Maintaining

Your Licenses
and Support
Frequently Asked Questions

Updated July 10, 2020

Maintaining Your Licenses and Support: FAQs

Licensing
On January 1, 2021, support for SELECTserver® will be discontinued and the application will be deprecated.

• There will be no impact on the Subscription Entitlement Service (SES) native desktop applications (CONNECT
Edition SES-enabled and SELECTseries 10).

• Legacy desktop applications previously licensed through SELECTserver will no longer be pooled and will need to be
machine registered.

• Server and client applications such as ProjectWise® versions previously licensed with SELECTserver will not require
machine registration, but will communicate via SES rather than SELECTserver.

• All SELECTserver administration will be removed and replaced with SES as detailed below.

• Deployed SELECTserver will no longer be supported. Users of client server applications (e.g., ProjectWise) will
maintain expiring support status for those applications until SES-enabled versions are available. The application
will remain accessible, though Bentley recommends upgrading to the latest version to protect your users from
security vulnerabilities

We encourage you to upgrade as soon as possible. To avoid the need to move to a machine-based license* environment,
please plan to migrate now so your users are not impacted at the end of this year.

How will the deprecation of SELECTserver affect the functionality of my

applications and license management?
Previous generations of Bentley applications will still run within the new machine-based workflows. However, all of the
functionality around license management and access will be either removed or replaced with functionality within SES:

• Activation – All of your existing Site Activation Keys, Customer Activation Groups, and Temporary
Activation Keys will continue to activate your Bentley products. However, administrators will be required to
configure their products for “machine-based” usage. This will be done via the Subscription Services Portal.

• SELECTserver Admin Portal – The Admin Portal in its entirety will be removed and all management functionality
will move into the Subscription Services Portal.

• Checkout Restrictions – Checkout restrictions within SELECTserver have been removed and replaced with SES
checkout restrictions. Existing restrictions must be recreated in SES. Checkout restrictions can be defined at the
global- or country-level and not at the activation key level.

• License Checkouts – License checkouts will continue to be supported via the desktop license tool and within the
Subscription Services Portal.

• Custom Activation Groups (CAGs) – Activation keys for CAGs will continue activating Bentley software.
However, any product restrictions that were applied to those CAGs need to be recreated as entitlement groups
within SES and then associated with an activation key.

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 • Temporary Activation Keys – Temporary activation keys will continue to activate software; however, the end date of
an activation key will no longer be honored. Like CAGs, product restrictions will be removed and must be recreated with
entitlement groups.

• Client Access Restrictions – Client access restrictions will no longer be supported.

• ELS Feature-Level Configuration – Feature-level configuration will no longer be supported. Restrictions within SES
can be created to control which feature-levels are available at an organization-level.

• Sites – Sites within SELECTserver have been removed. Activation keys have been mapped to their respective usage
country, based on the country the site was previously associated with. Any product access restrictions that are
applied at the global- or country-level must be applied to all related activation keys.

Current versions of the applications that are already licensed within SES will have no changes in functionality or accessibility.

What will happen to my desktop applications licensed by SELECTserver on

January 1, 2021?
Desktop applications licensed by SELECTserver will require a machine-based license* environment in order for users to
continue accessing the applications. Without either migrating to an SES-enabled application or registering machine-
based licenses, users will experience a deactivation mode which varies per application. For instance, when trying to access
MicroStation®, civil, building, etc. (versions prior to V8i SELECTseries 10) the application will close every 15 minutes. Others
may not be accessible at all, for example, all Offshore Structural Analysis applications. This deactivation mode will persist
until machine-based licenses are registered.

How will my organization benefit from the Subscription Entitlement Service?

Outside of preserving your license pooling benefits, SES enhances users’ digital workflows. With improved licensing capability
features such as license alert notifications, which can be set with a custom usage threshold, and the replacement of site
activation keys with user validation, SES enhances security around your Bentley licenses and subscriptions. Learn more.

What is a “machine-based license”?

Pooled licenses provide the ability to cover a number of machines that are concurrently in use. The machine-based license
environment eliminates license pooling, shifting to a single license that is specifically assigned to one designated machine.
Unless applications are upgraded to versions with SES, administrators will need to register their desired machines to ensure
they are covered by a machine-based license.

Will there be a way for me to manage my machine-based licenses?

Administrators will be able to manage machine-based licenses within Entitlement Management. There, licenses can be
registered and unregistered as needed. Please note there will be limited time restrictions to unregistering any licenses.

How do I maintain my license pooling benefit?

Current application versions and SES provide the benefit of license pooling. Upgrade your Bentley applications.

What is the process of registering a machine-based license?

If you have not upgraded your applications to current versions and must move to a machine-based license environment, you
will need to individually assign licenses to each machine accessing desktop applications via SELECTserver. In the machine-
based license environment, a product will be tied to a specific machine, meaning one license must be required per machine.

To begin, go to the Entitlement Management tool within the Subscription Services Portal. After accessing the machine
registration page, you can choose which machines to register from a pre-populated list. Any machines not included in this
list can be easily added. You also have the option to bulk upload machines you would like to register.

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When will registration of machine-based licenses be available in the
Subscription Entitlement Service?
The ability to register machine-based licenses via SES will be available by October 31, 2020.

How can I avoid moving to a machine-based license environment?

Please migrate to applications licensed via the SES: CONNECT Edition applications or SELECTseries 10 applications.
Upgrade your Bentley applications.

How many machine-based licenses should I register?

For organizations that do not upgrade to the CONNECT Edition (with SES) or SELECTseries 10, administrators will need to
register their desired machines to a list of specifically assigned machine-based licenses. Each machine must be registered
and assigned a machine-based license. Bentley recommends each organization assess their individual needs when
determining how many licenses to register. To provide flexibility, there is no limit to the quantity of machine-based licenses
assigned by your organization.

How will eliminating license pooling affect organizations with an Enterprise

License Subscription or E365?
All organizations must move to CONNECT Edition (with SES) applications or SELECTseries 10 to continue to use license
pooling. Regardless of the type of licenses and subscriptions you have, if your applications are not on the CONNECT Edition
of SELECTseries 10, you will be required to register your machines to access SELECTserver desktop applications unless you
choose to migrate your users.

What will happen to MicroStation/J® and the Gateway?

MicroStation/J will continue to run without any technological interruption; however, the Gateway must be
machine-registered.

What if I am in the process of connecting my users and migrating to

CONNECT Edition?
Please continue migrating your users and keep in mind things like federation are available to ensure your organization
accomplishes this by January 1, 2021. Success Plays may also be available to assist with the upgrade. Click here for more
information on Connected Users. More information on how to migrate can be found here.

What if my organization utilizes a deployed SELECTserver?

Deployed SELECTserver will no longer be supported. Users of client server applications (e.g., ProjectWise) will maintain
expiring support status for those applications until SES-enabled versions are available. Other users continuing to use them
will do so at their own risk.

What will happen to home-use licenses?

Bentley will be turning off home-use licenses. For specific home-use license requests, users must contact Bentley for a 30-
day evaluation of an eligible CONNECT Edition product. The SELECT Agreement states home-use licenses are not intended
for commercial, production, evaluation, or training use.

What if I have an existing project or customer mandate to utilize a non-

CONNECT Edition version?
Older application versions will still be accessible in a machine-based* license environment. To provide disruption-free
migration for your existing projects and to address client requirements for V8i, a SELECTseries 10 application version may
offer you a smoother transition.

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What if my desktop applications do not have a migration path?
If your desktop application does not have a CONNECT Edition or SELECTseries 10 version enabled by SES, you will not be
impacted by the deprecation of SELECTserver for those applications. Any machines only using those applications will not be
required to register. A list of applications not impacted will be available soon.

Where can I find Bentley’s Support Policy?

Support Policy status information for Bentley’s License Administration Services can be found here.

Where can I find more information on Getting Current – CONNECT Edition and
SELECTseries 10?
Click here for more information on migrating to CONNECT Edition.

*In the machine-based license environment, a product will be tied to a specific machine, meaning one license will be required per machine.

Desktop Application Support

Will service requests be answered for unsupported versions?
Bentley will prioritize service requests for supported versions of applications and cannot guarantee that service requests
for unsupported application versions will be monitored. Users will continue having access to the resources and information
available on Bentley Communities.

What are the risks of running unsupported applications?

• Potential increase in project downtime

• Operating System Upgrades (ex. to Windows 10) and associated security patches may not be supported and may
cause application failures

• Compliance (ex. SOX) could be at-risk

What benefits do I obtain from my SELECT subscription for

discontinued applications?
There are many benefits to SELECT including the ability to upgrade to supported versions, providing your organization the
benefit of license pooling.

Will this impact my SELECT subscription?

Bentley encourages all organizations to update their contract to our latest terms and conditions. Your existing contract
dates are independent from the information detailed in our Support Policy or the deprecation of the SELECTserver. For
more information on the Support Policy, please click here.

© 2020 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the Bentley logo, MicroStation, MicroStation/J, ProjectWise, SELECT, and SELECTserver are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service
marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. 07/20 v1