Additional Transition Steps

FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R2 (On-Premises)

The following steps apply only if you are transitioning from ILMT to FlexNet Manager Suite as your source of truth for sub-capacity calculations for IBM PVU license consumption.

Steps to smooth the transition process:

1. If you have not already done so, it is time to deploy the FlexNet inventory agent to all target inventory devices where sub-capacity IBM PVU points may be consumed. This includes any Hyper-V hosts that may have guest VMs running IBM PVU software.
   For details, see the Gathering FlexNet Inventory PDF file, available through the title page of online help. You may use either the Adopted model or the Agent third-party deployment model. Be clear that IBM requires that you deploy the full FlexNet inventory agent (not any subset), and that it is locally installed on the target inventory device in question — a combination that excludes the other models in that PDF file. Rolling out the FlexNet inventory agent moves you into phase 3 of your transition project (as summarized in Understanding the Transition). During this phase, calculations by ILMT continue to have priority; and if a report for IBM falls due during your roll-out, supply a report from ILMT.
2. Update all the device exemptions imported from ILMT in FlexNet Manager Suite.

   Specific exemptions that prevent consumption on certain devices (such as backup servers) that you have recorded in ILMT are imported into FlexNet Manager Suite as Covered by related product exemptions on the matching devices. However, the sad news is that, when you later remove your ILMT connection, all information that was imported only from this source is automatically cleaned up as well, and this clean-up removes the exemptions that came only from ILMT. (A special clean-up exception is made for license records that were created to match imports from ILMT: these license records are preserved after the ILMT connection is removed. By that time, those licenses should also be receiving FlexNet inventory and consumption calculations from FlexNet Manager Suite.)

   To prevent the automatic clean-up of exemptions imported from ILMT, manually visit each one and switch the exemption type to a different value that better describes the purpose of the hardware device. Here's one way you could do this:

   1. For each affected IBM PVU license in turn, open the license properties and choose the Consumption tab.
   2. If necessary, drag the Calculated by column from the column chooser into the header row of the list of devices.
   3. If the simple filter row is not already visible below the header row, click the blue filter icon (above the listing).
   4. Enter ILMT in the filter field for the Calculated by column, click the filter icon to its right, and from the drop-down menu, choose Contains.
      After a moment, the list is refreshed (as a flat list now, with the hierarchy no longer visible) to show only those devices whose consumption was calculated by, and imported from, ILMT. These are the only devices you need to amend, since if devices show Internal (that is, calculated by FlexNet Manager Suite), any exemptions applied to them are not linked to ILMT as the inventory source.
   5. In a similar way, set a filter on the Exemption reason column where this value Contains related product.
      Again the list refreshes, showing only those consumption rows imported from ILMT with an exemption of Covered by related product.

      Tip: If you have many such devices, so that the list runs over multiple pages, it is handy to edit the rows per page value (above the list, left side) to see all these target devices in a single page.
   6. At the left end of the header row, tick the selection box to select all the inventory devices visible in the current page.
      When you make any selection from the list, the Exemption reason button above the list is enabled. Scan down the list to identify any device(s) that you think should not share the same exemption reason, and deselect the check box on the left of their individual row(s) (for example, some machines are Backup, disaster recovery devices and others are Development devices). Keep adjusting your selections from the list until you have a homogenous set of devices that all share the same exemption reason.
   7. Click the Exemption reason button, and choose the appropriate item from the list. Notice that you can also add a custom exemption reason using the same drop-down, but be careful to reflect accurately the terms of your IBM license agreement.
      All selected inventory devices are assigned the same exemption reason, and in future FlexNet Manager Suite calculations of consumption for this license, these devices consume zero points. Making the exemption in this way, directly in the Consumption tab of an individual license, naturally affects only this one license (whereas exemptions by Device role can conveniently cover multiple licenses). If you need to apply a different exemption reason to other devices in this list, ensure that the correct set of devices is selected, and use the same technique to apply the new Exemption reason.
   8. Repeat for all remaining IBM PVU licenses that were both imported from ILMT and using sub-capacity calculations, and had exemptions recorded in ILMT.
   After processing all relevant IBM PVU licenses in this way, you have locally-set exemptions for all your applicable devices. Consider whether you need any audit trail of reasons that may cause you to add notes or separate documents to any of these license records.
3. Exceptional corner case: If you require separate licenses for sub-capacity and full capacity licenses for the same product(s), plan your approach now.
   Typically, for a product entitled to use sub-capacity license calculations, the rows on the Consumption tab of the license properties provide a mix of devices, some of which use sub-capacity calculations and other full capacity, for reasons like the following:

   • Sub-capacity licensing applies (of course) only to virtual machines. If the same software is installed on a stand-alone physical server, that device is calculated at full consumption; but typically this is attributed to the same license as sub-capacity calculations for virtual machines.
   • IBM authorizes a very limited set of tools for sub-capacity calculations, and for the related inventory collection. If inventory for a particular device is returned either by ILMT or by the FlexNet inventory agent, this device may use sub-capacity calculations (from either one source or the other); but if the same device appears only in inventory collected from another source (say, BMC Discovery), then the same device must use full capacity calculations (except by special IBM permission).

   For these scenarios, there is no need to separate the consumption rows so that all the sub-capacity calculations apply to only one license, and all the full capacity calculations apply to a separate license. Typically, the only real reason for separating licenses for full- and sub-capacity licensing is when an enterprise (perhaps through mergers and acquisitions) has some divisions using licenses with sub-capacity entitlements, and other divisions that must use full capacity licensing. If this applies to you, plan how to implement this. An approach that typically works well is to use two orthogonal kinds of enterprise groups:

   • Use locations to represent (or roll up into) the three regions required by IBM for separate reporting (for details, look ahead to Configuring Regions for IBM)
   • Use corporate units (or less commonly, cost centers) to create separation between the relevant company divisions.

   Assuming that both kinds of division span multiple of the IBM-defined regions, each product may need separate licenses, differently configured in each of your FullCap Division and your SubCap Division. You achieve the correct roll-up results when you assign ownership of inventory devices (and optionally, license purchases) to both of:

   • The appropriate location for roll up into the mandatory IBM regions, and
   • The appropriate corporate unit to establish membership in either your FullCap Division or your SubCap Division as appropriate.

   However, you may find it more attractive to swap to Plan B: negotiate with IBM to move FullCap Division to sub-capacity licensing as well!