Autodesk Licensing and Computer Virtualization

Hi everyone.

Often questions arise on how Autodesk licensing works with computer virtualization, so together with Autodesk Legal^TM the Revit PM team wrote a FAQ to make the Licensing and Services Agreement (LSA) a little more clear. This document will be published in anoother "official" place, but because I know some of you needed a citation right away, I'm reproducing it here. Feel free to cite this blog entry as an authoritative link if you need to make a decision on some technology, and when the official^TM site is established later this week I'll post the link for that page as well.

Does the Autodesk License and Services Agreement (LSA) permit installing Autodesk products on virtual machines? 

Yes. For most Autodesk products starting with FY12 versions, the definition of “Computer” in the LSA includes the software implementation of a computer:

 7. “Computer” means (i) a single electronic device, with one or more central processing units (CPUs), that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates the information for a specific result based on a sequence of instructions, or (ii) a software implementation of such a device (or so-called virtual machine).

 Different Autodesk products (particularly older versions) may be subject to different license terms.  Please see your license agreement for details.

 Does the permission to install on a virtual machine apply to all license types?

 Yes, but the additional provisions of each license type must also be satisfied to maintain compliance with the LSA. For example, while Stand-alone licenses of Autodesk software may be installed on virtual machines, sessions depending on such licenses must be accessed through the hardware directly supporting the virtual machine, not through a network connection. Access to remote sessions of Autodesk software over a network is only permitted if you have a Network License.

If I call Autodesk Product Support, will they help with any Autodesk product issues occurring on a virtual machine?

Autodesk support will attempt to reproduce issues encountered by a customer in a hardware computer environment that conforms to the associated System Requirements and Recommendations document supplied with the Autodesk Product. Issues that cannot be reproduced in the hardware environment may be ascribed to the virtual machine environment’s influence, and the customer may be asked to contact the virtual machine vendor for further investigation.

 How does the Session Specific Network License type apply to virtual machine installations?

The Session Specific Network License type only applies to application virtualization technologies, not virtual machines. Permission to install Autodesk materials in an application virtualization environment is reserved to Supported Virtualization Applications as defined in the System Requirements and Recommendation documentation of each product.

May I virtualize an Autodesk product using virtualization technology that isn’t a Supported Virtualization Application?

Not without special permission from Autodesk. To request of a review and special permission for use of a proposed application virtualization implementation, please contact your Autodesk Reseller, Sales, or Account representative.

Applicable to releases 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 of most Autodesk products. Autodesk reserves the right to alter its product and services offerings, the license and services terms applicable thereto and its’ policies at any time. 

Hope that helps.

Anthony