What is Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server? #
Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server is Altium’s self-hosted server for electronics design data. Your IT department installs and runs it on Windows, on top of Microsoft IIS. Altium Designer users connect to it to store and reuse components, projects, templates and released manufacturing data. Altium 365 is the cloud alternative, hosted and updated by Altium.
Sites still on Altium Vault, Altium Concord Pro or Altium NEXUS Server can upgrade to it. Altium retired the NEXUS brand on September 1, 2022, and the current documentation covers version 8.1.
It also includes a Private License Service (PLS). It replaces the older standalone Altium Private License Server. Switch it on and the same machine becomes your Altium Designer license server.
Which license types does Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server support? #
Think of it as two layers: licenses the server uses, and licenses it serves.
Licenses the server itself needs #
- Altium Enterprise Server license. A timed subscription that turns the server on. Without a valid one, nobody signs in.
- Altium Enterprise Server CAL. Also timed, and counted by concurrent connections, not named users. You can register as many users as you like. CALs are consumed by active Enterprise Server connections rather than by the number of user accounts registered on the server.
Run out of CALs and sign-in fails for everyone except one administrative connection. An admin can end someone’s session to free a seat. If the subscription lapses, Altium leaves you one Server license and one CAL so you can back up your data.
Licenses the server can hand out #
The PLS serves Altium Designer and Altium server licenses over your local network. It’s off by default. Local PLS serves seats from this machine. External PLS draws them from an Altium Infrastructure Server or another Enterprise Server.
The PLS leases a seat while someone uses it and returns it to the pool on release. It can also roam a seat to one laptop for a set time so the designer can work offline, though never past the life of the license. On Altium Designer 25.1 or later, it releases seats from inactive clients automatically.
You load licenses from Altium’s cloud portal or from a license file (.alf) and assign them to user groups. New licenses land in the All Users group.
Where Private Server fits #
Altium Designer has three license types. On-Demand seats come from Altium’s cloud while the user is signed in. Private Server seats come from your own Altium license server. A Standalone license is a file on one workstation. Only Private Server seats pass through the Enterprise Server, so if part of your team runs On-Demand, you won’t see those seats there.
Which Altium applications use Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server? #
Only Altium’s own. It isn’t a general-purpose license manager like FlexNet or RLM, and no other vendor licenses software through it.
- Altium Designer, the desktop client, connects for design data and, with the PLS on, for its Altium Designer license seat.
- The Enterprise Server license and CALs run the server itself.
- Browser tools such as the Workspace, the Projects page and the admin consoles need a connection too, and those sign-ins count toward your CALs.
How Open iT supports your work with Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server #
Open iT builds software asset management tools for engineering applications. LicenseAnalyzer™ reads usage from the license servers you already run and keeps the history so you can report on it.
Start with two numbers you already own: the Altium seats you pay for, and the most that were ever in use at once. The gap between them is your renewal conversation.
The server’s own Reports tab shows real-time use, usage history and a log of who held each seat, with CSV export. That covers Altium. LicenseAnalyzer puts the same data next to your other license servers.
What you can report on #
LicenseAnalyzer builds these views:
- total license use over time
- use per person and per user group
- use per machine and per host group
- denied license requests, your evidence that the pool ran short
- license log events
You can then rename vendor features to names your colleagues recognize, build your own reports, and watch the pool in License Monitor.
Why it matters at renewal #
If peak use never reaches the pool, you’re paying for idle seats. If denials stack up in one group, the shortage is real and you can show exactly where it is.
Foire aux questions #
What is Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server?
Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server is Altium’s self-hosted server for electronics design data, installed and run by your own IT department. Altium Designer users store components, projects and released data in it. It can also serve Altium Designer licenses through its Private License Service.
Is Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server a license server?
It can be. Its Private License Service is off by default. Once switched on, it serves Altium Designer and Altium server licenses over your local network, with leasing and roaming.
How are Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server CALs counted?
By concurrent connections, not named users. One person on one PC counts once. The same person on a second PC needs a second CAL.
What does Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server cost?
Altium doesn’t publish a price in its Enterprise Server documentation. Cost depends on the Server license plus the number of CAL seats, both timed subscriptions. Ask Altium or your reseller for a quote.
See every Altium seat next to the rest of your license estate #
You know how many Altium Designer seats you pay for. Open iT shows how many get used, hour by hour, in the same reports as your other license servers. The self-service Fast-Track Cloud Trial covers FlexNet servers only, so pick Proof of Concept on the evaluation form and mention Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server.
Request an evaluation at openit.com/proof-of-concept.
