SELECT Server XM Edition and Trust Licensing

1. Can SELECT Server enforce - or can I configure my SELECT Server to enforce - usage counts?
2. Is Bentley going to stop providing pooled licensing?
3. What if my network goes down and I cannot get a license?
4. Users at my company often start a Bentley application in order to "reserve a license" for later use. Is that a good practice to continue when using XM applications?
5. Is there actually a license file that XM applications use?
6. Does SELECT Server XM still support checked out licenses?
7. Do node-locked licenses have to check into the Bentley hosted licensing server every 30 days?
8. What's the difference between ProjectWise Passports and ProjectWise Named User (PWNU) licenses and UCLs?
9. What's the difference between a ProjectWise Passport and a CAL?
10. A subcontractor needs to access documents managed by ProjectWise, but we do not want the subcontractor to use our licenses. Is there an option to support this condition?
11. Why does "SELECT Server" show up in the usage reports for all of my sites?

Question 1: Can SELECT Server enforce - or can I configure my SELECT Server to enforce - usage counts?

Answer: No, SELECT Server XM Edition is not capable of enforcing a cap on usage due to the elimination of a real-time connection between the licensed application and the license server. It will report overages, but cannot be configured to prevent using too many copies of an application. If application usage is exceeded, SELECT Server will continue to provide licenses for that application.

The fundamental reason for this is not to extract more licenses, but to guarantee that a user is never shut out of a Bentley application. Notifications inform you if and when you have exceeded your usage count. If usage counts are continuously exceeded, an account should consider adding more licenses for that application.

Question 2: Is Bentley going to stop providing pooled licensing?

Answer: No, Bentley will continue to offer pooled licensing for our MicroStation and discipline-specific desktop applications. We do believe, however, that named user licensing and its universal approach to server access, is the most beneficial way to enable access to our ProjectWise servers.

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Question 3: What if my network goes down and I cannot get a license?

Answer: SELECT Server XM is no longer a real-time license server, so if a connection is lost, licensed applications are still able to run in full-functioning mode. If the disconnected state persists, the application can still run for up to 30 days, in most situations.

Question 4: Users at my company often start a Bentley application in order to "reserve a license" for later use. Is that a good practice to continue when using XM applications?

Answer: The practice of opening a MicroStation session to avoid being shut out of obtaining a license later is no longer necessary or encouraged. Trust licensing ensures that "running out of licenses" will no longer prevent users from running their applications when project demand requires it.

If idle usage of an XM application becomes problematic, there is a configuration variable that can be set to close a MicroStation design session after a user-defined period of inactivity occurs.

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Question 5: Is there actually a license file that XM applications use?

Answer: There are no actual license files for XM Edition applications. Product activation, including activation via a SELECT Server, is now stored in the operating system registry. This information can be managed by the License Management Tool (delivered with Bentley XM Edition applications) or it can be managed using a Windows Domain Group Policy setting.

Question 6: Does SELECT Server XM still support checked out licenses?

Answer: SELECT Server allows licenses to be checked out of license pools it manages. In the past, the maximum term of a checked out license was 90 days. SELECT Server XM Edition introduces extended check out periods, up to the remaining term of an account's SELECT Agreement. In addition, a checked-out license can be generated by the system administrator and emailed to a remote user for local deployment.

For non-SELECT accounts (license types): If all usages of an application are designated as check-out licenses and all the check-out licenses have been checked out, no additional usages of that application are available.

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Question 7: Do node-locked licenses have to check into the Bentley hosted licensing server every 30 days?

Answer: No. Checked-out (i.e., "node-locked") licenses are assumed to be in full use and do not log or report usage. Checked-out licenses do carry a term, however, and may need to be refreshed periodically.

Question 8:What's the difference between ProjectWise Passports and ProjectWise Named User (PWNU) licenses and UCLs?

Answer: ProjectWise Passport is the new name for all ProjectWise Client licenses. ProjectWise Passport replaces the Universal Client License (UCL) and the PWNU licenses. With the release of the V8 XM Edition, ProjectWise Passports are tracked and reported based on user names, not machine names.

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Question 9:What's the difference between a ProjectWise Passport and a CAL?

Answer: A CAL is a unique connection between one user and one server. A ProjectWise Passport works universally, with any and all licensed servers. A ProjectWise Passport requires SELECT coverage and can be managed by SELECT Server XM.

The Bentley model has the benefit of allowing all users unrestricted access to all ProjectWise clients and server applications. If, for example, a site has 100 ProjectWise Passports and 5 server applications, our licensing model permits all licensed users to connect to all servers, if all users use all of the server applications.

Question 10: A subcontractor needs to access documents managed by ProjectWise, but we do not want the subcontractor to use our licenses. Is there an option to support this condition?

Answer: ProjectWise Integration Server (like most Bentley servers) brokers client licenses to all users. In other words, wherever the ProjectWise Integration Server is licensed, the client application (i.e., ProjectWise Explorer) will also be licensed.

However, Bentley is introducing local license support for ProjectWise Explorer with the release of ProjectWise v08.09.03.xx SELECT Update (4Q2006). Settings on the Integration Server can be configured so that specific users (maybe external, maybe internal users at another site) are required to provide their own local license in order to use ProjectWise Explorer and access the Integration Server. In this case, the "external" user would activate and log usage to their own SELECT Server, not the SELECT Server of the owner of the ProjectWise system they are accessing.

Question 11:Why does "SELECT Server" show up in the usage reports for all of my sites?

Answer: All Sites defined in a license will always show a SELECT Server usage. This is not an indication that a user has activated a product against a SELECT Server at that site. It is simply an indication that the Site is in a license attached to a SELECT Server that is running. As long as the machine indicated in the usage log is the name of the expected server, there is no need for concern. And if it were the "wrong" machine - a "rogue" SELECT Server - it would be showing up in the logs as a second usage.