multi-product license

A multi-product license covers a group of software products that are sold together as a bundle under a single license. Different publishers structure their bundles in different ways. For example:
  • For IBM, a bundle usually focuses around one (or sometimes more than one) primary product, to which the license mainly applies. Provided that the primary product is installed, you are also permitted to install one or more supplementary products at no additional cost. (Typically, the supplementary products are co-installed on the same inventory device as the primary product; but some licenses allow the supplementary products to be installed on a separate device, still covered by the same license. Check license terms carefully.)
  • For other publishers, a bundle usually collects products as equals. For example, the Microsoft Office 365 bundle includes Microsoft Office (in itself, a suite), Microsoft Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, and so on. The bundle license permits use of any or all of these products, in any combination, on any one inventory device. There is no concept of primary and supplementary products here.
To cater for all kinds of bundles, multi-product licenses in FlexNet Manager Suite supports primary and supplementary products on a multi-product license. In the case, like the Microsoft example above, of a 'bundle of equals', all the products on the multi-product license can be primary (it is not required to have supplementary products). The one multi-product license covers all the products, both primary and supplementary (where these are differentiated). By default, multi-product licenses have a higher priority for consumption than a single-product license attached to the same application record. This means that having a single primary product installed can be sufficient to link an inventory device to the multi-product license, and in the absence of other factors like exemptions, to trigger consumption from this license in the next reconciliation (for more details, see How Does License Consumption Order Work?).

When multiple of the primary products for a multi-product license are present on a device, the multi-product license always gets higher priority for consumption against installations compared with a matching set of single-product licenses. For more information about license priorities for consumption, see How Does License Consumption Order Work?.

Notice that bundles (represented as multi-product licenses) are quite distinct from suites, as shown in the following table:
Aspect Suites Multi-product licenses
Feature of Application License
Description A set of closely-related applications, typically with UI similarities and some form(s) of data exchange, sold and licensed as a single unit by the publisher. A set of software with potentially unrelated UIs and diverse purposes, normally separately licensed, but also available packaged together by the publisher for joint operation, usually at a lower price than the cost of separate licenses for all member products.
Licensing Suite license associated only with the suite. Multi-product license issued by the software publisher, naming the individual products that may be licensed together (and possibly identifying one or more as "primary" and others as "supplementary").
Recognized by Either:
  • Separate installer evidence for suite
  • Presence of a defined minimum number of member applications, each recognized by its own installer evidence. (These are then called "application evidence".)
License definition, then with entitlements either allocated to multiple devices (where allowed), or the appropriate set of installed applications automatically recognized on a single device (this requires at least one primary application and at least two licensed applications in total).
Processed during Application recognition License reconciliation
Member applications Are hidden in lists of applications on devices where the suite is recognized; or remain individually visible where the suite is not recognized (and then may be individually licensed with normal, separate application licenses). Remain always visible in lists of installed applications for the device licensed under a multi-product license.

FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)

2020 R2