Exciting news: ArcGIS Pro 1.2 now offers concurrent and single use licensing

March 15, 2016

Jonathan Nowlan

If you’ve been waiting for ArcGIS Pro to offer more flexibility with licensing, or you’ve been unable to use ArcGIS Pro because of the named user license model, we have good news for you. You can now authorize ArcGIS Pro using concurrent or single use licenses.

ArcGIS Pro 1.2 is now available for download and with it comes many improvements and new functionality. One exciting change is that ArcGIS Pro 1.2 brings to the table more flexibility with licensing. Previous versions of ArcGIS Pro relied on ArcGIS Online named user accounts for licensing. While the named user model is still the default licensing model for ArcGIS Pro 1.2, it now also offers concurrent use licensing (via your ArcGIS for Desktop license manager) and single use licensing. Exciting, right?

Before we dive into the details of the new licensing options available with ArcGIS Pro 1.2, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of the named user model. Here they are:

The ability to login on up to three machines
License not tied down to a specific machine and deauthorization is not required
Works well in virtualized environments
Great license tracking capabilities (via ArcGIS Online Web site)

Now that we know the benefits of the named user model, let’s take a look at the new licensing options.

Concurrent Use

This model is not new to ArcGIS for Desktop users. Many users currently use the ArcGIS License Manager to authorize their ArcGIS for Desktop applications. You may want to consider this licensing model if any of the following applies to your organization:

You’re already using the ArcGIS License Manager to authorize ArcGIS for Desktop.
You have more ArcGIS for Desktop licenses than ArcGIS Online named user accounts.
You have security or firewall requirements that make using the named user model a challenge or impossible.
You’re no longer on maintenance which prevents you from using the named user model.

Single use

This model is also not new to ArcGIS for Desktop users. Many users rely on single use licensing to authorize their ArcGIS for Desktop applications on one machine. The same can now be done with ArcGIS Pro 1.2. This licensing model could be beneficial to the following users:

You have security or firewall requirements that make using the named user model a challenge or impossible.
You’re no longer on maintenance which prevents you from using the named user model.
You don’t wish to use the ArcGIS License Manager.

Now that we’ve described the benefits of each model, what do you need to do once you install or upgrade to ArcGIS Pro 1.2? If you plan on continuing to use the named user model you don’t need to do anything. If you plan on using the concurrent use or single use licensing models then you will need to do the following:

1. If you have named user accounts that are currently entitled to use ArcGIS Pro, an administrator needs to revoke the entitlements via ArcGIS Online.

2. You then need to convert the desired number of named user accounts to concurrent or single user ArcGIS Pro licenses using the My Esri site. This will generate authorization numbers that you can use to authorize ArcGIS Pro.

In this example, I am converting two ArcGIS Pro named user accounts to ArcGIS Pro concurrent use licenses.

To authorize concurrent use licenses, you must install the ArcGIS 10.4 License Manager in order to be able to use the ArcGIS Pro authorization numbers generated in step 2.

1. If you plan on using the single user model, you will need to authorize the single use license in the “Configure your licensing options” window in ArcGIS Pro.

2. Once your licenses are authorized you can configure ArcGIS Pro to use your preferred method of licensing by accessing the “Configure your license options” window, which can be found in the Licensing section the Project.

From the "Configure your licensing options" window you can authorize ArcGIS Pro single use and also specify which licensing model you wish to use with ArcGIS Pro.

As easy as the above steps sound, there are a few points of clarification that should be included:

1. If you’re going to use concurrent or single use licensing, remember that ArcGIS Pro will have a different authorization number than ArcGIS for Desktop.

2. If you need to authorize extensions, you also need to follow the above steps in order to generate ArcGIS Pro extension licenses.

3. If you use concurrent or single use licensing, you’ll still be able to log in to your ArcGIS Online account in ArcGIS Pro in order to access your online content.

4. If you wish to convert your Portal for ArcGIS named user entitlements for ArcGIS Pro to concurrent or single use licenses, you’ll need to contact customer care first.

5. If you’ve never activated your ArcGIS Online subscription (you’re missing out!) and you wish to use ArcGIS Pro for the first time, you’ll need to contact Esri Canada Customer Care to activate your subscription and named user licenses.

Lastly, have a look at the following video published by Esri. It gives a good summary of these new licensing options.

Hopefully the above information can help site administrators decide which licensing model will work best for their organization. However, if you have questions don’t hesitate to contact technical support or leave a comment below.