Follow the discussion: http://bit.ly/yDgMpG

Here’s the simple steps to get going:

1. Download and Install the FLEXnet application.
2. Install. (You’ll need to make sure JAVA is installed on the server first)
3. Create a folder called ‘adskflex’ under the folder where FLEXnet is installed. “C:\Program Files\FLEXnet Publisher License Server Manager\adskflex“)
4. Copy the adskflex.exe vendor daemon file from the previous install of FlexLM into the new adskflex folder.
5. Create another ‘adskflx’ folder under the FLEXnet license sub-folder. “C:\Program Files\FLEXnet Publisher License Server Manager\licenses\adskflex’”
6. Copy your license file into the adskflx license folder.
7. Run the lmadmin.exe application from the FLEXnet folder.
8. Open your web browser and point it to: http://localhost:8080
9. Click the Administration tab and login. Default username and password is ‘admin’.
10. Click the ‘Vendor Daemon Configuration’ and browse for your license file to import.
11. Paste in the Vendor Daemon location on the next screen. “C:\Program Files\FLEXnet Publisher License Server Manager\adskflex\adskflex.exe”
12. Done!

I’m not sure why it showed in the logs. I’m assuming there is some sort of email, contacts or other integration I tagged into. Does this mean Autodesk is already up and running with it’s own brand new product for day to day operations at Autodesk? This would be a good question to ask. I’m going to say… yes.

If you remember, I discovered the Autodesk Cloud URL just before launch as well, here. I love doing stuff like this.

Look for more information and updates soon through my blog posts and on Twitter at @cadtoolbox.

I’ve been a fan of Al Dean and Develop3D ever since listening to him on the weekly Engineer Vs. Designer Podcast (@EvD1). The articles are some of the best written, most informative, and unbiased I have read out of any professional CAD magazine. Some of my recent favorites have been the articles unveiling Autodesk’s new PLM solution, Autodesk 360.

The magazine is free to residents of the UK with a subscription for purchase available through their online store for the rest of us. Develop3D also has it’s own Apple iOS App, for those of you who don’t miss flipping the paper pages.

Interestingly enough, the staff at Develop3D is set to bring more to it’s readers than what it writes. They are hosting a one day manufacturing, product design and engineering event on March 20, 2012, titled Develop3D Live. The event is featuring an impressive list of speakers which include Blake Courter; co-founder of SpaceClaim, Tom Kurke; CEO of Geomagic, Hardi Meybaum; CEO of Grabcad and Kevin Schneider; Sr. Product Manager at Autodesk.

DEVELOP3D Magazine is inviting you to its inaugural product design, engineering and manufacturing event at Warwick University on 20 March, 2012.

The single-day event will bring together experts from around the world, and some of the most exciting, interesting speakers we could find, to give insights into what is coming next, the latest technology to give you competitive advantage and a host of genuinely new ideas to breath life into product development and manufacture, both in the UK and around the world.

More Develop3D Live information: Read About It | Register

Of course, this image is copyright… so don’t make me mad by trying to use it for something lame.

This is a great free service from Autodesk that I’m sure they plan on expanding on in the future. So, how would I change Autodesk Cloud? Well… wouldn’t it be great to use it as the back-end to update design files on your companies website? Let’s say your new widget design has changed, how do you go about updating the specification drawing and related documents on your website now? PDF them out, open your FTP client and upload to the right folder and hope all the links get updated, right? Maybe you have a more advanced system in place, but they probably all involve some sort of “out of the native CAD application type workflow”.

It would be a great scenario if you could publish your design file directly to Autodesk Cloud documents as you can do now but with the added ability to tag which files need to get updated to the right FTP path every time they change. Yes, workflow approval would be nice… and maybe this is more Autodesk 360 Nexus than base Autodesk Cloud. It has been always a cumbersome process from my experience of getting the engineering data in the right hands in marketing and getting your website product information updated in a timely manner.

I do believe this could be another whole product offering for the first company to do it right. A website back-end that is cloud powered for design files, with a skin in your company colors, logos, and look. If your anything like me when you are designing something and are moving along, the last thing you want to do is have to pause for a meandering mess of information on a supplier’s website. It’s usually a mess because nobody understands how to update a website and if they do it take s way too much time to upload and update dozens of files and links at a time.

Speaking of a meandering mess, this blog post may be categorized as that. However, I wanted to write this thought down before it got lost… just like the missing rev 2 drawing for your new widget design you emailed to your IT guy to get uploaded to your website last month.

If you’re on Facebook, a great resource for information regarding Autodesk 360 Nexus can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/autodesk360nexus

The narrators voice in this video is convincing enough: