Understanding Previous Version support for Autodesk Suite products

Issue

You are a Subscription customer who has received an Autodesk license file containing a PACKAGE increment for your network Autodesk Suite product and you would like to understand more about Previous Version support and how it affects license consumption in your pool of available licenses.

Solution

Previous Version support is an exclusive benefit to Subscription customers that allows you to run the current version of an Autodesk product plus the three previous versions of that same product. For network products, Previous Version support is provided via PACKAGE increments in the Autodesk license files. Here is an example of a PACKAGE increment for Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2012:

SERVER myserver 12345678abcd
USE_SERVER
VENDOR adskflex port=2080
PACKAGE 85690DSPRM_F adskflex 1.000 COMPONENTS="85784DSPRM_2012_0F \
    85655DSPRM_2011_0F 71200ACD_2010_0F 83900MBXPRO_2010_0F \
    70000MAXDES_2010_0F 57600ACD_2009_0F 612003DSMAX_2009_0F" \
    OPTIONS=SUITE SUPERSEDE ISSUED=14-Jul-2011 SIGN="0AF0 DCAC 480B D442 41A1 8858 3830 2A84 3A71 7941 6106 9604 F4B0 8C99 6E90 146D B3EB 23A7 81F8 E3F3 A1E9 9ABB 5E12 C237 262D 3691 1FAE 607E 60C9 6A85" SIGN2="12EB A008 D516 2AA7 798E 36E4 9C51 136F B3CE D7C9 D55D 2F16 2139 2F2A 8957 015C 8F95 F9F3 0995 554F F25A 9431 3BD4 47A9 A4CA D3C7 3571 9191 C270 7867"

This PACKAGE increment includes the feature codes for Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2012 and Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2011. Since 2011 was the first release of Autodesk Design Suite Premium, Previous Version support is provided for the 2010 and 2009 versions of the products included in the Suite using the individual product feature codes.

License Consumption

Previous Version support allows Suite licenses to only consume a single license for every application from the same release year of the Suite. If the Autodesk Suite product did not exist in the previous year then each previous version of a product that is launched will consume a separate license. Since no Autodesk Suites exist prior to the 2011 release year, launching a previous version of all 2010 and 2009 products will always consume one license each.

For example, if you have a package license for Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2012, the following scenarios can be expected:

• Running AutoCAD 2012, 3ds Max Design 2012, and Mudbox 2012, on the same workstation and at the same time, only consumes one license.
• Running Showcase 2011 and Mudbox 2011, on the same workstation and at the same time, also only consumes one license because there is a 2011 version of Autodesk Design Suite Premium.
• Running AutoCAD 2010 and 3ds Max Design 2010, on the same workstation at the same time, consumes two licenses (one for each product) because there was no version of Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2010.

How is Previous Version support managed for future versions of Suites?

The first version of a Suite manages Previous Version (PV) access by individual products in the Suite. For example:

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2012

AutoCAD 2012 (PV: 2011-2009)
Autodesk Sketchbook Designer 2012 (PV:2011 - 2011 was the first release of this product)
Autodesk Showcase 2012 (PV: 2011—2009)
Autodesk Mudbox 2012 (PV: 2011-2009)

With each subsequent release of the Suite, Previous Version support is provided using earlier versions of the Suite and any older products that were in a previous Suite:

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2013

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2013 (PV: 2012)
AutoCAD 2011 (PV: 2010)
Autodesk Sketchbook Designer 2011 (no PV)
Autodesk Showcase 2011 (PV: 2010)
Autodesk Mudbox 2011 (PV: 2010)

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2014

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2014 (PV: 2013-2012)
AutoCAD 2011
Autodesk Showcase 2011
Autodesk Mudbox 2011

Once the fourth version of the Suite has shipped, Previous Version manages the current plus three previous versions of the Suites:

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2015

Autodesk Design Suite Standard 2015 (PV: 2014-2012)

More Information

For more information on Previous Version support, please refer to the following documents and solutions:

Autodesk Subscription use of Previous Version FAQ

Not all Previous Version licenses are available after activating an Autodesk Design Suite

Understanding Previous Version support for Autodesk Point products