Autodesk Cloud

Introduction

Open iT supports Autodesk usage reporting by collecting data from the Autodesk Admin Portal. This will produce the following aggregated data types used for historical reporting:

• (137) License Token Individual Usage
• (138) License Token Total Usage
• (139) License Subscription Inventory v2
• (140) License Product Assignment v2
• (146) License Seat Usage

Autodesk Cloud Support Architecture

Data Collection Architecture

To initiate data collection, account credentials are configured in the Open iT Core Server and authenticated via OAuth 2.0 through the Open iT Customer Portal (Identity Provider). The AWS Centralized Data Collection Service then connects to the Autodesk Admin Portal to collect license metrics using these credentials.

Once authenticated, the service gathers data periodically, converts it into the Open iT format, and securely transfers it to the Core Server. The Core Server processes this data and sends it to the SQL database on the Analysis Server for further aggregation and reporting. The Autodesk data can then be visualized in Open iT’s reporting services or integrated with third-party BI tools like Power BI.

The following sections will guide you in setting up data collection account, configuring cloud data collection, and verifying and troubleshooting issues in data collection.

Requirements

• Account with at least secondary admin privileges to the Autodesk Portal
• Installed Autodesk Cloud plugin
• Registered account in the Open iT Customer Portal
• Configured Open iT customer account to CBCS. This is done by the Open iT CBCS Administrator upon customer's request. To request configuration, please send an email to cbcs@openit.com with the following details:
  • Company name
  • Email address of the registered account in the Open iT Customer Portal
  • Open iT Core Server time zone

Setting Up Data Collection Account

This provides instructions on setting up an Autodesk account for data collection from the Autodesk portal for Named User Subscription and Flex.

Inviting Email to Autodesk

To invite an email specifically for data collection purposes, follow the instructions below:

1. Provide an email address that will be used for data collection from the Autodesk Cloud Portal.

   note

   Make sure that the email address is not configured for Single Sign-On (SSO), as Open iT does not support this functionality for the data collection service. If your organization's default email domain is configured for SSO, please use a different email domain. Consult your IT department for assistance.

2. Go to the Autodesk's official website and sign in to your existing Autodesk Administrator account.

   note

   The email address used for data collection should differ from the one associated with your existing Autodesk Administrator account. Make sure you use a separate email address specifically for data collection purposes.

   

   Sign in

3. In the top-right corner of the page, click the icon, then click Account.

   

   Navigating to Account page

4. In the Account page, navigate to User Management, then select By User on the left side.

   

   Navigating to User Management

5. Click Invite users in the top-right corner of the page.

   

   Inviting User

6. Enter the user's first name, last name, and the provided email address for data collection. Once done, click Send invite. A confirmation message will appear indicating that the email invitation was successfully sent.

   

   Entering User Information

   note

   After the invite is sent, the invited user will be listed on the User Management by User page with a status of Invited shown in the Account status column, indicating that the user still needs to accept the invitation.

   Click Done to close the window.

   note

   Make sure that the data collection email is added in all the teams where usage data needs to be collected. If the email is not included to a particular team, the usage data for that team will not be collected.

   To add the email to a team, select the relevant team name from the Team dropdown in the upper-left part of the User Management by User page. Then, invite the data collection email to join that team.

7. Open the invitation sent to the email and follow the instructions in setting up the new email account.

Assigning Secondary Admin Role

To export usage data from the Autodesk Portal, the email address used for data collection must have a secondary admin role. Follow these steps to assign the secondary admin role:

1. Find the user associated with the provided email address for data collection. Use the search box to filter users. Once found, click the at the end of the user row.

   

   Search User

2. Click Change role below the name of the user.

   

   Change Role

3. Select Secondary admin, then click the Save button.

   

   Select Secondary admin

   note

   Make sure that the invited account is assigned a Secondary Admin role for all associated teams within the Autodesk portal.

   To assign a secondary admin role to the data collection account in other teams, select the relevant team from the Team dropdown in the upper-left part of the User Management by User page. Then, follow step 1 again to assign the data collection account to the secondary admin role for that team.

Configuring Cloud Data Collection

This section guides you in configuring data collection in the Autodesk Admin Portal. The configuration process is divided into two main steps: initiating OAuth authentication and configuring Autodesk credentials.

Initiating OAuth Authentication

note

If your Customer Portal account hasn't been configured for the Open iT Cloud-based Collection Service (CBCS), new customers should contact their Open iT Project Manager for assistance, while existing customers can reach out to the Open iT Support Team at support@openit.com for further support.

To initiate OAuth authentication process:

1. Open a command prompt with Administrator level privileges.

2. Go to the Autodesk Cloud Plugin directory, which is by default C:\Program Files\OpeniT\Autodesk Cloud Plugin, run the command:

   Command Syntax

   cd $PLUGIN_DIR
   Example

   cd C:\Program Files\OpeniT\Autodesk Cloud Plugin

3. To initiate the OAuth authentication process, run the command:

   Command Syntax

   openit_oauth

   After running the command, you will be redirected to a web browser page for OAuth authentication.

4. To authorize the access request, click the YES, ALLOW button.

   

   Allow Permission

   After successful authentication, you will see a confirmation message indicating that the process has been completed.

   

   Successful Authentication

Configuring Autodesk Credentials

To set up the Autodesk account credentials for the Autodesk Cloud Plugin to access the Autodesk Admin Portal, follow these steps:

1. Run the following command after initiating OAuth authentication:

   Command Syntax

   openit_autodeskcredentials --email <autodesk_data_collection_email> --password <autodesk_admin_password>

   where:

   Parameter	Description
   --email <autodesk_data_collection_email>	Use this to specify the Autodesk email to be utilized for cloud data collection.
   --password <autodesk_admin_password>	Use this to specify the password to be utilized for cloud data collection.

   Parameters for Configuring Autodesk Credentials
   
   
   Example

   openit_autodeskcredentials --email jsmith@email.com --password Adm!n123
   note

   If you update your Autodesk admin password in the future, you must reconfigure the Autodesk credentials by repeating the steps outlined above. Failure to do so will prevent data from being collected from the Autodesk Portal, affecting subsequent usage data transfers to the Core Server.

2. Once successful, it will display the following:

   Example Output

   Credentials uploaded.
   Configuration in progress. Please wait.
   Configuration complete.
   note

   When the data collection is newly configured, the usage data collected from the Autodesk Portal will be available in the Core Server within 1 to 3 days after the credentials are successfully configured. Data transfer to the Core Server is scheduled daily at 6 AM UTC.

Verifying and Troubleshooting Issues in Cloud Data Collection

This section guides you in verifying and troubleshooting issues encountered in data collection.

note

To have an in-depth understanding of this section, it is recommended for you to read the architecture of Autodesk Cloud support.

Verifying Data Collection through the Dagster UI

Dagster, as the orchestration tool, plays a key role in managing and monitoring the data collection process in the Core Server. To verify the status of the data collection process through Dagster UI, follow the instructions below.

Accessing the Dagster UI and Verifying Latest Run

1. Open a web browser and navigate to the Dagster instance URL, http://localhost:45203, which is the default endpoint.

2. Upon loading the Dagster UI, check the Latest run at the top of the window. Make sure the Latest run is up-to-date and displays the most recent collection as expected, based on the schedule (daily at 6 AM UTC). This confirms that the system is collecting data as expected.

   

   Check Latest run

   If the Latest run is not current or up-to-date, it may indicate that the data collection process has failed or been delayed, and further investigation is required.

   

   Failed run

Verifying Run Status

To determine the status of data collection jobs, navigate to the Runs tab in the Dagster UI. Check the Status column for the latest jobs. All jobs should display Success. If a job is unsuccessful, it will display a Failure status.

Successful Run Jobs

If a job has failed, you can check the error details by clicking View run in the last column for further investigation.

View run

Upon clicking, it will redirect you to the Runs page. You can check the error details under the Events tab.

Check errors

To re-execute the failed jobs, navigate back to the Jobs page. In the Runs tab, click the dropdown next to View run in the last column of the failed job. Select Re-execute from the options to rerun the failed job.

Re-execute failed jobs

note

Re-executing the job will trigger the same collection process again. Make sure that the job successfully completes in the next run.

Resolving Missing or Outdated Data

If reports show missing or outdated data, you may need to manually trigger a run for the relevant dataset:

1. Go to the Launchpad tab in the Dagster UI.

   

   Navigate to Launchpad tab

2. Click the Dataset field, then select the specific dataset associated with the missing or outdated data in your report from the dropdown.

   

   Select Dataset

   To determine which dataset to select for manual execution, refer to the table below. Each dataset is linked to a specific data type used in Autodesk reporting:

   Dataset	Archive	Associated Data Type
   openit-usage-seat	CBCSAutodeskSeat.license.record	(146) License Seat Usage
   openit-usage-token	CBCSAutodeskToken.license.record	(137) License Token Individual Usage (138) License Token Total Usage
   openit-usage-token-adjustments	CBCSAutodeskToken.license.record	(137) License Token Individual Usage (138) License Token Total Usage
   openit-usage-token-cloud	CBCSAutodeskToken.license.record	(137) License Token Individual Usage (138) License Token Total Usage
   openit-usage-token-desktop	CBCSAutodeskToken.license.record	(137) License Token Individual Usage (138) License Token Total Usage
   openit-usage-token-adjustments-raw	CBCSAutodeskTokenAdjustments.license.raw	---
   openit-users	CBCSAutodeskUsers.license.record	(140) License Product Assignment v2
   openit-subscriptions	CBCSAutodeskSubscriptions.license.record	(139) License Subscription Inventory v2

   Autodesk Dataset Reference
   
   

   For example, if there is missing or outdated data related to Autodesk Seat License Record (Data Type 146), you should select the openit-usage-seat dataset.

3. Click the Launch Run button to manually start a data collection process for the selected dataset.

   

   Launch Run

Handling Configuration Errors during Autodesk Credentials Setup

If the wrong credentials are entered during the Autodesk credentials configuration process, the system may trigger a CAPTCHA verification after three failed login attempts, causing the following error:

Error Log Example

C:\Program Files\Openit\Autodesk Cloud Plugin\openit_autodeskcredentials.exe --email jsmith@email.com --password ********
Credentials uploaded.
Configuration in progress. Please wait.
ERROR 2024-10-22 14:36:26,594 __main__ RetryError[Future at 0x1d20749c0d0 state=finished raised AssertionError>]
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "tenacity\__init__.py", line 478, in __call__
File "applib\aws\s3\status\poll.py", line 9, in poll
AssertionError
...

To resolve this issue, a manual intervention is required. Follow the steps to reset login attempts:

1. Go to the Autodesk Management Portal.
2. Manually log in using the correct credentials and complete the CAPTCHA verification.
3. Once logged in successfully, return to the command line and reconfigure your Autodesk credentials.

note

If you encounter more complex errors or issues that are not covered in this documentation, feel free to reach out to the Open iT Support Team at support@openit.com for further assistance.