Rights on Virtual Machines and Hosts

FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2 (On-Premises Edition)

Use this section to track special rights for installing software on virtual machines (and their hosts). As these rights can be both subtle and complicated, in general it is best practice when creating new licenses to use the license models/templates that are updated through the Product Use Rights Library (PURL).

Supported License Types

This section displays (in one of several varieties) for the following license types:

Core Points
Custom Metric
Device
Device (Core-Limited)
Device (Processor-Limited)
IBM PVU
Microsoft Server Core
Microsoft Server/Management Core
Microsoft Server Processor
OEM
Processor
Processor Points.

Restrictions

For Custom Metric, IBM Concurrent User, and IBM Floating User licenses, these fields are for your record keeping only, and do not affect any calculations. For other license types, individual fields may also be for record-keeping only, as described below.
For IBM PVU licenses, these properties have no effect on the PVU counts imported from ILMT. However, if a computer is reported in inventory from another source and not matched by a record imported from ILMT, FlexNet Manager Suite performs its own calculations of license consumption on that computer. In this latter case, the following controls are taken into account.

Note: IBM accepts FlexNet Manager Suite data for sub-capacity reporting in lieu of IBM tools such as IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT), Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed (TAD4D) or IBM Software Usage Analysis (SUA). For this purpose, IBM requires that the inventory is gather by the FlexNet inventory agent (and not by any other third party source). Your choice between sub-capacity licensing using ILMT, or sub-capacity licensing using the FlexNet inventory agent data uploaded into FlexNet Manager Suite, may be influenced through the controls on this page.

Shared coverage of hosts and VMs

Some license agreements provide that licensing a virtual host simultaneously licenses one, several, or all the virtual machines running on that host. However, the license terms may vary on how to calculate that shared licensing:

The agreement may specify that once the host is fully licensed, the overall licensing for the host provides coverage of a number of VMs. In relation to the VMs, the host is here considered as a single unit. Furthermore, VMs are each considered as a unit, without considering the number of processors assigned to each VM. This model could typically apply, for example, to Microsoft SQL Server 2008, depending on the edition and the licensing approach you chose (later editions started the swing to core-based licensing). For example, with SQL Server 2008 Datacenter Edition, you are permitted to run the software in one physical and any number of virtual operating system environments (OSEs), without assessing the number of virtual processors used.

Other agreements may specify that a single license entitlement covers a specified number of processors on the host, and also covers a specified number of VMs. For example, you may need one license entitlement to cover two processors on the host, and that same entitlement covers two virtual machines running the same software on that host — as is the case for Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition license agreements. Here, it is not the host that is considered as the basic unit, but the individual license entitlement (these are sometimes loosely called just "licenses"). Increasing either the processor count for the host, or the count of hosted VMs running the software, may increase the number of license entitlements you must purchase; but the requirement is not "the sum of" the parts but "the greater of" the parts. For example, consider these requirements for Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition on a given host, where each license entitlement covers two host processors and up to two VMs:

Processors on host	VMs on same host	Total license entitlements required
2 (needs 1 entitlement)	1 or 2 (needs 1 entitlement)	1
2 (needs 1 entitlement)	3 or 4 (needs 2 entitlements)	2
4 (needs 2 entitlements)	1 or 2 (needs 1 entitlement)	2
4 (needs 2 entitlements)	3 or 4 (needs 2 entitlements)	2

Note: This entitlement-based coverage of VMs applies only to Microsoft Server Processor licenses (so far).

The difference is subtle and potentially confusing, but important. The first case sets the number of VMs per host, and the second sets the number of VMs per license entitlement. To cater for this difference, the Rights on virtual machines and hosts sections provides two different ways of specifying license coverage for virtual machines:

To set VMs per host, choose either:
- The third option, One licensed host allows unlimited VM installations, when the license allows any number of VMs on the same host, without restrictions.
- The fourth option, One licensed host covers multiple VMs, when you need to specify the number of VMs allowed. An additional control appears, allowing you to specify the Maximum VMs per host. This typically applies to earlier versions of SQL Server, and may also apply to other products and license types.
To set VMs per license entitlement, choose the second option, License calculation uses host capacity. For Microsoft Server Processor licenses only, an additional control appears, 1 entitlement covers nn VM(s), which should be set in particular ways depending on which edition of the software is being licensed:
- Leave the check box for this control clear (not selected) for products like Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition, because that edition allows unlimited VMs once the full capacity of the host server is licensed. This setting means you are licensing the full capacity of the host, and also covering any number of VMs running on that host.
- For Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition, select the check box and (by default), select 2 VMs per license entitlement. (This is the normal license condition for Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition, unless you have negotiated special rights with Microsoft.)
Tip: For Windows Server 2012 Essentials Edition or Foundation Edition, do not use a Microsoft Server Processor license type, as these are simple "server" licenses that do not count processors. For these, you may find a simple Device license more appropriate.

Controls

If the license has been created automatically during purchase processing, the default settings from the Product Use Rights Libraries are already applied. If you are creating a license manually, please review the terms of your license agreement carefully.

These controls are documented in the order they appear on screen.

Control	Details
This license does not have contracts with applicable rights on virtual machines and hosts	The license is not inheriting any virtualization rights, either because: There is no contract attached to the license The attached contract does not specify rights on virtual machines and hosts. Rights on virtual machines and hosts use may be inherited from a contract (see Contracts Tab), or specified in this section of the license properties.
Inherited rights on virtual machines and hosts from contract	Indicates the name of the linked contract from which this license can inherit license consumption rules and rights. When you select this check box, you instruct FlexNet Manager Suite to dynamically inherit license use rights and rules from an automatically-selected linked contract. If a license is linked to multiple contracts, the license inherits use rights and rules from one of the linked contracts based on the following conditions: If one of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, its use rights and rules are inherited by the license. If none of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that has a greater value for the Expiry date field. If none of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, and all of the linked contracts have same value for the Expiry date field, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that appears first in database order (normally the contract record that was created first). If all of the linked contracts have a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, or all of the linked contracts have same expiry date, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that appears first in database order. Note: You cannot use other rights options when you select this check box. When no suitable contract has been linked to the license, the check box is replaced with a text explanation This license does not have contracts with applicable rights on virtual machines and hosts.
No special virtualization rights	Select this option when the license has no provision for installations on virtual machines. Tip: With this setting, when a Device (Core-Limited) license is consumed on a virtual machine, the number of cores allocated to the virtual machine is not considered during license reconciliation. Instead, only the total number of cores on the physical host is used in the calculations. As a result, a virtual machine cannot consume from such a license if its physical host has more cores than the core limit defined in the license. This choice is not available for IBM PVU licenses.
License calculation uses host capacity	This is displayed for the following license types: Core Points Custom Metric Device Device (Core-Limited) Device (Processor-Limited) Microsoft Server Core Microsoft Server/Management Core (read-only text value) Microsoft Server Processor OEM Processor Processor Points. When this radio button is selected (or in the case of Microsoft Server/Management Core licenses, where it 'always on' and cannot be changed), the appropriate properties of only the virtual host server are used to calculate consumption for the license; and any inventory device properties of guest VMs are ignored as irrelevant to the license. For these licenses where the consumption calculations exclusively use the hardware inventory of the virtual host, the host license may also authorize a number of VMs (virtualized operating system environments, or OSEs) on the host server. These may work in either of two ways (discussed above in Shared coverage of hosts and VMs): Licenses may allow a number of VMs per host, for which you should instead use either One licensed host allows unlimited VM installations or One licensed host covers multiple VMs (see below). Microsoft Server Processor licenses may allow a number of VMs per license entitlement purchased for the host server. For this license type only, a separate control appears to set the number of VMs per license entitlement (see next).
1 entitlement covers `nn` VM(s)	This control is available only for Microsoft Server Processor licenses. The Microsoft Server Processor license type (based on properties of the host) may also authorize the same software running on some guest VMs on the host (coverage may extend to downgraded versions as well, so it is important to check license terms). As normal, if this license is created from a Microsoft SKU during order processing, the standard settings for product use rights are applied as defaults. If you are editing a license manually, consider the following. For Windows Server, the Microsoft Server Processor license is always applied to the physical server, but the default settings vary by product version and edition: From Windows Server 2016, Microsoft switched to core-based licensing, so that you are unlikely to need a Microsoft Server Processor license from that release forward. (Instead, consider a Microsoft Server/Management Core license.) For Windows Server 2012, Standard Edition normally covers two VMs for each license entitlement, with every one or two VMs requiring an additional license entitlement. For this application, ensure this check box is selected, and enter `2` as the value: 1 entitlement covers 2 VM(s). The Datacenter Edition license allows an unlimited number of guest VMs per host running the same software. For this edition, keep License calculation uses host capacity selected, but make sure the check box on this additional 1 entitlement covers `nn` VM(s) control is clear (not selected). This licenses the full capacity of the host, and includes virtual machines without limit. The Essentials and Foundation Editions have whole-of-server licenses that do not take account of processors in the host; so do not use a Microsoft Server Processor license type for these. In these cases, you may find a simple Device-based license to be more convenient. For Windows Server 2008 R2: Standard edition license covers one VM Enterprise edition license covers four VMs Datacenter edition license allows an unlimited number of guest VMs. For more information, see the licensing guidelines from Microsoft.
Always use full capacity license calculations	This choice is available only for IBM PVU licenses. Even though FlexNet Manager Suite may be configured for sub-capacity calculations of IBM PVU points (see IBM PVU Scanning), an individual license may be exempted, and use full capacity calculations, when you select this choice. Full capacity calculations license the host server based on its own core count, and ignore the assigned capacities of any guest VMs running the same software on that host. Therefore, if you select this choice, the fields available in the Compliance tab are adjusted appropriately (see Compliance Tab). Tip: When FlexNet Manager Suite is replacing ILMT and is responsible for sub-capacity points calculations, changing this setting invalidates the current results for PVU points consumption. The next full reconciliation then recalculates consumption, taking into account your new settings. Notice that the change is retroactive through the data retention period for any report that you [re-]generate. In other words, such a mid-term change is considered a data correction, effective throughout the reporting period.
Use sub-capacity license calculations where available	This choice is available only for IBM PVU licenses. If you select this choice, the fields available in the Compliance tab are adjusted appropriately (see Compliance Tab). Note: Using FlexNet Manager Suite data (derived from the 2015 release or later) to determine an IBM PVU license position on IBM software may be acceptable by IBM for sub-capacity reporting in place of IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT), Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed (TAD4D), IBM Software Usage Analysis (SUA), or IBM BigFix Inventory. In the following description, "an IBM-approved inventory tool" means either ILMT or the FlexNet Manager Suite stack. Important: Approved use of sub-capacity calculations from FlexNet inventory requires more frequent hardware inventory collection from the affected IBM servers (specifically, an inspection every 30 minutes). To use sub-capacity licensing from FlexNet inventory, be sure that you have selected the check box to Enable frequent hardware scanning for IBM PVU license calculations in the IBM PVU scanning section of the Inventory Settings page (Discovery and Inventory > Settings). For details of all these settings, see IBM PVU Scanning. When this Use sub-capacity license calculations where available option is selected, it provides sub-capacity licensing to the extent permitted. Two other factors may still limit this extent: The types of capacity partitioning in use. For example, WPAR and SRP are partitions that may not form licensing boundaries (although their parent partitions typically may do so). This distinction is handled automatically by FlexNet Manager Suite, and not considered further here. The inventory tool in use. For IBM's purposes, these tools may be divided into three classes: ILMT calculations of sub-capacity license consumption. Here, calculations may always be sub-capacity. Consumption calculated by FlexNet Manager Suite based on inventory gathered by the FlexNet inventory agent. In this case, calculations may be sub-capacity provided that extra inventory scanning is enabled (as noted above). Otherwise, without extra inventory scanning, the FlexNet inventory data is treated identically with other third-party tools (next). Calculations based on any other (third party) inventory tool. Normally, these require full capacity calculations (with special consideration for clusters, as noted below). However, there are rare exceptions, and these are managed with the additional check box that appears:Allow sub-capacity licensing for sources other than ... (see below). Note: Special considerations apply when the virtual host is part of a cluster, and you have not enabled extra inventory scanning. (In this case, the inventory setting check box to Enable frequent hardware scanning for IBM PVU license calculations is cleared.) Here, the entire cluster is treated as one. Therefore: If at least one of the virtual hosts in the cluster reports consumption through ILMT, then counts from ILMT must be used for every virtual host in the same cluster. Any virtual host in the cluster which does not report consumption through ILMT is given a zero consumption count. If none of the hosts in the cluster reports consumption through ILMT, FlexNet Manager Suite calculates the consumption for all virtual hosts in the cluster as a whole, based on the inventory received. This count may be either full capacity or sub-capacity, based on the setting of the next check box, Allow sub-capacity licensing for sources other than .... Tip: When FlexNet Manager Suite is replacing ILMT and is responsible for sub-capacity points calculations, changing this setting invalidates the current results for PVU points consumption. The next full reconciliation then recalculates consumption, taking into account your new settings. Notice that the change is retroactive through the data retention period for any report that you [re-]generate. In other words, such a mid-term change is considered a data correction, effective throughout the reporting period.
Allow sub-capacity licensing for sources other than ...	This choice is available only for IBM PVU licenses, and is displayed only when you select the option Use sub-capacity license calculations where available. When this check box is clear (the default), the following IBM PVU licensing rules are applied: Wherever available, sub-capacity calculations from ILMT are used. If inventory is collected through the FlexNet inventory agent, and the inventory preference to Enable frequent hardware scanning for IBM PVU license calculations is set, sub-capacity calculations by FlexNet Manager Suite are used. Where inventory was collected through another third-party tool, or where extra inventory scanning has not been enabled for the FlexNet inventory agent, consumption is calculated at full capacity of the host computer. As well, if the virtual hosts are part of a cluster and extra inventory scanning has not been enabled, FlexNet Manager Suite uses worst case full capacity calculations for all the virtual hosts in the cluster, assuming maximum migration of virtual machines across hosts in the cluster. However, an exceptional calculation may apply for certain IBM customers who have negotiated away the requirement to use ILMT, and do not wish to use the correctly configured FlexNet inventory agent. In such exceptional cases only, select this check box. When it is selected: Wherever available, sub-capacity calculations from ILMT are used. For additional consumption reported through all other inventory sources, FlexNet Manager Suite uses sub-capacity calculations. As well, if the virtual hosts are part of a cluster and extra inventory scanning has not been enabled, FlexNet Manager Suite provides worst case sub-capacity calculations allowing for maximum migration of virtual machines across the virtual hosts in the cluster. As well, whenever this check box is visible (and you have ILMT data available), a report is prepared showing comparative `License Positions from FlexNet Manager and ILMT`. This compares the results of sub-capacity licensing calculated by ILMT and the current calculations by FlexNet Manager Suite. Tip: When FlexNet Manager Suite is replacing ILMT and is responsible for sub-capacity points calculations, changing this setting invalidates the current results for PVU points consumption. The next full reconciliation then recalculates consumption, taking into account your new settings. Notice that the change is retroactive through the data retention period for any report that you [re-]generate. In other words, such a mid-term change is considered a data correction, effective throughout the reporting period.
One licensed host allows unlimited VM installations	Select this option when the license does not keep count of which virtual machines hosted on the server are running the software. Tip: Select this option for the Datacenter editions of either the Microsoft Server/Management Core license type, or the Microsoft Server Processor license type.
One licensed host covers multiple VMs	Choose this option for licenses that cover a maximum number of VMs (often also covering host licensing, or else the number of VMs may be included in the licensing of the virtual host). Tip: For the Microsoft Server/Management Core license type, select this option for the Standard edition. When you select this option, additional controls are exposed so that you can set limits. These are described next. Example: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition used to require that the check box was set and the count was set to four OSEs per processor license. (Since the release of SQL Server 2012, Microsoft is transitioning customers to core licensing.)
Maximum VMs	Enter or spin up the upper limit of VMs allowed by a license that can cover both the host server and a specified maximum number of guest VM operating system environments (OSEs). Tip: For a Microsoft Server/Management Core license for Windows Server 2016 Standard Edition, the standard value is 2 virtual OSEs or Hyper-V containers (and unlimited Windows Server containers). Whether or not you need to separately license Windows Server running on the physical server depends: If the physical OSE is used solely to host and manage the virtual OSEs, it is covered by the existing license(s) for the virtual machines, and need not be counted separately. If the physical OSE is running any other software in addition to the hypervisor, then a license is required for each core on the physical server (with a minimum of 8 for each physical processor, and a minimum of 16 for each server). For details, see http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/PerCoreLicensing_Definitions_VLBrief.pdf.
Count includes installation(s) on the host operating system	When a license grants rights to run software in virtual machines, it may take either of two approaches to an installation of the same software on the host server: The installation on the host may be ignored (that it, might be already covered by the main rights conferred by the licensed virtual OSEs). For such licenses, ensure that this check box is cleared. Examples: Operating system licenses, volume licensed CIS Suites, Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard Edition when used solely for hosting and managing the virtual OSEs such as through Hyper-V. The installation on the host may be counted as one of the OSEs referenced in the additional rights for installations on ‘machines’. For such licenses, ensure that this check box is set. Example: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard Edition when running software other than just Hyper-V or other virtualization technology.
Minimum cores per VM	This control appears only for Microsoft Server Core licenses. When licensing virtual host servers, this field sets the minimum number of processor cores that the license counts as consumed for each VM running on the host (which may be a larger number than the cores actually assigned to a VM and showing in inventory for the guest device). Naturally, since this is a minimum, if inventory for the guest VM shows a higher number of cores assigned, the larger number is taken into account.