Appendix 2: Data Imported by Microsoft Azure Connector

FlexNet Manager Suite 2022 R2 (On-Premises)
The PowerShell connector for Microsoft Azure returns information about each Azure instance, and its host. All instances are subsequently displayed in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page; and those tracking installations of Microsoft Windows Server or SQL Server also display the cloud license model (BYOL for bring your own license, or PAYG for pay as you go) in use for each instance. Hosts are never displayed in this page, as in general hosting is variable and controlled by Microsoft Azure.
Tip: One exception where you have direct control is the 'dedicated host'. Like all other host types, dedicated hosts do not appear in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory listing; but they do automatically appear in inventory device listings, such as the All Inventory page, where you can search for them using the Hosted in property. Any instances from the Cloud Service Provider Inventory listing that are hosted on your dedicated host also display a link to the dedicated host properties in the Host column.

Instance data

Tip: All kinds of instances return this set of data, whether they are virtual machines or bare metal instances. The latter return an Instance type starting with i3..
There is one condition where the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page includes a hyperlink to open the inventory device properties page for the instance: if the data gathered through the connector matches inventory collected from another source (one possible example is having FlexNet inventory agent running locally on the instance). In this case, linked records exist in both the ComplianceComputer and CloudServiceInstance tables.
Some data is additional to the normal content collected as inventory. For example:
  • The InstanceTenancyID, used for identifying whether the current device is a Dedicated instance, or is an instance running On dedicated host, is imported into the CloudServiceInstance table, and, as Availability type, is visible in both the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page and the Cloud Hosting tab of the inventory device properties (where inventory exists for the instance)
  • The cloud hosting model is displayed in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page as SQL server mobility and/or Windows server AHB – both of these columns may display PAYG or BYOL, where the license model is known (and remain blank when it is not). Note that the connector returns only the license model that is applicable if and when the relevant product is installed on the instance – it is not an inventory report showing whether either product is installed. If you subsequently add full software and hardware inventory for this instance, and the inventory is matched to this record in the next license compliance calculations, a link is added in the Device name column so that you can open the inventory device properties and see what software is actually installed.
Tip: Azure "bare metal instances" behave like other instances in terms of data gathered and records created.
When there is an inventory device record for an instance, the inventory-related values imported through the Microsoft Azure connector (and shown below in alphabetical order) are displayed in the separate Cloud Hosting tab of the inventory device properties:
  • Account
  • Availability type
  • Availability zone
  • Cores
  • Create date
  • Host ID
  • Image ID
  • Instance ID (Azure VmId, which is also UUID of the VM)
  • Instance type
  • Instance region
  • Last known state (state of the instance, will be mapped to Started, Stopped, Suspended, Terminated, or Unknown)
  • MAC address
  • Network ID
  • Purchased option
  • Threads per core.
Tip: The inventory device record does not store any information about cloud license model for any cloud instance. Cloud license model for an instance running SQL Server or Windows Server applications is available in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page under the columns SQL server mobility and Windows server AHB respectively.

FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)

2022 R2