk support.



Yes, we recommend that you run the two licensing managers on two different computers. The documentation for this particular situation is forth coming.

This is really bad. I am contacting my reseller to see if we can switch to stand alone. Boo Autodesk

Chris

[Steve_Stafford]

Boo too...

[Wes Macaulay]

Well, this is a pain... having to run the ARS and R6 NW licenses on two different computers! I would hope they're working on this problem. We've got lots of folks who will be doing exactly this.

[slb]

This thread seems to be discussing two slightly different issues. I'll try to address them both:

Revit 6.0 Network Licensing (AdLM) in conjunction with Revit 5.1 Network Licensing (RLM):

These two FLEXlm based servers don't play well together and should be run on two different servers. We don't suspect this is a condition that would last tool long at any particular firm, so, hopefully, it should not be too much of an issue.

Revit 6.0 Network Licensing (AdLM) in conjunction with the AutoCAD Revit Series 1 (AdLM):

Although I believe support did give guidance early on that these two license types would not be able to be served from a single AdLM based FLEXlm server, that was incorrect. The two license type can be combined in one server and served at the same time.

The method for combining the licenses is available in Revit under the Help topic "Welcome to Autodesk Revit" > "Licensing".

[Steve_Stafford]

Interesting, has anyone succeeded in doing this? I've looked at the file Chris is using and it looks identical to the ones in the help doc's. Except the Feature code name/number for Revit and ARS are identical and all other Autodesk products have distinctly different feature code names/numbers.

[cphubb]

Steve B,

You need to talk to Lance in support. He told me there is no way to run ARS and Revit 6.0 on the same box. We have tried every which way and it does not work. I have contacted my reseller to express my extreme dissapointment with this situation and they are working with Autodesk to resolve the problem. If you know of a way to do this you need to convey that to support so they can guide people in this better than they are doing now.

Here is the infro from support.

Chris,

Yes, we recommend that you run the two licensing managers on two different computers. The documentation for this particular situation is forth coming.

Lance

Lance Kirby
Field Support Architect
Autodesk, Inc.
877-477-3848
revitsupport@autodesk.com


Chris

[slb]

Thanks Chris,

Lance and I work together in Support.

We're learning about some discrepancies where an ARS license and a Revit license will not work together on the same server. At this point it is believed they will work together if their issue date is the same.

We understand that it is fairly likely that the issue date for the two license types will be different, however, so we're looking for a way to resolve the issue.

I'll keep you posted with the results in this thread.

[slb]

All Autocad and/or Revit clients who ALSO HAVE Autocad Revit Series with network licenses for both can request a combined license from the Autodesk Business Center (https://pointa.autodesk.com/local/enu/portal/vip/members/services/cschelp.jsp).

Please provide them with the Contract numbers and Serial numbers for your ACAD and/or Revit licenses as well as the ACAD Revit Series licenses and they will provide you with a single license file which combines the total number of licenses.

In future releases of the ACAD Revit series, the licenses will work more effectively when combined together on the AdLM network license server.

Subscription clients with any questions or problems, please don't hesitate to contact either customercare.abc@autodesk.com or RevitSupport@Autodesk.com

[cphubb]

Steve,

Tried your solution and the license they sent still does not work. Just thought I would let you now.

Chris