IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report

The IBM PVU License Current Consumption report displays the consumption details of all PVU licenses that were consuming at the time of the last reconciliation. Software asset managers will use this report to check that devices are assigned to the correct cluster and reassign if required, and provides a central view for analyzing your IBM PVU licenses to determine whether it is possible to save costs by reassigning devices to a different cluster.

Generating the Report

To generate the report, perform the following steps.

To generate an IBM PVU License Current Consumption report:

1. Go to the IBM PVU License Consumption report (Reporting > License Reports > IBM PVU License Consumption).
2. The report controls include a search field labeled Licenses, which for audit reporting defaults to All IBM PVU licenses. For special purposes, to narrow your report to one or several candidate licenses:
a. Click the edit icon in the field to open a search panel.
b. Type all or part of a license name in the License search field, and click Search. Results display in the list at the bottom of the panel (across multiple pages, if your search returned a large number of licenses).
c. Select the check box to the left of the license (or licenses) to include in the report. Your current selection(s) display in the Selected license box, and also in the Licenses text box.
d. Close the search panel.
3. Click Run report.

Reading the Report

The following columns are available. By default, all available columns are displayed in the report (although for special purposes, you may move any columns that you do not want included into the column chooser).

To itemize consumption, this report combines properties of:

• Application Properties
• Container Cluster Properties
• Host Properties
• Inventory Device Properties
• License Properties
• Region Properties
• Resource Pools Properties

To clarify, the properties are grouped under headers that identify their underlying database object. Similarly, this list of properties is grouped first by the database object, and then the related properties.

If a stand-alone computer appears in this report (one that is neither a virtual machine nor a virtual host), its details are shown in both the host and inventory device sections of the report. The same thing happens if the host server has the licensed software installed directly on it, regardless of whether the software is also installed on one or more guest devices (one row shows the host's details both as a host and as the inventory device).

Application Properties

The following application properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - Application Properties

Property

Description

Application name

The application's name, which may be:

• Set by the Application Recognition Library
• Derived from the evidence values for Product, Version, and Edition properties
• Edited manually (for records created locally).

You can edit this on the General tab of the application properties when Local is displayed in the Source column (which means the application was added manually by an operator).

Edition

The edition of an application, as specified by the publisher of this application.

Note:Many applications do not specify an edition.

Visible on the General tab of the application properties. It is editable only for applications with a Source value of Local.

Primary

Describes whether this product is primary for this license.

The default value of this field is Yes for a single-product license. In case of licensing product bundles, you can select one or more primary product(s) for this license.

When the application displays No in this column, the installation does not consume any points, as its licensing is covered by the primary product(s) on the same license.

Product

The basic name of the application, excluding the publisher and references to versions or editions.

Container Cluster Properties

The following container cluster properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - Container Cluster Properties

Property

Description

Cluster name

The name given to the Kubernetes cluster of nodes (working computers, either physical or virtual). This name is not guaranteed to be unique (in facts, tends to repeat default values, such as mk).

Cluster consumption

The current consumption for this cluster as calculated during the most recent full inventory import and license reconciliation that contributed towards the consumption for the license.

Host Properties

The following host properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - Host Properties

Property

Description

Cluster

The name of the cluster. A cluster is a group of virtual machine hosts, each hosting one or more virtual machines.

Device type

Specifies the type of the inventory device, which may be any of the following values:

• Computer—A computing device like a desktop, laptop, workstation, or a non- virtualized server.
• Mobile device—A mobile device like a tablet or smart phone.
• Product—Not a device type, but a pseudo-value used only in IBM VPC licenses to identify rows showing the licensed IBM product. This value may appear only if the Bundle consumption rules (in the license properties Use Rights & Rules tab, under License consumption rules) have the option Consume for each product on a device selected.
• Remote Device—The device is a remote device (not appearing in inventory) known to have accessed virtualized applications.
• VDI Template—The VDI template used to create the virtual desktop instance that was accessed from an inventory device(see Virtual Desktop Templates).
• Virtual Machine—A virtual machine running on a physical host machine. A physical host can run multiple virtual machines using virtualization technologies from VMWare, Oracle, Microsoft, and so on.
• VM Host—A physical virtual host running one or more virtual machine using any virtualization technology, such as VMWare.

Most commonly, this displays VM Host. However, if it happens that a stand-alone device (neither a VM nor a VM host) is included in the report for its full capacity contribution, its details are repeated in both the host section and the inventory device section of the report. In this case, the Computer type typically displays Computer.

Host consumption

The total points consumed for all of the relevant software installations on this host (both on its hosted VMs and directly on this server). The simple sum of points for all installations may be modified in either of two ways:

• The sum may be capped by the total capacity of the host
• The consumption figure on the license may have been overridden with a manual edit.

Host corporate unit

The corporate unit responsible for all costs incurred for this host server. This same value may also flow through to all guest VMs on this host (for example, for a departmental server); or the guest VMs may have independent values (for example, for a server room host that runs VMs for several different corporate units). This choice is determined by the setting for Update virtual machine cost center and corporate unit to match host properties in the in the Inventory tab in the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Be aware that changes to the host's corporate unit are data corrections, and that the current value is always reflected in the report regenerated as part of each night's license compliance calculations.

Compare with Corporate unit for the inventory device.

Editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Host cost center

The cost center responsible for all costs incurred for this host server. This same value may also flow through to all guest VMs on this host (for example, for a departmental server); or the guest VMs may have independent values (for example, for a server room host that runs VMs for several different cost centers). This choice is determined by the setting for Update virtual machine cost center and corporate unit to match host properties on the Inventory tab of the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Be aware that changes to the host's cost center are data corrections, and that the current value is always reflected in the report regenerated as part of each night's license compliance calculations.

Compare with Cost center for the inventory device.

Editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Host licensing

Displays one of the following values:

• Full capacity 
• Sub-capacity 
• Blank for a stand-alone device not hosting VMs.

A host may be forced to consume to its full capacity for either of the following reasons:

• It is consuming from a license that does not allow sub-capacity licensing (check the Use rights & rules tab).
• The host itself, or any one or more of its guest VMs, may be ineligible for sub- capacity calculations because their inventory is not returned by a locally-installed Inventory Agent (check the Eligible for sub-capacity column for each of its guest VMs). Any ineligible guest forces its host to use full capacity calculations.

Host location

The location within your enterprise that is responsible for this host device. The settings for guest VMs on this host may or may not inherit this value, depending on the setting for Update virtual machine location to match host location in the in the Inventory tab in the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Compare with Location for the inventory device.

Editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Host manufacturer

The company making and selling the computer hosting the relevant virtual machine.

Host model

The manufacturer’s model name or number for this device.

Host name

The system name of this device. You may click the hyperlinked name to open the inventory device properties for this host.

Host serial number

The serial number assigned to the host device.

Max clock speed

The maximum clock speed displayed in the computer’s own property sheet.

The Clock speed value is not directly editable. See the property sheet for the computer.

Physical server CPU core sub-capacity

The number of processor cores used in the consumption calculation for this row of the report.

Tip:When Host licensing is Full capacity or blank, this figure is the same as Physical server CPU core sub-capacity limit. In contrast, when Host licensing is Sub-capacity, this figure is the same as the Cores count displayed for the inventory device (guest VM) in this row.

Physical server CPU core sub-capacity limit

The total number of processor cores available in the host, which acts as a cap or upper limit on the sum of possible cores assigned to its guest VMs.

Physical server PVU sub-capacity

The PVU points consumption for the current row. This is the result of multiplying together the Physical server CPU core sub-capacity value and the PVU per core value.

Physical server PVU sub-capacity limit

The maximum number of PVU points available for this server. This is the result of multiplying together the Physical server CPU core sub-capacity limit value and the PVU per core value. This figure acts as a cap for the total consumption of points on this host.

Processor type

The type of processor installed in this host. Processor type influences the selection of points from the points table linked to the IBM PVU license.

Processors

The total number of central processing units (CPUs) available in this host.

PVU per core

The value chosen from the PVU points table for use on this host server. The choice is based on the host manufacturer and model, along with processor type.

Inventory Device Properties

The following inventory device properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - Inventory Device Properties

Property

Description

Allocated

Indicates whether this row of the table records an allocation of a license entitlement to the inventory device or user. (Allocations are independent of installations.)

The Allocated value is editable in the Consumption tab of the license properties. Furthermore, the type of allocation can be adjusted on the Licenses tab of the inventory device properties.

Computer

The name of the device consuming from this IBM license. Click to open the properties of this inventory device.

Editable in the Name field in the General tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records).

Cores

When the inventory device is a guest VM on the host in this row, this is the number of processor cores assigned to the VM. If the Host licensing column displays Sub- capacity, this count of assigned cores matches the Physical server CPU core sub-capacity value used to calculate the points consumed for this row. However, where the Host licensing was forced to Full capacity, those two values are different, with this column still showing the cores assigned, even though that number had to be ignored for full capacity calculations. (In those cases where this row is reporting consumption for the host itself, or for a stand-alone server, this is the number of processor cores available in the physical inventory device.)

Corporate unit

The corporate unit responsible for all costs incurred for this inventory device. If this device is a virtual machine, it may inherit the value from its host (for example, from a departmental server); or it may have an independent value. This choice is determined by the setting for Update virtual machine cost center and corporate unit to match host properties in the in the Inventory tab in the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Independent (non-inherited) values are editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. Be aware that changes to the corporate unit are data corrections, and that the current value is always reflected in the report regenerated as part of each night's license compliance calculations.

Cost center

The cost center responsible for all costs incurred for this inventory device. If this device is a virtual machine, it may inherit the value from its host (for example, from a departmental server); or it may have an independent value. This choice is determined by the setting for Update virtual machine cost center and corporate unit to match host properties in the in the Inventory tab in the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Independent (non-inherited) values are editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. Be aware that changes to the cost center are data corrections, and that the current value is always reflected in the report regenerated as part of each night's license compliance calculations.

Domain name

The domain for this inventory device reported in its inventory. Often blank for guest VMs hosted on UNIX-like servers, unless the configuration has been especially set up to report a Windows domain for the non-Windows device.

Information only, and does not affect device matching or consumption calculations, nor the attribution of device consumption to an IBM region (which is handled through locations).

Eligible for sub-capacity

Displays Yes when all of the following are true:

• IT Asset Management is the source of truth for sub-capacity points calculations
• The license from which the inventory device is consuming allows for sub- capacity consumption
• The inventory device is a virtual machine with a known host (in contrast, 'stand-alone VMs', where the host cannot be identified, consume like a stand- alone server, at full capacity)
• The inventory reported from this device is FlexNet inventory, coming from a locally-installed Inventory Agent.

Tip:Check this value against the results for other VMs on this host, and also against the Host licensing column. Even though this individual VM may qualify for sub-capacity calculations, the presence of any one or more VMs that are ineligible (for example, because they are not reporting FlexNet inventory) forces calculations for the entire host and all its VMs to be Full capacity. Inconsistencies in this value for VMs on a common host can help you diagnose where you are missing installations of Inventory Agent.

Exempted

Displays Yes when an Exemption reason is set, meaning that the use of the licensed application on this inventory device does not count towards points consumed for the license. Displays No in the normal case, where the points consumed by the inventory device are calculated, and used in deriving the peak consumption for the appropriate IBM region.

Exemption reason

The reason why the individual computer or user is exempt from consuming an entitlement under this license, even though the application is in use. When this column is blank, application use on this computer, or by this user, can count towards consumption of the license.

The Exemption reason may be set on the Consumption tab of the license properties; or it may be based on the setting of the device role which matches an exemption reason identified in the product use rights of the license.

Inventory device type

Specifies the type of the inventory device, which may be any of the following values:

• Computer—A computing device like a desktop, laptop, workstation, or a non- virtualized server.
• Mobile device—A mobile device like a tablet or smart phone.
• Product—Not a device type, but a pseudo-value used only in IBM VPC licenses to identify rows showing the licensed IBM product. This value may appear only if the Bundle consumption rules (in the license properties Use Rights & Rules tab, under License consumption rules) have the option Consume for each product on a device selected.
• Remote Device—The device is a remote device (not appearing in inventory) known to have accessed virtualized applications.
• VDI Template—The VDI template used to create the virtual desktop instance that was accessed from an inventory device(see Virtual Desktop Templates).
• Virtual Machine—A virtual machine running on a physical host machine. A physical host can run multiple virtual machines using virtualization technologies from VMWare, Oracle, Microsoft, and so on.
• VM Host—A physical virtual host running one or more virtual machine using any virtualization technology, such as VMWare.

Inventory source

The most recent source of inventory that reported the majority of the hardware properties for this device (if a device is reported by multiple inventory sources, some details may come from the main or primary source, and other details may be augmented from other sources). For VPC licenses for Cloud Paks, this column should always represent FlexNet inventory, collected and uploaded by the locally- installed Inventory Agent. (The column may also display ManageSoft, a legacy name for Inventory Agent.)

IP address

The IPv4 address (if any) reported in inventory from this device. Reflects the IP address shown in the General tab of the inventory device properties, and may be blank if the device reports an IPv6 address as its first or only IP address.

Last inventory date

The date when inventory information was most recently collected by the Inventory source for the inventory device.

Location

The location within your enterprise that is responsible for this inventory device. If this device is a virtual machine, it may inherit this value, depending on the setting for Update virtual machine location to match host location on the Inventory tab of the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General).

Note:In the unlikely case that this virtual machine is linked to an asset, then the value remains independent of the virtual host, regardless of the system setting.

Independent (non-inherited) values are editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Operating system

The operating system that this inventory device reports in inventory. In the case of a virtual machine, this is the guest operating system.

Serial number

The serial number assigned to the device. There are typically several manufacturer-provided identification codes, and for each platform the Serial number is an attempt to select a globally-unique identifier for inventory purposes.

License Properties

The following license properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - License Properties

Property

Description

Changed PVU per core

Whether the customized Points Rule Sets have been used in the license consumption calculation. Possible values are:

• Yes—Customized points rule sets have been used.
• No—The default points rule sets without user modification have been used.

License consumption

The total number of points consumed for this IBM PVU license, which is the sum of:

• The current consumption for each of the three IBM regions
• The current consumption for inventory devices in an Unknown region
• The current consumption figures for all devices linked to the license but requiring full capacity calculations.

License name

The license name may be:

• Copied from the first-linked software product
• Derived from the License Name field of the SKU in the first-linked purchase (or if there is no SKU, from the purchase Description field)
• Created manually.

License publisher

The name of the software publisher (responsible for its development and distribution), as shown in the license properties.

License version

The version assigned to the license. This may be tracking versions of a linked application, or may an independent value.

Region Properties

The following region properties are displayed.

IBM PVULicense Current Consumption Report - Region Properties

Product

Description

Region consumption

The consumption for the IBM region identified in this row, being the region to which consumption by the host server contributes

Region name

Shows, for each device, the region in which its license points are included (or, if the device is not yet assigned to a region, Unknown region is displayed, and this should be corrected as soon as practical). This is one of the three regions of the world that IBM makes mandatory for reporting points consumption on IBM sub- capacity licenses.

Tip:In any list of inventory devices, a virtual machine shows the IBM region linked to its host server. This is because an IBM sub-capacity license licenses the host, and therefore the total consumption for the host is rolled up into the IBM region that is linked to the host (through its owning location). This total consumption includes both software installed on the host and/or on any guest VMs running on that host. (In contrast, if the host for the VM is unknown, the VM displays its own properties, so that in this case, the location and its mapped IBM region are those from the orphan VM.)

Values may be:

• North America and South America 
• Europe and Africa 
• Asia and Australia 
• Unknown region (either when there is no owning location, or when the owning location has not be assigned to an IBM region).

Resource Pools Properties

The following resource pools properties are displayed.

IBM PVU License Current Consumption Report - Resource Pools Properties

Property

Description

Pool 1

The name of the (first or only) resource pool on the host shown in the current row, to which the inventory device (virtual machine) on the same row belongs. Be aware that if there is a similar value for Pool 2, then pool 1 is the higher-level or parent pool in the hierarchy, and pool 2 is the lower-level or child pool that typically contains the virtual machines. This column only shows a value for host platforms that support resource pools with hard limits, including:

• AIX
• HP-UX
• Solaris zones
• Linux VMs deployed on IBM zSystem environments

Tip:Resource pools (such as VMware ESX servers) that do not impose hard limits (capping), will not appear under Resource pools properties.

Current resource pools are visible in the Management view in the Virtual Devices and Clusters page.

Pool 1 core sub-capacity limit

The total number of cores available for all virtual machines in this pool (where there is only one level in the pool hierarchy), or available for all its child resource pools (where there are two levels in the pool hierarchy).

Pool 1 core sub-capacity

The number of processor cores used in the consumption calculation for all virtual machines in this resource pool.

Pool 2

The name of the child (or second level) resource pool, to which virtual machines are typically assigned when there is a hierarchy of resource pools. (Where a host has only a single level of resource pools, this column remains blank.)

Tip:If you create an unusual hierarchy with more than two levels, only the lowest level (containing VMs) and the second-lowest level (the immediate parent) appear in this report.

Pool 2 core sub-capacity limit

The total number of cores available for all virtual machines in this pool. Where a host has only a single level of resource pools, this column remains blank.

Pool 2 core sub-capacity

The number of processor cores used in the consumption calculation for all virtual machines in this resource pool.

Pool 3

The name of the third level child resource pool, to which virtual machines are typically assigned when there is a hierarchy of resource pools. Where a host has only one or two levels of resource pools, this column remains blank.

For IBM zSystem inventory, the third level in the hierarchy will typically consist of either a z/VM or KVM hypervisor.

Pool 3 core sub-capacity limit

The total number of processor cores available in the resource pool, which acts as a cap or upper limit on the sum of possible cores assigned to its guest virtual machines.

Pool 3 core sub-capacity

The number of processor cores used in the consumption calculation for all virtual machines in this resource pool.