Windchill 11.1 M010 License mess

[BjoernRueegg]

I guess everybody knows that since Windchill 11.1 every user needs to have a license. And here starts the mess.

Because test users don't need a license or a engineer has a second admin user, PTC introduced in 11.1M010 a license exclusion group. This works as far I could test.

But now the mess starts. With Creo 5.0.1.0  and the Workgroup Managers for 11.1M010 PTC also checks if the user has a Windchill CAD-License. But they not checking against the license exclusion group. So even the wcadmin which normally creates all the Creo View data on the worker, needs to have all the Windchill CAD licenses!

I opened up a Case C14210080 and the currently answer is (case is not yet closed), that the articels have been updated, that also the wcadmin has to have the appropriate licenses. 

CS282719

What are your thoughts about this topic??? I guess, the community needs to get active. At the moment we aren't able to upgrade any customer to Windchill 11.1 because of this license mess.

[BenLoosli]

I see no issue with the CAD publishing user needing a Windchill license. The CAD publisher already must have a Creo license, so it makes sense that it should also need one to access the files to be published from Windchill.

The exception list is for those with special limited needs, not every day users. The CAD publisher is an everyday user in my book.

Why do you feel that the CAD publisher should be in the exemption list? If your licenses are a bundle, every Creo license includes a WIndchill license, one for one. There should be no extra licenses to be purchased for the CAD publisher.

[TomU]

Creo licenses are concurrent user and have the workgroup manager built it.  Other CAD platforms require a separate workgroup manager and are licensed by named user.  This distinction is critical.  While a workgroup manager license is required for each named user, additional licenses are not required for each login by that user. 

The problem here is that Windchill is now treating the workgroup manager named user licenses as concurrent and consuming one license for each login.  This is not correct.  Using the workgroup manager with 10 different logins  by the same individual (think CAD workers) only legally requires one license.

[BjoernRueegg]

Doesn't PTC give every customer a free license for Creo to publish their content? So why isn't at least one Windchill user license free? An license for an administrator doesn't really makes sense to me.

The exclusion group needs to be fixed, since we can't test anymore with special test users. 

[TomU]

Doesn't PTC give every customer a free license for Creo to publish their content? 

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One "Creo View Adapters" license is included with a purchase of Windchill PDMLink.  This allows running a single CAD worker to publish Creo Parametric files and neutral files (STEP, etc.)

[BjoernRueegg]

Exactly. And why does the customer needs to buy then a license for the windchill administrator? For me (us) it doesn't make sense.

[MSuarez]

Hello Brueegg,

The exclude group is not broken.

At least me, I just use it wrong.

It´s not enough to insert users in the exclude group.

You need also to include the exclude group in the other groups like MCADI

Check the pdf to create a working license free user for your VWS worker.

How-to create a Worker user in 11.1 M010

greets

Marcos

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[Invisigoth]

is the link in your response readily available?  The path is "https://share.ptc.com/sites/sales/ic/partner/posts/2018 Attachments Documents/Running Creo or WGM connecting to Windchill using admin accounts in License Exclusion group.pdf"

I get this error screen

[BjoernRueegg]

@Invisigoth sorry I don't see the error screenshot. Please upload it again.

[Invisigoth]

I hit the link again, and this time it presented a login screen for PTC sharepoint, which accepted my regular PTC creds and now I am looking at a four page how to....so all good now.  Thanks!

[BrianToussaint]

When I click on your link I get a 404 NOT FOUND error.

[JHall]

@BjoernRueegg,

Wow, that certainly looks like a tangled web indeed.  Since we are very interested in cascading attributes, Windchill 11.1 was looking enticing.  However this throws some cold water on the idea.  We are very interested in our field service techs getting some mobile access to Windchill via Navigate (which doesn't seem quite ready for them, yet) but this looks like it may complicate that issue further.   We also use Inventor and have been having  minor licensing problems, this CAD license problem is very unsettling to hear.

I'll be very interested in how this unfolds.

James Hall
Windchill 11.0 M030 CPS09

[TomU]

I went round and round with PTC when Windchill 11.1 F000 came out about how administrative and test users should not be consuming licenses since individuals are licensed, not usernames or logins.  Multiple logins by the same individual only requires one license. (See the licensing basis document.)  This ultimately lead to the creation of the license exclusion group in M010.

It would seem that PTC has once again failed to take this same requirement into consideration when setting up licensing for the workgroup managers.  You might be able to get around this for now by publishing as each user instead of under a single admin account.  (Set auth=$user in user.properties)  Ultimately they still need to fix this.  Don't let them close the case until they do!

[BjoernRueegg]

This works when an user creates all the published files. But if a viewer without a license needs to have a step file, it won't work.

[BjoernRueegg · Accepted solution]

Ok, just (almost) nobody from PTC did know how to use the exclusion group. There were even calls in the support database that the wcadmin needs to have a license to publish documents.

The solution is to add the wcadmin to the exclusion group and add this exclusion group to the license profile (e.g. PDMLink license). The same is also working for test users.

Everything fine 😉

[harike057]

I went round and round with PTC when Windchill 11.1 F000 came out about how administrative and test users should not be consuming licenses since individuals are licensed, not usernames or logins.  Multiple logins by the same individual only requires one license. (See the licensing basis document.)  This ultimately lead to the creation of the license exclusion group in M010. Psiphon