How Does License Consumption Order Work?

FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R2 (On-Premises)

This topic details how license consumption priorities are identified and managed by FlexNet Manager Suite. The license consumption priorities are used to decide which of the available license entitlements to consume for a product when the corresponding installation or (in the case of CALs) access evidence is reported by the inventory process.

Why assign several licenses to the same application?

When you add a license to an application (on the Licenses tab), you imply that the use and installation of this application must comply with the terms and conditions of its relevant license. For example, for device-based license types, the number of purchased license entitlements determines the number of authorized installations of this application.

These are the top reasons why you might consider linking several licenses to a single application:
  • Suites. If an application can be licensed both as a stand-alone product (for example, Adobe Photoshop CS) and as a member of a suite (for example, Adobe Creative Suite Design edition), it should be linked to both stand-alone and suite licenses. The choice of whether to consume a suite license or a stand-alone license is determined by application or suite recognition specifics.
  • Bundled products license. If an application can be licensed both as a stand-alone product (for example, IBM DB2 Workgroup Server) and as a member of a multi-product license (for example, IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core bundle which entitles you to install IBM DB2 Enterprise Server for free on the IBM WebSphere Application Server), the application should be linked to both the stand-alone and the multi-product licenses. When installations on a single inventory device are considered, and multiple products (that have a multi-product license) are found on the device (including a primary product), the multi-product license always gets higher priority than any single-product license. This escalated priority cannot be displayed in the Licenses tab of this application, because:
    • It depends on the installations discovered on an individual inventory device, whereas this tab is general information about the application, wherever it is found
    • It depends on multiple different products, rather than just this application.
    Instead, on this application's Licenses tab, the multi-product license is displayed in the priority order it has for licensing this single application (once multi-product processing has been completed). For more information, see Multi-Product License.
  • Distinct product use rights. You may have different licenses of the same type for different product use rights. For example, you might have some licenses for out-of-the-box, fully packaged product (FPP) applications that do not include the right of the second use; while other copies may have been purchased under the agreement that allows for the second-use right. You can reflect this difference in product use rights with two separate licenses. While you might apply priorities on the Licenses tab to control consumption of these licenses, it is more likely that you would use group assignments or individual allocations to control which installations consume which licenses.
  • License types. It is possible, for example, that you have some copies of an application pre-installed onto computers and covered by an OEM license, and other copies of the same application purchased separately through a retail outlet. License types provide a default priority that you can change. Another example would be to set priority for User CALs and Device CALs to decide how the CAL entitlements are consumed.
  • Downgrade rights. If the license for a later version of an application provides downgrade rights, then the earlier release of the application can have multiple assigned licenses. For example, if you have a license for Office 2003, and you also have the license for Office 2007 that includes downgrade rights, then your Office 2003 applications are covered by either the Office 2003 license or Office 2007 license (both of which are displayed on the licenses list of the Office 2003 application properties). You can use license priorities to indicate whether application installations first consume the downgrade rights (from Office 2007) or, alternatively, stand-alone license entitlements (from Office 2003).
    Tip: Automatic management of license priorities, upgrade and downgrade rights might mean that licenses are added automatically to the Licenses tab as applications are linked (or unlinked) to reflect downgrade rights.

When FlexNet Manager Suite calculates license compliance, the installations or (in the case of CALs) access records for an application consume entitlements from licenses in the exact order the licenses are listed on the Licenses tab of the application's properties (the first license has the highest priority, and its entitlements are consumed first).

If the total number of entitlements of the first license is used up, installations then consume entitlements from the next license on the list, and so on.

Important: If an application is marked to have FlexNet Manager Suite Automatically manage license priorities, then any license that has Entitlement limits set to Unlimited will be placed at the top of the License consumption order list. If an application has a combination of Subject to true-up and non-true-up licenses, entitlements will be consumed up to the purchased count, and then anything beyond will be recorded against the true-up license. In this sense, the priority of Subject to true-up licenses is irrelevant. If you choose to manually manage license priorities in the License consumption order list (by selecting No for Automatically manage license priorities), keep in mind that any licenses below Unlimited licenses will never be consumed.
Tip: If all licenses are consumed, any further installations of that application are displayed as excess consumption against the first license on the list.
Note: The restrictions defined on the license (on the Restrictions tab of the license properties) are always checked, before consuming any license entitlement.

License consumption priorities

The following table summarizes the default priorities for license consumption:
Note: The restrictions defined on the license (on the Restrictions tab of the license properties) are always checked, before consuming any license entitlement.
Priority Description Comments
1 Allocations The individual allocations to inventory devices (on the Consumption tab of the license properties)
2 Group assignments for multi-product licenses

The group assignments defined on the license (on the Group assignment tab of the license properties).

Example: If you have assigned the IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core multi-product license (which includes IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM DB2 Workgroup Server products) to the Quality Control group, there are two effects when both of these applications are installed on the same computer:
  • The users or devices that belong to this group consume the entitlements of the IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core multi-product license ahead of any other user (that is, typical group assignment prioritization to resolve competition for a given license).
  • With the default priorities listed here, the users or devices that belong to the assigned group consume the multi-product license instead of two single-product licenses — even when there are also overlapping group assignments to those single-product licenses.
For more information on multi-product licenses, see Multi-Product License.
3 Multi-product licenses

A multi-product license, for which one or more primary products match the installation records for a device (or user, depending on license types), by default is consumed in preference to several single-product licenses covering the same set of products.

When there is a choice of multi-product licenses that could apply to multiple products installed on a device, FlexNet Manager Suite consumes the license with the matching number of primary products and then the least difference between:
  • The number of products in the multi-product license definition, and
  • the number of products installed on the target device.

This default produces exactly the behavior you expect for a multi-product license with more than one primary product. Consider this example: If you have two single-product licenses for Product A version 10 and Product B version 12 (both of which are installed on a single device), and you also have also a multi-product license for Super Bundle AB bundle (which includes the same two products both as primary), the multi-product license entitlement is consumed first. This is as you expect for multiple primary products when all those products are installed on a single device.

However, you may not expect the results when the same logic is applied to a multi-product license where there is a sole primary product (with supplementary products irrelevant to this point), and you have a single product license for the same product family. Because consumption follows the license priorities on the Licenses tab of the application properties, and the default priorities place the multi-product license ahead of the single-product license, the single application installation by default consumes first from the multi-product license. If you wish to modify this default behavior, you can:
  • Drag and drop entries in the Licenses tab of application properties, until they are in the priority order you want (see note)
  • Use group assignments to give an enterprise group priority on one license rather than another
  • Make individual allocations of devices or users (depending on license type) to the appropriate license.
Note: The consumption rules can be stated differently in these two cases:
  • Default priority (multi-product licenses are higher priority): Installations that include one or more primary products consume from the multi-product license. This includes the case of a multi-product license that has only one primary product (besides its supplementary products). The single product installed on a device consumes the multi-product license.
  • Modified priority (a single-product license is higher priority): Installations of more than one matching product, including all primary products, consume from the multi-product license. In the case of multi-product license that has only one primary product (besides its supplementary products), the installed product only consumes from the multi-product license when at least one supplementary product is also installed on the same device (so that, in total, more than one product is matched).
Consider the following example:
  • A multi-product license L1 has products P1 and P2 as primary products, and S1 and S2 as supplementary products.
  • Another multi-product license L2 has P1 and P2 as primary products, and no supplementary product.
  • Another multi-product license L3 has products P1, P2, S1, S2, S3, and S4.
  • Device A has an installation of P1, P2, and S2.
  • Device B has an installation of P1 and P2.
  • Device C has an installation of P1, P2, S1, and S3.
All these devices may consume from the multi-product license, since all devices have all primary products installed. The devices will consume from the following licenses:
License Products Installations on Device A Installation on Device B Installation on Device C
L1
  • P1
  • P2
  • S1
  • S2
  • P1
  • P2
  • S2
    
L2
  • P1
  • P2
  
  • P1
  • P2
  
L3
  • P1
  • P2
  • S1
  • S2
  • S3
  • S4
    
  • P1
  • P2
  • S1
  • S3

According to license consumption rules, Device B would consume L2 as the installed products exactly match the products defined in the license definition of L2. Device A will consume L1 and not L3 because this match gives the least difference in the products. Finally, Device C will consume L3 as the installed secondary products are a part of its definition and no other license covering S3 is available.

4 Group assignments for single-product licenses Example: If you have assigned a license to an enterprise group, the users or devices of that enterprise group get priority in consuming the license entitlement.
5 Single-product licenses An installation of, or (for CALs) access to, a single product gets this priority in consuming the license entitlement.

License consumption priorities for CALs

The following table summarizes the default priorities for the consumption of Client Access Licenses (CALs):

Priority Description Comments
1 Restrictions and allocations
  • The restrictions defined on the license (on the Restrictions tab of the license properties).
  • The individual allocations to inventory devices (on the Consumption tab of the license properties)
2 Group assignments for CAL suites licenses Example: If you have assigned the Microsoft Core CAL Suite license to the Quality Control group, the users or devices that belong to this group get priority in consuming the license entitlement when more than one application of this suite has been accessed. For more information on CALs, see the Client Access Licenses chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite System Reference PDF.
3 CAL Suites Example: If two products of a supported CAL suite have been accessed, the suite license will be consumed instead of two individual User or Device CAL entitlements.
4 Group assignments for single-product CALs Example: If you have assigned a license to an enterprise group, the users or devices of that enterprise group get priority in consuming the license entitlement.
5 License priorities The priorities defined on the Applications tab of the license properties.
6 User CALs When a single user has accessed a server application from one or more devices, a User CAL entitlement is consumed.
7 Device CALs If one or more users access a server application from the same device, a Device CAL entitlement is consumed rather than two User CALs.
Note: The restrictions defined on the license (on the Restrictions tab of the license properties) are always checked, before consuming any license entitlement.

Automatic priorities across versions, editions, and license types

When you choose Yes from the Automatically manage license priorities drop-down list (in the Licenses tab of application properties), the list of licenses is sorted according to the following rules:
  1. Some factors not visible on this tab have high priority:
    • If a license is subject to restrictions (on the Restrictions tab of the license properties), any installations of the applications that are in the same scope as the license may consume from the restricted license, and installations from outside that scope may not. For example, if a license has a restriction set to location Nigeria, then only installations in Nigeria and its child locations may consume from this license.
    • As well, individual allocations on a license take effect before the following prioritization begins.
    Once restrictions and allocations have been covered, the following prioritization rules apply to any further consumption:
  2. All licenses where the Licensed software (on the Applications tab of the license properties) is the same product as this current application will appear before all others. These same-product licenses are the only ones that have their priorities further refined by the automated process.
  3. Group assignments for multi-product licenses have higher priority in consuming license entitlements over unassigned multi-product licenses (and single-product licenses). For example, if you have assigned the IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core multi-product license to the Quality Control group, the users of this group will consume the entitlements for this license ahead of other users. Once the Quality Control group is fully licensed, any surplus entitlements may be consumed by others outside this group. For more information on multi-product licenses, see Multi-Product License.
  4. A multi-product license has the next higher priority in consuming entitlements over single-product licenses, as discussed above.
    Tip: Keep in mind that this elevated priority cannot be displayed on this Licenses tab for this single application, since by definition the elevated priority applies only to multiple products, and only as each individual inventory device is being assessed. (Since a multi-product license may also be consumed for a single application when appropriate, any multi-product license on this tab is displayed in the priority order it has as a license for this single application.)
  5. Single-product group assignments have the next priority in consuming entitlements over unassigned single-product license.
  6. A single-product license (without individual allocations or group assignments) has the next higher priority in consuming license entitlements.
  7. Where several licenses for the same product are for different editions, the lower priority edition determines the higher priority license. This ensures that a low-cost application will consume a low-cost license wherever available.
  8. Within a given edition, where licenses are for different versions, the lower priority version determines the higher priority license. This ensures that an older application will consume an older license wherever available.
  9. Licenses that are not otherwise prioritized by the above rules are sorted by the default priorities of license types, and if they are still tied, by database order (which is effectively the order in which the records were created).
The default priorities of different license types cannot be modified, and are, top-down:
  1. SAP Named User
  2. Enterprise
  3. Site
  4. IBM Authorized User
  5. Named User
  6. Node-Locked
  7. OEM
  8. Microsoft SCCM Client User
  9. User
  10. Device (Processor-Limited)
  11. Device (Core-Limited)
  12. Processor Points
  13. Processor
  14. Core Points
  15. IBM Processor Value Unit
  16. Microsoft SCCM Client Device
  17. Microsoft Server Processor
  18. Device
  19. Concurrent User
  20. Appliance
  21. Client Server
  22. Evaluation
  23. Run-Time
  24. Oracle Processor
  25. Oracle Named User Plus
  26. Oracle Legacy
  27. Enterprise Agreement
  28. Microsoft Server/Management Core
  29. Microsoft Server Core
  30. IBM Resource Value Unit
  31. IBM User Value Unit
  32. CAL Legacy
  33. Tiered Device
  34. Oracle User
  35. Microsoft Developer Network
  36. Microsoft User CAL (based on access)
  37. Microsoft Device CAL (based on access)
(The remaining license types are not prioritized.)
Tip: If you are not satisfied with the priorities shown for multiple licenses in the Licenses tab of application properties, you can drag and drop entries in the list until they are in the order you want. Any drag-and-drop action automatically switches the Automatically manage license priorities setting to No. Choosing Yes again restores the automatically-calculated order.

Example 1

Consider the application Microsoft Office 2003 Professional, which has Automatically manage license priorities set to Yes. The Licenses tab shows this application is linked to the following three licenses and in the priority order shown:
  1. License for Microsoft Office 2000 Professional (through upgrade rights on that license, which can cover the 2003 version)
  2. License for Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (it is the primary application on this license)
  3. License for Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (through downgrade rights on that license, which allow it to cover the 2003 version)
Why is this the priority order, rather than (say) starting with the license where Microsoft Office 2003 Professional is the primary application, directly identified on the license? The answer lies in the presumed value of the licenses. The assumption is that older licenses are lower value than later licenses, and therefore should be consumed in preference.

Applications are matched to licenses on a 'best fit' basis, so that this 2003 version only consumes from the older 2000 license when that license has surplus entitlements (that is, when all its accessible installations of Microsoft Office 2000 Professional are already licensed). When there are no surplus entitlements on the older license, the application consumes from the second priority license, where it is the primary application. Similarly, if the license for the 2003 version is fully consumed, this 2003 version of the application can consume from the (presumably higher value) 2007 license under its downgrade rights; but only after all the better suited 2007 version applications are licensed. If there are no surplus entitlements on any of the linked licenses, the application is displayed as at risk against the best-fit license, which in this example is the second priority licenses for Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (which matches the application on both version and edition).

Example 2

Imagine the following set of licenses all attached to the Microsoft Office 2010 Standard application. The standard logic described above results in the following descending priority of licenses:
  1. Office 2010 Standard license
  2. Office 2013 Standard license
  3. Office 2016 Standard license
  4. Office 2010 Professional license
  5. Office 2013 Professional license
  6. Office 2010 Enterprise license
  7. An OEM license without a primary product identified
  8. A user license with a different Product value
  9. An MSDN license.
Only the top six licenses have been closely ordered by this automated priority management, as these are the only ones that share a common value for Licensed software. These automatically-determined priorities mean that installations of Office 2010 Standard application will consume entitlements from the Office 2010 Standard license until it is exhausted, and then move on down the list.

The last three licenses were excluded from the top six because they did not have a matching value for Licensed software. These are ordered by the default priorities of their license types. (The MSDN license should be managed by group assignment, or, less conveniently, individual allocations.)

FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)

2020 R2