License Profile Simulation

[Andy_Admin]

Is it possible to simulate different license profiles, to test which licenses I need?

So, maybe there is a "I can do everything"-license-profile for an admin/test user that I can strip down with a profile. Is there maybe even a given database where I can download such profiles, to import them next to my standard profiles?

I would love to do that on the productive server, too, by the way.

Thanks!

(Why: Every one of the three user-roles only uses his/her three to five standard processes. I can't tell which of the over 400 actions make them work or which of the PTC Windchill Advanced License, PTC View and Print Only License, PTC PDMLink Module License, PTC Creo Data Management and Visualization License, PTC Windchill Base License, PTC Contributor License I need, nor do I know in which of the five contexts, Product, Library, Project, Program, Global, which makes 12000 fields, which is too complex in its own. )

[avillanueva]

Why not create a test user account and assign that user various license sets? You can generally tell what's possible by what actions disappear. Also if you look at the license profiles that match the license names, it shows a table of what actions it enables. There are some information here:

https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS297225?source=search

[Andy_Admin]

Unfortunately, the license profiles I want to test are disabled. I cannot enable them or add users to them or their groups.

[Marco_Tosin]

Do you have available licenses of the type of profile you want to use?

I don't think you can add a user to a license profile if you haven't bought that type of license.

This could be the reason for the "License not found..." error.

[Andy_Admin]

Hi Marco, thanks for your time!

No, I don't have available licenses of the type of profile I want to test, that is the whole point:

I need new licenses because of the changed license-model from PTC. The users need to click several buttons in Windchill, there is no overview which actions from the profiles allow the buttons to work. So, I need to test the licenses. I cannot test them because I did not buy them yet.

And yes, the not-bought-license is very likely the reason for the "License not found..."-Error.

[Marco_Tosin]

Have you read this article yet?

https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS297225

It explains how to map between Windchill licenses and their respective available actions

[Andy_Admin]

Hi Marco, 

yes, read it, thanks!

But as said, that's no solution to my problem, as there is no link to the Buttons in Windchill or further information to the actions.

[Andy_Admin]

I opened a case here:

https://support.ptc.com/apps/business_support/auth/ssl/assistant

[Andy_Admin]

I opened the case with:

"We need new licenses and I need to test them to make sure they fit our processes. Therefore, I want to assign test-users to license-profiles (or their groups), which are disabled. That is not possible. Therefore, I'd like to have an excemption for minimum "PTC Contributor License" and for the "PTC Windchill Base License", best case would be access to all that I can buy at the moment. Is it possible to enable the license-groups so I can assign test-users to them?"

The answer was:

"Thank you for contacting Access Enablement. I will be assisting you with this case.

If I understood correctly, you need temporary licenses for testing purposes – right?

In this case, please, reach out to your sales representative to discuss this request."

--> There is no solution provided by PTC.

[HelesicPetr]

Hi @Andy_Admin 

I just add one point,

if a license group is disabled, that means that the license is not used anymore. So you can not use it. 

PetrH

[Andy_Admin]

Hi @HelesicPetr 

What do you mean by saying "is not used anymore"?

Do you mean that in general, "It's not possible to buy the license anymore." or specific for us "You don't use it?"

In case you mean it in general, that is definitely wrong, see the license overview attached. There are licenses that we don't use and that are enabled (S1000...) and there are licenses mentioned, that are definitely still sold by PTC, like the Windchill base or the Contribute-license.

In case you mean it specifically for us, well, that is the whole point, I don't use it, but I want to and don't know how.

Or do you mean something else?

I really appreciate any help, thanks a lot in advance!

[Marco_Tosin]

Have you read this article?

License Profiles are getting disabled despite having valid licenses and no way to troubleshoot this scenario on Windchill

[Andy_Admin]

Hi Marco,

thanks! I read it now. 😉

Unfortunately it doesn't fit my case. (We have a different Windchill version, (12.0.2.5) than mentioned here (12.1) and we don't have the licenses I want to test, so there is nothing wrongfully disabled.)

Andy

[Marco_Tosin]

So the only chance you have to test the license you don't have is to ask your dealer for a temporary one.

[Andy_Admin]

You are most likely right. But I do not want to "Accept as Solution", because that is no efficient way for license testing. That takes several weeks to get the license.

This topic needs to stay without solution, until PTC created a better way to test licenses.

[HelesicPetr]

@Andy_Admin 

You need to create Idea with your user case. 

Your question can be opened forever :D.

PetrH

[Marco_Tosin]

And also take a look at the help guide

https://support.ptc.com/help/wnc/r12.1.1.0/en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center/profilemgmt/ProfileMgmtAboutLicense.html

[Andy_Admin]

Yes, I know that, thanks for mentioning again. 

"Specifies No if the profile is disabled. License profiles can be disabled only by PTC. License profile is enabled when at least one license feature associated with the profile is valid. License profiles are disabled for the following conditions:

•Windchill is not configured with a valid license.

•The license features of a particular license profile were not included in the purchased license.

•Windchill license or all license features in the profile is expired.

If license profile is disabled, then user will not be able to view and perform any actions associated with it in Windchill."

--> Unfortunately it does not mention testing. And it does only mention that the profiles can be disabled by PTC. Not who or what can enable them, except buying a license. Which I do not want to, at the moment.

[HelesicPetr]

Hi @Andy_Admin 

During a time some profiles are not used anymore and they have an another equivalent.

for example

"PTC ProjectLink Module License" 
"PTC Supplier Management Module License" ,  atc.

So they are disabled even though system has the licenses.

Anyway your case is different and there is no way how you can use license profiles without license.

.

You can just create own profile as a copy of the license profile and attached user to it .

PetrH   

[Andy_Admin]

Hi @HelesicPetr 

that is great for my problem, although not the cleanest way to do it:

1. I can now create a "standard profile" named, for example "contributor" for the license.

2. Assign this profile to a license, i.e. "PDMLink" we already have and that works. 

3. The newly "switched in" standard profile called "contributor" will shrink the rights down to the new standard profile "contributor" (well, minus the rights that are already restricted in the "PDMLink"-license. But if the processes/buttons also works with this restriction, it'll also work with the full contributor license later.)

I will test it tomorrow.

[Andy_Admin]

As said before, PTC advised me to "reach out to your sales representative".

I did and got a "Evaluation Product Shedule"-document for the licenses I wanted.

I need to sign that and will (hopefully) get the licenses to test for 30 days. (There is a field for 60 and 90 days as well, so maybe directly communicate that to your sales representative.

(I will try to get that info into the help-file and maybe into some cases. Nobody needs the journey I had and still have.)