Got this in an email from Bentley today. I haven't seen any mention of it on the Communities, so here it is...
"After two decades of service, SELECTserver will be retired on December 31, 2020 for both hosted and deployed licensing. It has become increasingly difficult for us to maintain SELECTserver, to ensure its security and reliability, and to deliver enhancements and capabilities expected for modern application and cloud-based software.
Once SELECTserver is retired, application pooling will be continued and improved through CONNECT Licensing for all V8i SS10 or CONNECT Edition applications. CONNECT Licensing is being used successfully by over 50% of Bentley user organizations to manage their application licenses, has proven to be robust and reliable, and includes the enhancements and improvements Bentley users have long requested for their licensing administration.If you are using older applications and wish to avoid reverting to node-locked licenses at the end of 2020, please begin formulating your plans immediately to move to V8i SS10 or CONNECT Edition applications and to adopt CONNECT Licensing. We recognize that an application upgrade will require planning and time, and therefore we are adjusting our current Support Policy to support and accommodate your transition.Our Support Policy, effective today, is revised as follows:
We are making these changes to provide accounts using older V8i versions additional time to plan and implement your migration to either V8i SS10 or the CONNECT Edition, and to help you avoid any disruption to your pooled licensing.
Please remember that your Bentley Account Manager and members of our Success Force stand ready to help you."
The first sentence of the email is the most important line of the entire email, you have one year to get off of your old software before it stops working completely. There are a few DOT's I know still using InRoads SS2 that are going to have a hard time upgrading by this deadline. This is especially true for organizations who already have set budgets for next year that don't include completing the upgrade.
Hi Rod,
At one point Bentley created and released a "license adapter" that would allow individual versions of SelectServer based software (such as Microstation V8i (SS3)) to use the new Connect Licensing. Shortly after they released it and had the download available on the website, they pulled it off.
So your choices would be to update to Connect, use node-locked licenses, convince Bentley to re-release the licensing adapter software, live with the 15-minute trial limit, or ???
--Robert
What does this really mean exactly:
Support for V8i SS10 will be discontinued on December 31, 2021.
Will V8i SS10 products worldwide cease to work on 31 December 2021 (or the day after)? Or do V8i SS10 products just need to be activating themselves using some specific Bentley licensing server by that data and then nothing will change (all will be well)? I can't tell.
Your V8i SS10 applications will continue to work after December 31, 2021.
It just means there will be no further updates, nor will Bentley support take any support tickets against the applications.
Don't look for Bentley to put out a V8i SS10 version certified for Windows 11.
Rod WingSenior Systems Analyst
To add to Rod's comments, it also means that the V8i SS10 licensing will not get updated, so if Bentley changes how they license their products, you will have to go to node-lock licensing (one per computer). I don't expect that to happen for a while.
Also, as long as SS10 can communicate with the Connection Client, you can continue to upgrade the Connection Client and use that licensing.
You should be able to continue to use V8i SS10 for a while. Make sure that you have the installation files on your local computer, so if you ever need to install/reinstall the product, you can. At some point, Bentley will remove the download link from their website.
Hi Rod and All
Starting from January 1st, 2022 there will be no technical support for SELECTserver-based versions - except those license-related, the applications will not stop working. You may want to review the following article:
Support for V8i SELECTseries 10 applications after December 31st, 2021