App Portal / App Broker for ServiceNow 2016
Edition • This feature requires the additional purchase of FlexNet Manager Suite.
Important • To use this feature, you must install the FlexNet Manager Suite 2015 R2 SP5-02 Hotfix, available in the Flexera Software Product and License Center.
Starting with App Portal 2016, license entitlement evaluation has been enhanced to consider not only available licenses, but also second use rights, upgrade/downgrade rights, and exemption by device role rights (such as an MSDN subscription), all based upon information stored in FlexNet Manager Suite.
App Portal gives users the ability, at a more advanced level, to check if a license reservation is needed for a catalog item by evaluating the following during checkout:
| • | Right of second use (also known as portable use)—The right to use the software on both a desktop and a laptop with the same owner and only consume one license. |
| • | Upgrade rights—The right to use the latest version of the software as soon as it becomes available. |
| • | Downgrade rights—The right to use an older version of the software than the version purchased. |
| • | Exemption by device role rights—The right to install software based upon a subscription role, such as an MSDN subscription. |
These additional license rights are evaluated at checkout before a license is reserved. This solution helps ensure that your organization evaluates all key entitlement rights and does not mistakenly purchase more license entitlements that you actually require.
Enabling Advanced License Check
By default, advanced license check is not enabled. To enable it globally, select the Enable Advanced License Check with FlexNet Manager Suite option on the Site Management > Settings >Flexera Integration view.
You can also control the advanced license check feature on a catalog item basis by selecting the Check for available license during checkout option on the FlexNet Manager Suite tab of the Catalog Item Properties dialog box.
Figure 1: Check for Advanced License During Checkout Option
About Product Use Rights
Enabling the “advanced license check” process will improve the entitlement estimate during the reservation process, but it may run the risk of a few exceptions. For instance, the following may occur:
| • | Changes between the pre- and post-approval process may occur. |
| • | Changes between the request process and the deployment / inventory may occur. |
| • | Reassignment of license through the license reconcile process may produce unexpected results. |
There are known limitations in the license optimization performed when using the advanced license check. For instance, only the user/device relevant to the request is considered. In the scenario described in the following table, no new license is required if you consider both User 1 and User 2: you just need to exchange the current licenses between User 1 and User 2. However, because only User 2 is considered at the time of the request, the system wrongly detects that a new license is needed. These are corner case scenarios but they may exist.
|
Users |
License |
Request |
What should happen |
What will happen |
|
User 1 |
Has a license with right of second use |
— |
User 1 and User 2 should switch licenses so that User 2 has a right of second use. |
An additional license will be purchased for User 2. |
|
User 2 |
Has a license with no right of second use |
User 2 requests a license for a second device |
Advanced License Check User Experience
When this feature is enabled, catalog items on the Browse Catalog tab that require a license will display the text “License Check is Required” rather than “License Required”. An advanced license check will be performed using the data from FlexNet Manager Suite to determine whether the right of second use, upgrade/downgrade rights, or exemptions by device role apply.
|
Without Advanced License Check |
With Advanced License Check |
|
Items requiring a license identified by the phrase License Required. License availability is identified as either License available or License not available. |
Items requiring a license are identified by the phrase License Check Required. If an item requires a license and, after an advanced license check is performed, it is determined that the user already has rights to a license for that item (possibly due to second use, upgrade, downgrade, or role rights), the phrase No additional license needed is listed. |
App Portal / App Broker for ServiceNow 2016 Administration Guide09 August 2016 |
Copyright Information | Flexera Software |
