Terminology
This section contains some terms where clarification has been found helpful.
A | B | C | D | E | F | H | I | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | X | Z
adapter
IT Asset Management uses adapters to link up with other sources of information that are helpful in establishing (and then optimizing) your license position. Adapter types are named for the two different sorts of information they collect:
| • | Inventory adapters bring in information from systems that collect software and hardware inventory details from your computing estate |
| • | Business adapters collect related information to help measure and manage your estate, such as: purchases of licenses and maintenance, or of hardware assets; and details of your enterprise structure for administrative purposes. |
adoption
Adoption is the automated process of installing and configuring the Inventory Agent on a device, using an inventory beacon as the deployment channel. By design, this happens automatically when:
| • | A target has been defined in Flexera One that covers the device |
| • | That target has the Adoption options set to Allow these targets to be adopted |
| • | No other target also covering the device exists with the setting Do not allow these targets to be adopted (since a 'deny' overrides an 'allow') |
| • | An inventory beacon has assigned subnet(s) that include the target, and applies a rule bound to the target. |
It is possible to deploy Inventory Agents by other means, including manual installation or deployment through other tools. In such cases, if the devices are not also covered by targets that Allow these targets to be adopted, IT Asset Management does not regard the device as adopted. As for all non-adopted devices that are included in inventory targets, IT Asset Management attempts inventory collection by alternate means, usually by Zero-footprint inventory collection by the FlexNet inventory core components installed on an inventory beacon. This may result in inventory being independently gathered by the locally-installed Inventory Agent and by the Zero-footprint process. Normally, data sets from these two sources are matched, and reconciled into a single inventory record. However, notice that there are two schedules involved:
| • | The schedule for all installed Inventory Agents (set in Inventory Settings—as part of their separate deployment, the installed Inventory Agents were directed to the appropriate inventory beacon from which they have collected their policy and this schedule) |
| • | The schedule determined when the rule was created (which drives the remote execution process). |
Because of different schedules, you may notice that the value of the Last inventory source (in inventory listings) toggles back and forth between these two data sources.
Tip:If you deploy the Inventory Agent by means other than the adoption process, consider subsequently setting Adoption options to Allow these targets to be adopted for at least one target in an active rule to cover these devices. When an inventory beacon attempts the agent installation, it finds the Inventory Agent already installed, and 'backs off', assuming that the device has been previously adopted. Because IT Asset Management now recognizes the device as marked for adoption, it no longer attempts any alternative methods of inventory collection.
In IT Asset Management, an allocation is a firm assignment of a right to use a software product from a particular license (a license entitlement) to an individual computer (for device-related licenses) or a user (for user-based licenses).
An allocation is never automatically removed by the system; it can only be removed manually, by an operator. The process of removing an allocation is called "deallocation".
In compliance calculations, allocations have first priority. In most cases, the allocation is matched by an inventory record of installation (or less commonly, usage), so that consumption against the correct license is counted automatically. For special cases, such as where a computer cannot be inventoried (or at least, not yet), you can set the allocation in special ways, such as:
| • | The allocation should always count as consumption, regardless of whether inventory ever matches it |
| • | The allocation should be counted as consumption only until such time as matching inventory arrives, after which it should switch over to an allocation for which actual consumption depends on the inventory results (that is, if the software is in use, this computer/user has top priority for the license; but if the software is not used here, the license entitlement may be given to someone else until the situation changes). |
Important:There is one situation where an allocated device (or user) may consume from a different license other than the one allocated to it. This happens only if the allocated license is fully consumed, so that there are no entitlements left that could be allocated to this device/user. Because allocations are calculated first in the license consumption calculations, this must mean that you have allocated more entitlements than are available on the license. Check whether all relevant purchases have been recorded for this license, and if need be, make further purchases to cover your allocation needs.
Allocations (which are definite, and top priority) should not be confused with group assignments (which are preferences, and second priority).
A license covering use of software embedded in a specific piece of hardware, such as a hub, router, or PBX. Terms and conditions may vary between publishers.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
|
Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of installations is less than or equal to the number of entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Allocations to computers may be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to the appropriate devices. |
An application is
| • | Executable software that fulfills a particular purpose, such as word processing, or accounting. It comprises a collection of files, including executables, that may be installed and run on a computer. |
| • | Able to be purchased (or obtained) separately |
| • | Able to be recognizably linked to one or more specific licenses |
| • | With few exceptions, able to be recognized as installed on a computer by various kinds of evidence. |
This is a widely accepted understanding of an application: software that is procurable, licensable, installable, and serves a particular purpose. Examples include Microsoft Word, WinZip, or Adobe Photoshop.
However, the concept of an application needs to be more specific in IT Asset Management than it is in general usage. Because IT Asset Management tracks licenses, and because the licensing of applications can change across various additional dimensions (such as the release or edition of an application), we must model applications in all those dimensions as well. The following additional distinctions are taken into account:
| • | An application specifies a particular release number (by default, the major and first minor number, such as "3.2"). In IT Asset Management, the release number is commonly called the Version. For example, the licensing of WinZip 9 provides very different rights than the licensing of WinZip 11. In the terms used by IT Asset Management, WinZip 9 and WinZip 11 are distinct applications, two different instances of the same product. |
| • | An application specifies a particular edition (for example, Standard, Enterprise, Gold, and so on). Some licenses grant different terms for the more advanced editions of their products. Differences in terms must be modeled as distinct license objects in IT Asset Management, and each distinct license can then be linked to the correct edition. |
In IT Asset Management, records of applications are downloaded in the Application Recognition Library (ARL). These records represent the software that can be installed on a computer, and are linked to separate records of the installation evidence (and, occasionally, file evidence) that can appear in software inventory. These links allow IT Asset Management to translate raw inventory evidence into lists of installed applications. You can then can build relationships between applications and license records to indicate which of the installed applications are covered by a license.
We don't always need such a level of detail. Related 'families' of applications (with the same name) are grouped together as products or software titles. So we can say that
| • | A software publisher (such as Adobe) |
| • | Creates a product (such as Acrobat) |
| • | That is published in various editions (such as standard and Pro) |
| • | And updated to different versions over time. |
The application is the end-point, specific to all of these dimensions.
Sometimes applications are grouped with other applications (of different names) to create either suites or product bundles.
All these terms are used with distinct meanings in IT Asset Management.
See Also
application server
The central server hosted by Flexera and used by IT Asset Management On Demand for calculating license compliance, allowing input by operators, and displaying reports and other data.
Application Recognition Library (ARL)
A library maintained by Flexera that maps evidence found on computers (mainly installer evidence, with some file evidence or ISO SWID tags in selected cases) to the applications responsible. Values recorded in the Application Recognition Library (ARL) are not editable. These rules translate the inventory evidence found in your computer estate to the names of software applications for which you need licenses.
An asset is any hardware item, from a chair or mobile phone to a server, that represents a certain value to an organization. You can manage any assets that you like within IT Asset Management, although the expectation is that the main focus is on computing assets.
Assets are managed through lists and property pages under the Hardware menu. Using the asset property pages, you can specify the asset's serial number, related sub-assets, the asset's location, the responsible cost center, and many other details.
A breach generally means the act of breaking, or failing to observe, the terms of the legal license agreement that exists between your enterprise and the publisher of some software in use in your enterprise. The most common form of breach is using too many copies of the software, so that in IT Asset Management, a breach is often represented as a quantity by which you are In breach.
Important:In IT Asset Management, the phrase "at risk" means only that your records of consumption against a license exceed your records of purchases. This may be caused by multiple factors, including when there are license entitlements that have not yet been imported. At all times your enterprise has and retains the legal responsibility of ensuring that, in fact, it complies with the terms of all contracts, including software licenses and maintenance agreements, to which it is a party. For this reason, the general terminology in help is that a license is "over-utilized", according to records in the system.
BYOSL
BYOSL stands for "bring your own software license", a practice where you maintain responsibility for licensing the software that your enterprise uses in the cloud (typically for IaaS or PaaS, but occasionally even for SaaS, as described in SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS).
For more information about support for BYOSL within IT Asset Management, see BYOSL for IaaS/PaaS.
A Client Access License (CAL) is a software license that entitles a client to access the services of some server products like Microsoft Exchange or IBM Rational Quality Manager. A CAL typically provides the access rights to physical, virtual, and (sometimes) online services. For example, A Windows Server requires CALs for the users accessing its services. Select this license type when you want to manage the CAL consumption by manually entering a number, and not through IT Asset Management.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
|
Group assignment |
Not available. |
|
Consumption |
Any client access requests from a user or device to a server application consumes CAL when the server does not have a processor-based license for that application. A CAL can be consumed on per user or per device basis. You can procure CALs individually or as CAL suites. |
|
Scoping to groups |
Not available. |
|
Included |
When you want to manually manage the CAL consumption. For users, use Microsoft User CALs and for Devices, use Microsoft Device CAL. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of users or device accessing the server application is less than or equal to the number of user or device CAL entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to devices or users may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
|
Changing to |
Any existing allocations to devices or users may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
See Also
A license (applied to the server software) giving client devices the right to access server software, regardless of whether there is any associated client software. Terms and conditions usually prevent you from combining multiple clients into a single channel for licensing purposes.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Secondary use, multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
|
Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of installations is less than or equal to the number of entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Allocations to computers may be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to the appropriate devices. |
See Also
cluster
A computer cluster links multiple computers through a specially-configured LAN to that they effectively operate as a single, powerful system. Compared to any of its single computers, a cluster can provide faster processing, more storage, better data integrity, superior reliability, and wider availability of resources.
For software licensing, the most important feature of a cluster is the ability to move virtual machines (VMs) from one host to another within the cluster, along with the applications running on those VMs. Some licenses allow this migration (without further entitlements being required), others do not, and others allow it with limitations. IT Asset Management supports these clustering technologies:
| • | VMware ESXi (prior to version 5, ESX) vMotion clusters. By default, VMs may migrate to different servers in a vMotion cluster, until they are restricted by affinity rules. |
| • | Microsoft Hyper-V fail-over clusters. Microsoft uses affinity rules (and anti-affinity rules) to dictate to which hosts a VM may (and may not) move; but until such rules are declared, a VM stays on its assigned host. |
Information about clusters may be imported with appropriate inventory tools (such as ILMT) or directly gathered through your inventory beacon; or you can manually enter cluster details. (Manually entered information may be over-written by subsequent inventory imports.) You can also set up affinity rules to mirror the settings on the clusters. Different licenses are impacted in different ways by affinity rules.
compilance
In software asset management, compliance is the measure of how far your enterprise meets the requirements of the software licenses you have purchased (also taking into account any software installations that are not appropriately licensed). A given license is 'compliant' when your use of the software meets all the conditions and requirements of the publisher's license agreement. Your overall license position is a measure of how many licenses are compliant, and how many are 'over-utilized', which is the opposite of compliant.
compliance database
The core database for IT Asset Management as a cloud service, where the application server (hosted by Flexera) stores data and conducts compliance (or license consumption) calculations.
The compliance database is one of several databases that together are referred to as the operations databases.
component
A component (in IT Asset Management) has its natural meaning: it is a part of something. We may have:
| • | A component of an application, such as the dictionary within Microsoft Word. Originally separately developed by Houghton Mifflin, this is now a component of Word and not available separately. A component performs a specialized function (such as spell checking) within the overall application purpose (such as word processing). |
| • | A component of a suite, such as Adobe Version Cue. This is included with many editions of Adobe Creative Suite, but it is not available for separate sale, and cannot be licensed separately. |
So we use the term component to mean a part of an application or suite that is not available separately, and cannot be licensed separately (apart from its parent application or suite). Some components, of course, might be supplied as elements of several different applications or suites (for example, Adobe Bridge is supplied within Creative Suite but is also included with several design applications when those are purchased separately).
For applications, you’ll mainly choose to ignore components, since they rarely affect licensing. Unfortunately, components leave file evidence (and sometimes installer or WMI evidence). For these cases, IT Asset Management provides a classification of Component. Once you have these items correctly classified, you can filter them from view to help you focus on other applications that are more important to your compliance position.
For suites, a component can sometimes be useful in distinguishing between the installation of a suite and the coincidental installation of several free-standing applications that are also available within the suite. However, taking this approach requires a detailed understanding of the publisher’s product structure. For example:
| • | Adobe Version Cue is a component of Creative Suite, but cannot be used as Required application evidence of the suite. This is because the Suite license allows for Version Cue to be installed separately on its own server; and you do not want to trigger another installation count for that separate server. Therefore Adobe Version Cue should be an ‘optional’ member of Creative Suite (that is, marked Not for recognition ). |
| • | Adobe Bridge is another component of Creative Suite, but also cannot be used as Required application evidence of the suite. This is because Adobe Bridge is also supplied with (for example) Adobe Photoshop when this is sold as a stand-alone application, and it would be an error to trigger consumption of a Creative Suite entitlement for the stand-alone Photoshop installation. This component should also be an ‘optional’ (Not for recognition) member of Creative Suite. |
component (Oracle)
Oracle publishes add-on applications to link to its core database products, and terms some of these ‘components’. Examples include OLAP Analytic Workspace, Oracle Data Mining, and Oracle Data Access Components. Oracle requires that these are separately licensed in a special parent-child relationship with the database license.
Another term widely used for Oracle Database add-ons is 'options'. Examples include Oracle Database Vault and Oracle Golden Gate.
IT Asset Management does not distinguish in terminology between Oracle components and Oracle options. For licensing all Oracle add-ons, licenses for Oracle databases and database instances have a special Options tab to link the child licenses.
computer
The standard definition of a computer applies:
“An electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program.”
However, in IT Asset Management, the term covers all kinds of computer, including:
| • | Desktop workstations |
| • | Laptops, notebooks, and netbooks |
| • | Mainframes and servers |
| • | Virtual machines |
| • | Various kinds of remote device that are capable of running software applications downloaded through systems like VDI |
Concurrent User (license type)
A license that allows a large number of users to access the software, but limits how many of them may use it simultaneously. Since inventory tools do not monitor concurrent user numbers, this license type is excluded from compliance calculations. Set compliance manually on licenses of this type.
This kind of license is typical of high-end engineering applications. The licensing for these applications is managed in FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications. Because this licensing is managed from FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications, the special Concurrent User licenses for these applications are unlike other license types in IT Asset Management, in the following ways:
| • | FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications Concurrent User licenses can be manually created in IT Asset Management |
| • | FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications Concurrent User licenses are not subject to extended use rights, such as having upgrades and downgrades applied automatically |
| • | FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications Concurrent User licenses are not linked to application records or computer records within IT Asset Management |
| • | It is not possible to manually allocate (or remove) users to (or from) these licenses from within IT Asset Management |
| • | Compliance for these licenses is calculated by FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications, and not by the inventory import process within IT Asset Management. |
IT Asset Management provides a central license server and manages usage of the engineering applications owned by your enterprise.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Upgrade rights, downgrade rights. (Not applicable for licenses relating to FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications.) |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Scoping to groups |
Not available. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. When the Concurrent User license is created automatically while importing data from FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications, this number is directly imported rather than locally calculated. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope of the license. (Not applicable for licenses created automatically while importing data from FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications.) |
|
Compliance |
Not calculated. For locally-created Concurrent User licenses, you may manually assign the status Compliant on the license properties. Concurrent User licenses created automatically for engineering applications have their compliance status calculated by FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications. |
|
Changing from |
Allocations to computers may be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. (Not applicable for licenses relating to FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications.) |
Operation of adapters on the central application server. Adapters include both inventory adapters and business adapters, which together bring data from other systems into IT Asset Management. Connected mode is only available in an on-premises implementation, where your enterprise hosts your own operations database.
See Also
The process (or result) of using up license entitlements granted under a license agreement. For example, suppose you are entitled to install 3 copies of some software under a device-based license. When you install the first copy of the software, you have consumed one of your entitlements. After 3 installations, you have consumed all your entitlements, and any further installations put you in over-utilized of your license agreement.
contract
An agreement with specific terms and conditions, made between two or more entities (such as your enterprise and an external contractor). The contract includes a promise to do something in return for a valuable benefit known as consideration. Contracts are enforceable at law.
For software asset management, the two most common contracts are volume purchasing agreements and maintenance agreements. For example, in a maintenance agreement, the publisher may promise channels of support and regular software updates, in return for a consideration of an annual fee.
Software licenses are also a form of contract, wherein the publisher grants the right to use their protected intellectual property (the software) in consideration of your payment of the license fee. Software license agreements typically also have a number of other terms and conditions that must be met. Although these are types of contracts, they are treated separately from other contracts in software asset management because they are the central object around which everything else revolves, and they have many specialized properties.
core
The working part of a processor that does its computing, as distinct from the supporting elements like the substrate, the surrounding plastic for protection, and the input and output connections. Originally when microprocessors were invented, each processor chip had just one core. However, further miniaturization allowed for multiple cores to be built on the same die, producing dual-core processors, then quad-core processors, and other multi-core processors. Each core does processing independently, allowing parallel processing. Publishers of software for large-scale computers recognized that cores were a more fine-grained measure of computing power than simply counting the processor chips, and so introduced core-based software licenses, such as the Microsoft Server Core license type. Some publishers then go on to rate cores within different processors, creating core points licenses. For virtual machines, various virtualization (or partitioning) technologies allow you to control the number of cores assigned to each VM.
A license where entitlements are recorded as points. Each core of a computer's processor is assigned a certain number of points (by the software publisher) that vary by the processor type, and software installed on that computer consumes the specified number of points. For virtual machines the core count is the maximum number of available virtual threads (or VCPUs).
A simple case might consume one point per core (of the computer that the software runs on), but different chip architectures might mean that each core counts for some other value of points and fractions of points (such as 1.3 points per core for a specified computer model). Therefore there is no direct relationship between the points consumed and how many computers the software is installed on. For example, a single installation on 32-core computer rated at 120 points per core will completely consume a 3840-point Core Points license; but in another enterprise, the same 3840-point Core Points license entitles you to installations on 16 servers, each having 8 cores, that are rated at 30 point per core (that is, 1 x 32 x 120 = 16 x 8 x 30 = 3840).
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
When an individual computer matches more than one of the rules in the points table, the points value from the most selective (least general) of the matching rules is used.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The sum of points per computer, across all unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license and have processors identified in the core points table. The points per computer are calculated as the product of the number of cores available and the assigned points/core for the processor type. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope of the license where the properties of the computer (processor type, computer model, and number of cores and sockets) match one of the license points rules. If no core information is available, the number of processors is used in calculations. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when points consumed are less than or equal to the number of points purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You will need to define one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
See Also
A kind of enterprise group within IT Asset Management that allows you to map the organizational structure of your enterprise in a way that is independent of either the physical locations of groups (for which see locations) or the financial reporting structure (for which see cost centers).
A division with the enterprise viewed from an accounting perspective. One of the types of enterprise group available in IT Asset Management.
While a formal definition has cost centers financed from the profit margin (that is adding to costs) without making a direct contribution to revenue (for example, R&D, IT), the definition in IT Asset Management is less strict. Use this kind of enterprise group to describe the accounting structure of your enterprise, no matter whether you define a particular group as a cost center or a profit center.
A license for which consumption is not measured by installation or usage but by some other measure. You may select one of the measures (or metrics) from the list available on the Identification tab of the license properties, or you may define your own metric using the same control (see Adding or Editing a Custom Metric). Since these licenses do not use standard calculations, they are not updated by inventory imports.
Instead, by default they are over-utilized when the value of their Consumed property (on the Consumption tab of license properties) or Consumed Entitlement property (on the Compliance tab of license properties) exceeds the value of their Total entitlements.
You may update the Consumed or Consumed Entitlement value manually, or you can arrange for consumption to be updated by the Business Importer. Where compliance conditions are too complex for a simple comparison of quantities, you may also choose to set the Compliance status manually on this license type, by selecting the Set Compliance status manually check box.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
The following rights are supported for information only, and do not affect compliance calculations: Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, licensing on VM hosts, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|
Consumption |
Not calculated. It may be updated manually or imported with the Business Importer. |
|
Included |
Not applicable. |
|
Compliance |
When Set Compliance status manually is cleared, and Consumed or Consumed Entitlement is less than or equal to Total entitlements. (If Set Compliance status manually is checked, compliance is not calculated for this license, but is set manually.) |
|
Changing from |
Any value existing in the Consumed or Consumed Entitlement property may be over-written at the next inventory import. You will no longer be able to set the Compliance status manually. Scoping rules will be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
Any Consumed or Consumed Entitlement value previously calculated for the old license type will be ignored, and the custom metric license will have its Consumed or Consumed Entitlement count set to zero. You need to maintain the consumed count manually. By default, the Compliance status will be set by comparing the Consumed or Consumed Entitlement count with the Total entitlements. You can manage the status manually by setting the Set Compliance status manually check box. |
See Also
custom view
A page presenting data in an arrangement, or view, that is not available in the standard release of IT Asset Management. This custom view is developed by experts, most often a consultant from Flexera or a partner company.
Tip:It is always possible to configure the standard data views in ways that you prefer, and to save those settings so that the data is always available in your preferred form. This kind of preferred view is available for each operator individually. For example, you can:
| • | Choose different columns to display in a list |
| • | Set the sort order, including complex sorts on multiple columns |
| • | Group data by any column |
| • | Apply your preferred filters to hide some records and highlight others. |
deallocation
See allocation.
device asset
Any computing device that has been registered as a valuable asset within your company.
In IT Asset Management, device assets are visible both in lists of assets, and in lists of inventory devices. The two records are linked, rather like putting an asset tag on the physical device.
Device assets can be contrasted with other assets that are not any form of computing device, such as tables, chairs, and motor vehicles. These may be recorded in IT Asset Management as non-device assets.
device
Any computing device, for example: a server, personal computer, workstation, laptop, notebook, or tablet.
A Device license covers a defined number of installations (the count is of the computers, or devices, that have the software installed). These licenses may be uninstalled on one computer and installed on any other computer within the same enterprise, so long as the total number of installations does not exceed the purchased quantity.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and (for information only) licensing on VM hosts. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
|
Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of installations is less than or equal to the number of entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may wish to set up scoping rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Device (Core-Limited) (license type)
A license that counts computers on which the software is installed, provided that each computer does not exceed the specified limit of processor cores. Computers with a greater number of cores cannot consume from this license. Each matching computer counts as one entitlement for consumption calculations.
For example, suppose you purchase an 8-core license entitling you to three installations. Inventory shows that the related product is installed on computers having 4, 8, and 12 available cores. The first two computers each consume one entitlement from this license, but the third computer cannot because it exceeds the core limit. You then have one installation (the third one) out of compliance, and one entitlement remaining for another installation on a computer with 8 cores or fewer.
Note:When consumed on a virtual machine, the number of cores allocated to the virtual machine is not considered during license reconciliation. Instead, only the total number of cores on the physical host is used in the calculations. As a result, a virtual machine cannot consume from such a license if its physical host has more cores than the core limit defined in the license.
Similar to Device (Core-Limited) licenses are Device (Processor-Limited) licenses, which manage licenses according to the number of processors, rather than the number of cores.
|
Category |
Description |
||||||
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
||||||
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
||||||
|
Consumption |
The number of unique physical computers that
|
||||||
|
Included |
Computers within the scope (restrictions) of the license where the number of cores is less than or equal to the number of licensed cores. If no core information is available, the number of processors is used in calculations. |
||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
||||||
|
Changing from |
Allocations to computers may be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. The Cores limit field will be set to 1 as part of the change. |
||||||
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Device (Processor-Limited) (license type)
A license that counts computers on which the software is installed, provided that each computer does not exceed the specified limit of processor chips installed in the machine. Computers with a greater number of processors cannot consume from this license. Each matching computer counts as one entitlement for consumption calculations.
For example, suppose you purchase a 2-processor license entitling you to three installations. Inventory shows that the related product is installed on computers having 1, 2, and 4 available processors. The first two computers each consume one entitlement from this license, but the third computer cannot because it exceeds the processor limit. You then have one installation (the third one) out of compliance, and one entitlement remaining for another installation on a computer with 1 or 2 processors.
Similar to Device (Processor-Limited) licenses are Device (Core-Limited) licenses, which manage licenses according to the number of cores, rather than the number of processors.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of unique computers that
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Included |
Computers within the scope (restrictions) of the license where the number of processors is less than or equal to the number of licensed processors. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Allocations to computers may be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. The Processors limit field will be set to 1 as part of the change. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
A method of operation for inventory adapters, business adapters, and other data-gathering tools running on an inventory beacon, where the beacon is not directly connected to the central operations databasesfor IT Asset Management as a cloud service. Your adapters have no access to the application server and operate entirely on your inventory beacon(s). In this mode, data must be gathered and preserved locally on the beacon until upload to the operations databases is possible.
See Also
downgrade
Using an earlier release (or version) of an application under a license covering a later version; or using a lesser edition under a license for a more powerful edition. These rights are usually granted in a license agreement subject to other conditions, such as their being continuous maintenance in place. Software publishers may interpret a downgrade right in at least two ways, for which you should carefully check the license agreement and any over-arching purchase or support agreement:
| • | Backward-compatibility model—To protect from possible backward compatibility problems, some publishers permit the licensed release and an earlier release to be installed simultaneously on the same computer for use by the same user. The two installations of the product will consume only one entitlement. For example, see the licensing of earlier versions of Adobe Photoshop. In this model, the use of different releases on separate computers by different users is often specifically or implicitly excluded—each such separate use will require a separate license entitlement. This model commonly occurs when you purchase a separate upgrade license. |
| • | License aggregation model—Usually only under purchasing agreements, some publishers allow the one, current license to cover installations of the current release on some of the computer fleet, and installations of earlier releases on separate computers. For example, examine the terms of the Microsoft Select License and Select Plus agreements. Usually in this model, each computer may have only one installation of the product (regardless of which release). If the agreement specifically excludes multiple installations, you may also need to adjust the Right of multiple use setting on the Use rights & rules tab. |
Check your agreements carefully. Do not assume one publisher uses the same agreement across products, or over time. For example, an early license for Adobe Creative Suite allowed a downgrade right to earlier versions of Photoshop, but not to Acrobat.
A publisher may issue several editions of a single application, such as a standard edition and a professional (“Pro”) edition, concurrently in the market. These editions describe different levels or groupings of functionality.
Sometimes publishers allow for upgrades or downgrades from one edition to another; but this is much less common that upgrade and downgrade rights across versions.
See Also
The company, business, firm, NPO, government department, military unit or other entity using IT Asset Management to manage software license compliance.
Enterprise Agreement (license type)
This special license type is created automatically when recording applications linked to your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. Like all licenses marked as true-up licenses, this will not be displayed as at risk, and is always considered compliant. The calculated consumption figures help to determine your likely true-up costs at the next review. This is used to license the core set of platform applications for workstations under your Enterprise Agreement (contract). (Other added applications must still be licensed separately, with those licenses also attached to the Enterprise Agreement contract.)
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
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Consumption |
The sum of points per computer, across all unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license and have processors identified in the core points table. The points per computer are calculated as the product of the number of cores available and the assigned points/core for the processor type. |
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Included |
Computers within the scope of the license where the properties of the computer (processor type, computer model, and number of cores and sockets) match one of the license points rules. If no core information is available, the number of processors is used in calculations. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when points consumed are less than or equal to the number of points purchased. |
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Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You will need to define one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
A license to install software an unlimited number of times within the enterprise (which can therefore never be over-utilized).
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights. |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
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Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
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Compliance |
Compliant always. These licenses cover all installations on computers within the scope of the license. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
enterprise group
A section, division or other part of the enterprise. IT Asset Management supports three kinds of enterprise groups, each of which can be subdivided (or nested) with more of the same kind of group:
| • | Locations represent physical centers in your enterprise. These may be at any geographical level, such as North America/Illinois/Chicago/Lincoln Park. Typically used for office locations. |
| • | Corporate units represent reporting structures within your enterprise, such as divisions and departments. |
| • | Cost centers represent how your enterprise structures, plans, and reports on monetary costs. |
In addition, you can also use a fourth grouping, categories, to represent how licenses and assets are classified within your enterprise. For example, if you would like to group licenses for different types of software (such as word processing, drawing tools, or business systems), you could define a category called Software Types and sub-categories for each type of software. You could then assign each license to one of these categories.
Licenses, purchase orders, assets, users and more can all be linked with enterprise groups. For example, you can scope (or restrict) a license to an enterprise group, in which case only installations on computers inked with that enterprise group would be able to consume from the license.
enterprise structure
The business organization of your enterprise. In IT Asset Management, this structure is expressed as a hierarchy of groups. You may use three different hierarchies of enterprise group: locations, cost centers, and corporate structure (units such as divisions, departments, or teams).
A right to do something with licensed software. Examples include operating the software, making a back-up copy, and possibly using a second copy on a home computer (provided that it is owned by the primary user of the software in the office). The 'entitlement' also specifies the amount to which you have a right. For example, you may be entitled to just one back-up copy, or to run the software on just one home computer.
Entitlements are consumed by exercising the assigned right, so that it cannot be exercised again. In the above example, once you make one back-up copy, you cannot make another, because that entitlement has been consumed.
In IT Asset Management, the number of entitlements is often shown as a Licensed quantity. Additional rights (after the basic number of installations) are encoded as product use rights.
See Also
A license that allows one or more users to install and use software for trial purposes.
Evaluation licenses may be time limited, may offer limited functionality, or may restrict or mark output (for example, some PDF writing software includes the name of the software on every PDF document produced from a trial version).
After evaluation, a user may purchase a full license, uninstall the software, or (for time-limited trials) request an extension of the evaluation period.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. However, it is uncommon for these rights to be included in an evaluation license: check the license agreement carefully. |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
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Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
IT Asset Management uses evidence information to identify applications installed or accessed within your enterprise. The evidence information is collected as a part of the inventory collection process. The Application Recognition Library is then used to recognize applications from the collected evidence. An application installation is determined from installer, file or WMI evidence; whereas an application access event is determined from an access evidence.
Evidence Types
IT Asset Management collects the following evidence types:
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Evidence Type |
Description |
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Installer evidence |
Installer evidence is collected from a local (device-based) list of installed applications, such as Add/Remove Programs or MSI. While installer evidence is typically used as the primary method of application recognition for Windows, it is less commonly available on UNIX (although some UNX installer packages allow corresponding functionality). Application usage may also be reported as installer evidence (strictly, the FlexNet inventory agent monitors processes to identify running executable files, looks up these files in the local installer records, and then reports usage against the installer evidence). |
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File evidence |
File evidence is simply a file that is found on a computer. It may simply be the name of the file, or the information found within the file (such as with ISO-compliant software identification [SWID] tags). File evidence may be used when installer evidence is not strong enough to sufficiently identify the installed application, and may be combined with installer evidence to improve the chance of recognition. |
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Access evidence |
Access evidence information is collected in a separate file (.swacc) as a part of the discovery and inventory process. This evidence identifies access to a particular server application such as Microsoft SharePoint Server. When linked to an application, the access evidence records any access to the linked server application. In addition to the accessed application, an access evidence record also records accessing user and accessing device. Access evidence is collected through various services including User Access Logging (UAL) and PowerShell scripts for some products. Note:This evidence is only generated for inventory devices with the supported server products installed on Windows Server 2012 or later, and for which Microsoft’s User Access Logging (UAL) capability has been enabled. |
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WMI evidence |
WMI evidence is used to recognize operating systems, and also as an inventory plug-in to recognize special applications such as Microsoft SQL Server. The link between WMI (and more broadly, WBEM) evidence and operating system applications is pre-loaded from Application Recognition Library. You cannot modify WBEM evidence records. |
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Application evidence |
Application evidence is used for tracking application suites (for example, Microsoft Excel is an application, which may be evidence of the Microsoft Office suite). Suites are a collection of applications that are sold as a combined unit (although sometimes the individual applications are also sold separately). Note:This evidence is only visible on the Evidence tab (see Evidence Tab: Installer Evidence) of the application properties. |
Linking Evidence to Application
Evidence may be linked to an application by three methods:
| • | The Application Recognition Library (ARL) contains a lot of evidence rules created by associating real inventory from installations with application definitions. Using ARL definitions is by far the simplest method, and the ARL is updated regularly to include previously unrecognized evidence. |
| • | If you already have an application defined, you can open its properties dialog box, and use one of the Installer Evidence, File Evidence, or WMI Evidence tabs to link to evidence you select there. (For a suite, you can also link to Application Evidence in a similar way.) |
| • | For installer and file evidence, you can review the list of unassigned evidence that did not match any existing evidence rule, and assign selected evidence to an application (if necessary defining a new application for the purpose). |
FlexNet inventory
Software and hardware inventory that has been gathered by the native FlexNet tools provided as part of IT Asset Management, uploaded into the inventory database on the central application server, and subsequently imported into the compliance database and (along with inventory from third-party sources, if any) incorporated into the calculations of license consumption.
FlexNet inventory agent
A collection of light-weight software agents that may be installed on different kinds of computers to collect software or hardware inventory information exclusively for each machine, and upload this local inventory information to the inventory beacon.
FlexNet Beacon
Software for installation on a server within the enterprise that gathers inventory information, and uploads it to the central compliance server.
Flexera
The software publisher specializing in application usage management, and that supplies IT Asset Management.
FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications
A product for the license management of high-end engineering applications that integrates with IT Asset Management to provide centralized reporting of your license position across your enterprise.
A physical computer, most often a server, on which one or more virtual machines are installed. Hosts may be work alone, or may be grouped together in clusters for load balancing, fail-over redundancy, and performance improvements.
IT Asset Management recognizes a variety of virtual machine hosts, including:
| • | Servers running the ESXi hypervisor from VMware (previous versions known as ESX) |
| • | Servers running the Hyper-V hypervisor from Microsoft |
| • | UNIX-based servers running various kinds of partitions, including VPARs and LPARs, in which processes are running independently (which are also called virtual machines here, for ease of reference) |
| • | Servers running Citrix Virtual Desktops (formerly XenDesktop) as a VDI broker. |
IaaS
Infrastructure as a service. For details, see SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.
IBM Authorized User (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product (without this product, processing of relevant SKUs proposes a User license type).
A license that allows access to the software by a specific number of named users. (An allocated named user may access installations of the software on any number of computers.) IBM requires that you can prove that access is restricted to only the authorized users (for example, using user access lists). One way to model this would be using a Named User license, where only users specifically allocated to the license could consume from the license (and others known to access the software would be shown as unlicensed). However, this requires manually maintaining the allocations of users to the license.
The IBM Authorized User license type behaves similarly to the User license type. This means that license consumption is automatically recorded against:
| • | Users identified in application usage tracking |
| • | The assigned (or calculated) user linked to computers where the software is installed |
| • | Installation on a device with no known user (which counts as a single user for consumption purposes). |
You may also manually allocate this license to specific users, if you wish. Keep in mind that allocation only counts as consumption if either:
| • | There is a matching consumption record for the user (that is, no change to normal counting); or |
| • | You set the Allocations consume license entitlements check box in the License consumption rules section of the Use rights & rules tab of the license properties. In this case, allocation to a user who is also identified in inventory or usage counts as one; and the allocation to a user not seen in inventory or usage records also counts as one. This means that manual allocation will not cause double counting, and will count (for example) external users who are not tracked in inventory. |
However, in addition to the above, this license allows:
| • | Classifying each user as Normal , External , or Infrequent |
| • | Setting multipliers for external or infrequent users, so that (for example) five infrequent users might be considered equivalent to one normal user in terms of license consumption |
| • | Adding convenient bulk counts for each type of user. |
You may find these counts easier to manage than individual allocations for users not tracked in inventory. Keep in mind that the bulk counts are always additional, and cannot take account of users who also appear in inventory or usage records.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
The sum of all effective end- users allocated to and using the software, after bulk additional users have been included and discounts for various types of users have been applied. |
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Included |
Users who use the software. Depending on the user type (Normal, Infrequent, or External), discount factors may be applied. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to users, or to set bulk counts for the various user types. |
IBM Concurrent User (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product (without this product, processing of relevant SKUs proposes a User license type).
A license type for which consumption is not automatically measured by usage and not updated by inventory imports. The license agreement provides for a specified maximum number of users to be using the software at one time. (Any individual user accessing the software counts as one, regardless of how many instances of the software that user accesses at this time.) You may update the consumption property manually for record keeping, or you can arrange for consumption to be updated by the Business Importer. Licenses of this type are over-utilized when the value of their Consumed property exceeds the value of their Total licensed property (both of these are displayed in the Compliance tab of the license properties sheet).
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, licensing on VM hosts, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
(The Consumed count is not calculated. It may be entered manually or imported through the Business Importer.) |
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Included |
Not applicable. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to users may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to users. |
IBM Floating User (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license type for which consumption is not automatically measured by usage and not updated by inventory imports. The license agreement provides for a specified maximum number of users to be using the software at one time. (Any individual user who accesses multiple instances of the software must be separately licensed for each instance accessed at a time.) You may update the Consumed property manually for record keeping, or you can arrange for consumption to be updated by the Business Importer. Licenses of this type are over-utilized when the value of their Consumed property exceeds the value of their Total licensed property (both of these are displayed in the Compliance tab of the license properties sheet).
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, licensing on VM hosts, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. All these fields are available for record keeping purposes, but do not affect any calculations. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
The Consumed count is not calculated. It may be entered manually or imported through the business importer. |
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Included |
Not applicable. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A specialization of the Core Points license type that allows operators to select from pre-defined, IBM-specific core points rules.
Sub-Capacity or Full Capacity Licensing
For approved products, IBM PVU licenses support sub-capacity licensing in virtual computing environments, meaning that a virtual machine may have its points consumed calculation based only on those server cores that have been assigned to it, rather than on all the cores available in its host. If more than one VM on the same host runs the same software, the sub-capacity consumption for each VM is calculated, and the sum of all those results is used to license the server (subject to capping, or an upper limit, imposed by the physical capacity of the host, so that the license cannot charge for more capacity than the host is capable of supplying).
The alternative is called full capacity licensing, where each virtual host is licensed by its total number of cores, and the license covers all instances of the same software running on any virtual machines on that host.
Some products are ineligible for sub-capacity licensing. These ineligible products by default are correctly linked to full capacity licenses when you use the Product Use Rights Library enabled by the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters license. For details of products that are eligible for sub-capacity licensing, see IBM’s Passport Advantage Sub-capacity Licensing Eligible Product Statement. More information is available through the Passport Advantage Virtualization (Sub-capacity) Licensing website.
Each IBM PVU license can be separately configured for either full capacity or sub-capacity PVU points calculations. At finer granularity, individual inventory devices linked to a sub-capacity IBM PVU license may each be eligible or ineligible for sub-capacity calculations. There is also a higher-level consideration, about what software is trusted to do these calculations.
IBM requires an IBM-approved method for calculating sub-capacity consumption, which means either of:
| • | Using the consumption calculated by ILMT (or the TAD4D or SUA) tools supplied by IBM; or |
| • | Using the FlexNet inventory agent to gather inventory from relevant computers with special increased frequency, and allowing IT Asset Management to calculate the sub-capacity consumption from the inventory. |
IT Asset Management supports either of these methods, as summarized below.
Importing Results From ILMT —License Management
This is the default case. Here, ILMT calculates both the consumption results and the license position. IT Asset Management automatically imports that license position and creates matching IBM PVU licenses records that display the results from ILMT. There are special rules that then apply for license deletion:
| • | A license automatically created in IT Asset Management to match the position imported from ILMT may be deleted in Flexera One. Once deleted there, it is not recreated on subsequent imports from ILMT (if it was deleted in error, it can be manually created again within IT Asset Management). As you expect, deleting the license record in IT Asset Management has no effect on the data in ILMT (data transfers are one way, from ILMT, and there is no return data path). |
| • | If you delete a previously-imported license only in ILMT, the matching record is not deleted in IT Asset Management, because you may be using that license record for other purposes such as group assignments, individual allocations, or consumption on devices not visible in ILMT inventory. |
The summary is that when ILMT is the "source of truth", the unusual decision to delete an IBM PVU license means that you must separately consider whether to delete it manually in either or both of ILMT and IT Asset Management.
IT Asset Management as Sub-Capacity Calculator
To use this option, there are both business processes to complete, and technical configuration required.
| • | For the IBM requirements, see Sub-Capacity Licensing Using IBM PVU, IBM VPC, or IBM Cloud Pak. |
| • | For information about configuring the increased frequency of inventory for machines consuming from IBM PVU licenses, see IBM High-Frequency Scanning. |
| • | To configure the rollover of IBM reporting periods, and how long data should be retained for retroactive calculations, see IT Asset Management Settings: Licensing Tab. |
| • | For configuring individual IBM PVU licenses for rights on virtual hosts and virtual machines, see Rights on Virtual Machines and Hosts. (This is where each license is set for either full capacity or sub-capacity calculations.) |
| • | IBM requires separate reporting for each of its three mandatory regions that cover the planet: |
| • | Region 1: North America and South America |
| • | Region 2: Europe and Africa |
| • | Region 3: Asia and Australia |
To achieve this, devices consuming from PVU licenses must be 'owned' by a location (a type of enterprise group), selected on the Ownership tab of inventory device properties; and in turn, the location must be mapped to one of the IBM regions (see Locations).
Best practice is to have one IBM PVU license for a given product (or one multi-product license for each bundle), as this allows correct calculations for consumption in all the regions, together with summing for the overall license liability. If you have strong reasons to maintain separate licenses (such as a history of mergers and acquisitions that necessitates separate reporting to IBM), additionally use other forms of enterprise groups (such as corporate units) to track the separate licenses, using the Restrictions tab on each of these licenses to limit consumption to devices in the correct parts of your enterprise. Each license can then provide correction regional reporting for its associated corporate units.
Important:Because the liability for IBM PVU licenses is based on the peak consumption value within the reporting period, IT Asset Management maintains historical records of details affecting the PVU calculations. This means that you can apply corrections (such as supplying a missing core count, or applying an exemption to a server) that take effect retroactively throughout the reporting period. The peak consumption values are reassessed after each full inventory import and compliance calculation (by default, carried out nightly), and each recalculation uses the data currently available.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, licensing on VM hosts, and license mobility including cloud computing. The last-named field is available for record keeping purposes, but does not affect any calculations (whereas the first four rights are taken into account). |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
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Consumption |
The sum of peak consumption values in each of three mandatory IBM regions, for the reporting period. Each peak value may include both sub-capacity results from eligible devices, and full capacity results for ineligible devices. |
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Included |
Computers within the scope of the license where the properties of the computer (processor type, computer model, and number of cores and sockets) match one of the license points rules. Notice that the property used for calculation of consumed points is the first available of the following:
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Compliance |
Compliant when Peak consumed is less than or equal to Total entitlements for the reporting period. For details about relationships between consumption fields, see Relationships Between Consumption Fields. |
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Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You will need to apply (or define) one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
As for Custom Metric licenses, consumption for IBM Resource Value Unit licenses is not measured by installation or usage but by some other measure. You may select one of the measures (a Metric) from the list available in the Identification tab of the license properties (and updated through the downloadable libraries), or you may define your own metric (using the same control, as described in Adding or Editing a Custom Metric).
Unlike a Custom Metric license, an IBM RVU license is also a points license, and has sets of points rules attached for many different measures. Different rules from the appropriate set are applied to provide volume discounts for the Metric resource being measured.
For example, if the measured resource is Per Premium Income ($US Billions) , one rule may specify 100 points consumed for the first billion, while others scale down to a mere 10 points per billion once you are measuring more than $15 billion in income.
Since these licenses do not use standard calculations, they are not updated by inventory imports. The value of the metric must be recorded in the Resources consumed field on the Identification tab of the license properties. (You may update this value manually, or for some resources you may be able to arrange for consumption to be updated by the Business Importer.) Using this value, IT Asset Management chooses the correct rules to use for calculating points consumed. Following the previous example, if your premium income was $2.2 billion, the following rules could apply:
| • | 100 points/billion for the first half billion (50 points) |
| • | 130 points/billion for the second half billion (65 points) |
| • | 74 points/billion for the range 1-2 billion (74 points) |
| • | 46 points/billion for the range 2-3 billion (0.2 x 46 = 9.2 points). |
As fractions are rounded up to the next whole number, the total is 199 points consumed in this example, applying four rules from the set.
Special case: Managed Activated Processor Cores
One metric available for RVU licenses is Activated Processor Cores, which IBM generally refers to as Managed Activated Processor Cores (MAPC). The RVU MAPC is a special case because, like PVU licenses, it introduces the concept of the highest number of RVUs consumed by a licensed application (either on a physical device, or for sub-capacity licensing, on a VM) – that is, management over time becomes important.
Since RVU licenses are not updated by inventory imports, you have one or two choices to meet IBM's licensing requirements:
| • | You may use ILMT to calculate the RVUs; and if you want to see your RVU license details along with all other licenses listed in IT Asset Management, copy the results from ILMT to the Resources consumed field in the Identification tab of the license properties. |
| • | If you have the extended license from IBM allowing you to use IT Asset Management for sub-capacity IBM PVU license calculations (in place of ILMT), you can use the following process: |
| a. | Create an IBM PVU license (not a typo) and link it to the product being licensed with RVU MAPC points. |
| b. | In the Identification tab of the license properties for this license, use the Points rule set field to search for, and then select, the MAPC points rule. This rule consumes 1 point for each core (with all other settings matching any value). Because PVU licenses track historical values to record the peak in the reporting period, this license now records the highest number of cores (tracked as equivalent points). |
| c. | When ready (such as at the end of the reporting period), copy the total points from the PVU feeder license into your matching RVU license. The RVU license automatically applies the appropriate tiers to your core counts. |
For more information about RVU MAPC licensing, see:
The following details the IBM RVU (license type).
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Category |
Description |
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|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights; both for record keeping purposes, with no effect on any calculations. |
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|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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|
Consumption |
License points, derived thus:
|
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|
Included |
Points assigned by the applicable points rule selected from the set attached to the license. |
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|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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|
Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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|
Changing to |
You will need to define one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
IBM User Value Unit (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license that is similar to the IBM Authorized User license in that it allows access to the software by a specific number of named users. This license type behaves similarly to the User license type. Like the IBM Authorized User license, this license allows:
| • | Classifying each user as Normal , External , or Infrequent |
| • | Setting multipliers for external or infrequent users, so that (for example) five infrequent users might be considered equivalent to one normal user in terms of license consumption |
| • | Adding convenient bulk counts for each type of user. |
The difference is that the IBM UVU license has an associated points table which provides volume discounts for the different classes of users. Multiple points rules, each of which is specified for a range of numbers of users, are applied to the appropriate group of users to apply the volume discounts. (Points may not be traded between groups.)
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|
Consumption |
License points taken from a points rule that matches the sum of all effective users allocated to and using the software, after bulk additional users have been included and discounts for various types of users have been applied. |
|
Included |
Users to whom the license has been allocated and who use the software. Depending on the user type (Normal, Infrequent, or External), discount factors may be applied. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. Bulk user counts and classifying users as External or Infrequent will be removed. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to add special classifications for users. You may also want to modify the bulk counts for users. |
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
The Virtual Processor Core (VPC) license is a specialization of the Core Points license type, where an IBM offering (which may be a single product or a bundle of products, and can include IBM Cloud Paks) is licensed by the number of "virtual cores" used to execute any of the primary products included.
Tip:If the IBM offering contains only one product, that is the "primary product" in this description; or if the offering contains a bundle of products, IBM may designate each of them as either primary or supplementary. In general, only primary products need be licensed, with supplementary products being "no cost extras" that are covered by the primary license. However, check the license terms for your particular case carefully.
“Virtual cores” here is an umbrella term, and can mean:
| • | Cores assigned to a virtual machine where one or more of the primary licensed product(s) is/are executing (note that bundles, such as Cloud Paks, may have multiple primary products) |
| • | Virtual cores (or vCPUs) assigned to an instance, running in a recognized cloud service provider, where a licensed primary product is executing |
| • | The physical cores available on a physical machine that is not partitioned as a virtual host, where the primary product is running locally. |
In other words, VPC licensing does not distinguish between physical and virtual cores, and simplifies the license calculations to just identifying the cores in use. License calculations are further simplified in that there is no points system or scaling for different computer models and capacities – here, a core is a core, and the license is measured in VPCs as the metric (or unit of measurement). Finally, if multiple VMs on a single host are all running the same licensed software, and the total of their assigned virtual cores exceeds the number of physical cores on the host, the VPC count is sensibly capped at the number of physical cores on the host – time-sharing of cores is not allowed to over-license the VMs on the server.
However, while there are no points tables to assign values to different kinds of processors, IBM still applies scaling, in either of the following ways:
| • | For a VPC license for non-Cloud Pak products, scaling may be a ratio applied to the device where the product is running |
| • | For a VPC license for a Cloud Pak bundle (once the bundle consumption use right is set to Consume once for each product), each product may have an independent ratio of the number of cores running the installed product to the number of license entitlements consumed. For one product, this ratio may be 2:1, meaning that every two VPCs (cores, of one form or another) consume a single license entitlement – or expressed the other way round, each assigned core is worth half of a license entitlement. However, another product, even within the same Cloud Pak bundle, may have a ratio of 4:1. As ratios can vary widely across products, it is generally best practice to allow these to be set by the SKU library and Product Use Rights Library (PURL), and leave them unchanged. |
Approved Tools for Calculation of License Consumption
IBM requires an IBM-approved method for calculating VPC consumption, which means either of:
| • | Using the consumption calculated by ILMT (or the TAD4D or SUA) tools supplied by IBM, with results supplied directly to IBM (since IT Asset Management does not import VPC licenses or consumption from ILMT); or |
| • | Using the FlexNet inventory agent to gather inventory from relevant computers with special increased frequency, and allowing IT Asset Management to calculate the VPC consumption from the inventory. |
For VPC licenses, IT Asset Management supports only the second of these methods, as summarized below.
IT Asset Management as VPC calculator
To use this option, there are both business processes to complete, and technical configuration required.
| • | For the IBM requirements, see Sub-Capacity Licensing Using IBM PVU, IBM VPC, or IBM Cloud Pak. |
| • | For information about configuring the increased frequency of inventory for machines consuming from IBM PVU and VPC licenses, see IBM High-Frequency Scanning. |
| • | To configure the rollover of IBM reporting periods, and how long data should be retained for retroactive calculations, see IT Asset Management Settings: Licensing Tab. |
| • | IBM requires separate reporting for each of its three mandatory regions that cover the planet: |
| • | Region 1: North America and South America |
| • | Region 2: Europe and Africa |
| • | Region 3: Asia and Australia. |
To achieve this, devices running software consuming from VPC licenses must be 'owned' by a location (a type of enterprise group), selected on the Ownership tab of inventory device properties; and in turn, the location must be mapped to one of the IBM regions (see Locations).
Best practice is to have one VPC license for a given Cloud Pak, as this allows correct calculations for consumption in all the regions, together with summing for the overall license liability. If you have strong reasons to maintain separate licenses (such as a history of mergers and acquisitions that necessitates separate reporting to IBM), additionally use other forms of enterprise groups (such as corporate units) to track the separate licenses, using the Restrictions tab on each of these licenses to limit consumption to devices in the correct parts of your enterprise. Each license can then provide correction regional reporting for its associated corporate units.
Important:Because the liability for VPC licenses is based on the peak consumption value within the reporting period, IT Asset Management maintains historical records of details affecting the VPC calculations. This means that you can apply corrections (such as supplying a missing core count, or applying an exemption to a server) that take effect retroactively throughout the reporting period. The peak consumption values are reassessed after each full inventory import and compliance calculation (by default, carried out nightly), and each recalculation uses the data currently available.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use rights, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, licensing on VM hosts, and license mobility including cloud computing. The last-named field is available for record keeping purposes, but does not affect any calculations (whereas the previous four rights are taken into account). As well, in the product use rights are displayed the VPC ratios used in consumption calculations. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The sum of peak consumption values in each of three mandatory IBM regions, for the reporting period. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope of the license. For physical devices, if no core information is available, the number of processors is used for Calculated consumption; but the license is flagged as problematic when this happens, and the actual Consumed result is forced to zero. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Peak consumed is less than or equal to Total entitlements for the reporting period. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations of licensable products to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the licensable products (such as parts of a Cloud Pak) to computers. |
Inventory Agent
A collection of light-weight software agents that may be installed on different kinds of computers to collect software or hardware inventory information exclusively for each machine, and upload this local inventory information to the inventory beacon.
inventory beacon
A server, on which FlexNet Beacon software is installed, that acts as a collection point for inventory and business information within the enterprise. Collected data is then uploaded to the central compliance server, where it is processed to update the database records representing the software and hardware assets owned by the enterprise.
inventory
A complete list of items related to hardware and software asset management, gathered directly from the systems in your computing estate. An inventory list can include both hardware attributes (such as how many processors are available on a computer) and software evidence that shows what software is installed on each computer. Inventory may be gathered in multiple ways:
| • | IT Asset Management can collect inventory gathered by tools from other vendors such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM) or IBM’s ILMT. An inventory beacon can connect to the databases from a number of such products to collect their inventory records. |
| • | An inventory beacon can take inventory directly from the computers for which you permit this process, using remote execution. |
| • | IT Asset Management can, through an inventory beacon, deploy inventory-gathering agents that are installed on selected systems. These collect inventory (and, optionally, usage of applications) and periodically upload the results through the inventory beacon. |
Once the raw inventory has been uploaded and imported into IT Asset Management, software inventory is matched against inventory rules in the Application Recognition Library. This maps the raw evidence from inventory to the names and versions of licensable software applications.
inventory device
Any computing device for which software or hardware inventory data has been collected by any inventory tool.
IT Asset Management
A solution from Flexera that helps you manage your software licensing towards maintaining continuous compliance.
The database object within IT Asset Management that stores the rights or entitlements conveyed by a particular license agreement. This identifies the software applications governed by the license agreement, the amounts of entitlements (such as how many copies may be installed), the product use rights that govern the use of the software, and so on.
Note:Sometimes publishers use the term "a license" to refer to each entitlement under a particular agreement. For example, "You have purchased 50 licenses for MyApp" means that, as a result of one or more license agreements, you have been assigned the right to use 50 copies of the software. While that assignment remains in force (and many are perpetual), you are entitled to use those copies.
Each “license” in the system records a single, consistent set of rights and entitlements. In the physical world, a single license agreement may contain more than one set of rights, so that condition A applies if you purchased the full packaged product, but condition B applies if your purchased under a corporate purchasing agreement with a current maintenance agreement (such as Software Assurance). If you had software purchased both ways, you would need two license records to represent the different entitlements attached to the different copies of the software.
See Also
A legal agreement in which the publisher, who owns the copyright on some computer software, grants certain rights to users of the software. Most often there is a purchase price for these rights. Often referred to simply as the "license". Where it is necessary to avoid confusion between this agreement and the presentation of a license object in IT Asset Management, or between the agreement and an entitlement it bestows, the full form "license agreement" may be used.
See Also
local application
An application record that has been created within your enterprise, and has not been derived from the Application Recognition Library. In the General tab of the application properties, these applications have the value Local in their Source field.
A place, and in IT Asset Management, specifically a place where your enterprise has some office or facility. For example, you may have head office in Chicago, with a software team located in Melbourne. Chicago and Melbourne are then two of the locations in which your company operates directly. Locations are one kind of enterprise group available in IT Asset Management, and are expressed as a hierarchy separated by the forward slash character. For example, your Melbourne team may be managed out of an Asia-Pacific office, so the relationship can be expressed as Asia-Pacific/Melbourne.
Sometime a company plant in a particular location is called a 'site'.
Locations may relate to licensing in the following ways:
| • | You may declare that a license is 'owned' by a particular location for administrative purposes (on the Ownership tab of the license properties). This can control who has access to see the license details, but does not control consumption. |
| • | If you need a license to give unrestricted access to software in any given location, you may use a Site license. |
| • | Where there is a legal restriction on consumption of a license with a specified geography that must be enforced, you can use any license type and use the Restrictions tab in the license properties to limit consumption to the approved groups. |
| • | To control consumption so that people or machines within a certain location must consume from a specific license, use allocations (from the Consumption tab of the license properties). |
| • | To give a specific location priority on a certain license, use a group assignment. |
Note:Not to be used in a formal description of enterprise groups, but is a popular synonym for a facility that the enterprise operates in a specific location.
managed device
A computer of any kind (desktop, notebook, VDI instance, virtual machine, and so on) on which the FlexNet inventory agent is installed to manage local collection of software and hardware inventory, and transfer the collected information to an assigned inventory beacon.
There are alternative ways to collect inventory, such as using Zero-footprint inventory or gathering inventory with a third-party product such as ILMT or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM). In these cases the target computers are not called managed devices, since this term refers exclusively to the installation of FlexNet software agents to manage inventory collection and upload.
Microsoft Device CAL (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A Microsoft Device Client Access License (CAL) is a software license that entitles any number of users of a client device to access the services of a server product such as Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL Server. A Microsoft Device CAL typically provides the right to access software or services on physical or virtual machines. For example, some services running on a Microsoft Windows Server require CALs to authorize access by client devices.
Select this license type for a device (including a shared device, such as a computer for stock tracking in a warehouse) that is used to access a server application. IT Asset Management can automatically create and link Microsoft Device CALs to applications through purchase processing.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights and upgrade rights. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud. |
|
Group assignment |
Not available. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique devices used to access the software or services of a server application. Any client access from a device to a server application consumes a CAL entitlement, unless the server has a processor-based license for that application. |
|
Scoping to groups |
Scoping to groups is supported. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of devices accessing the server application is less than or equal to the number of device CAL entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to devices may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
|
Changing to |
Any existing allocations to devices may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
Microsoft SCCM Client Device (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
Since its 2012 release, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM) has been licensed by the count of installed clients that gather data. The Microsoft Client Management License covers installations of the SCCM agent on devices running non-server operating systems. Like CALs, these license are available for device installations or user-based licensing.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Upgrade rights, downgrade rights, right of multiple use. Supports exemptions by device role. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers (running non-server operating systems) that have installations of the SCCM client software installed. |
|
Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may wish to set up scoping rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Microsoft SCCM Client User (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
Since its 2012 release, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM) has been licensed by the count of installed clients that gather data (and not by the central server that collates the data). The Microsoft Client Management License covers installations of the SCCM agent on devices running non-server operating systems. Like CALs, these license are available for device installations or user-based licensing.
|
Category |
Description |
|||||||||
|
Product use rights |
Upgrade rights, downgrade rights, right of multiple use. Supports exemptions by device role, where the device must be linked with the user (for example, as assigned user). |
|||||||||
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|||||||||
|
Consumption |
The sum of all of the following:
|
|||||||||
|
Included |
Users as above. Where an installation has no user associated with its computer, the computer itself is counted, and in this case the enterprise group assignment of the computer is taken into account (in place of the enterprise group assignment of the end- user). |
|||||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of installations is less than or equal to the number of entitlements purchased. |
|||||||||
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
|||||||||
|
Changing to |
You may wish to set up scoping rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Microsoft Server Core (license type)
Tip:For more recent Microsoft products such as Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016, this license type has been superseded by Microsoft Server/Management Core license type (see Microsoft Server/Management Core (license type)).
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product. If you have procured a Microsoft Server Core license for server applications (such as Microsoft SQL Server), no User or Device CALs are required to access this server application.
A license type introduced for Microsoft SQL Server 2012, applicable to only two product editions (Standard and Enterprise). Every processor core must be licensed individually, and minima apply (typically, every physical processor will be licensed for at least four cores, even if it has fewer; and where virtual machines are licensed separately, they are licensed for a minimum of four virtual cores each, no matter how many cores or threads may be assigned to them). As well, permissible licensing may be affected by the presence of continuous Software Assurance: Enterprise edition with Software Assurance may be licensed for all physical cores on the server, regardless of how many virtual machines it hosts.
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
Provided that your SKUs include your purchase of Software Assurance, it is best practice to allow the Product Use Rights Library (PURL) and SKU library to appropriately set values for these licenses.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of processor cores being used to run the licensed software. Different editions of the software and its license vary the way that cores may be counted. |
|
Included |
Processor cores, either physical or virtual or both, within a single physical host. Each license entitlement covers one core. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. Note:You may need to specify the points rule in the Points rule set field. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Microsoft Server/Management Core (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license type introduced for Microsoft Windows Server 2016, applicable to the two product editions (Standard and Datacenter). This license type may also be used as Server Management licenses for on-premises installations of Microsoft System Center products (Standard and Datacenter editions).
Related CAL requirements vary across products:
| • | If you have procured a Microsoft Server/Management Core license for Windows Server 2016 products, Windows Server CALs (per user or device) or Remote Desktop Services CALs are required to access this server application. |
| • | If you have procured a Microsoft Server/Management Core license for System Center 2016 products, Client Management Licenses (per user or per operating system) are required for managed devices that run non-server operating systems. |
These licenses require that all processor cores of a physical server hosting a Windows Server 2016 or System Center 2016 product must be licensed. By default, the following minima apply (but you should carefully check the specific requirements of your relevant license agreement):
| • | By default, a minimum of 8 processor cores must be licensed for each physical processor |
| • | By default, a minimum of 16 processor cores is required for each physical device (server). |
Licenses of this type allow the following installations:
| • | The Datacenter edition authorizes an unlimited number of product installations on the physical host or on virtual machines attached to it. |
| • | The Standard edition authorizes no more than two installations. With this edition, each additional one or two virtual machines with the product installed require that the full physical server is licensed again. |
These conditions may be summarized in the following flowcharts, based on the default minima of 8 cores/processor and 16 cores/server:
Cores Calculation for Datacenter Edition
Cores calculation for Standard Edition
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
Provided that your SKUs include your purchase of Software Assurance, it is best practice to allow the Product Use Rights Library (PURL) and SKU library to appropriately set values for these licenses.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Upgrade, downgrade, multiple use, licensing on VM hosts, core limits, and license mobility rights. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of processor cores across all unique physical devices that have installations of one or more of the application linked to the license, and have an identified number of cores. Different editions of the software product vary the way the cores may be counted, as described above. |
|
Included |
Processor cores, either physical or virtual or both, within a single physical host. Each license entitlement covers one core, with minimal purchases required as described above. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to host devices. |
Microsoft Server Processor (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product. If you have procured a Microsoft Server Processor license (such as Microsoft SQL Server) for a server, Microsoft User or Device Client Access Licenses (CALs) are also required to access this server application.
This license type is applicable to server operating systems and other Microsoft software (such as SQL Server, BizTalk Server, Visual Studio Lab Management, and others). Since Microsoft applies a variety of measures and limits to licenses for different editions of these products, this license type has a number of unique properties. Correct setting is complex, but critical for compliance. Best practice is to allow the Product Use Rights Library (PURL) and SKU library to appropriately set these values.
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
Tip:Despite the name, this license type can also be useful for non-Microsoft products. For example, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server license can be consumed on either physical server sockets (two sockets or CPUs per license) or two virtual machines (VMs) per host. This can be configured on a Microsoft Server Processor license in the Use rights & rules tab as follows:
| • | In the Processor limits section, select and set Consume one license for every nn processors to 2, with Minimum processors set to 1. |
| • | In the Rights on virtual machines and hosts section, select One licensed host covers multiple VMs, and set the Maximum VMs to 2. |
The following table lists details of the Microsoft Server Processor (license type).
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of processors running the licensed software. Different editions of the software and its license vary the way that processors may be counted. |
|
Included |
Processors, either physical or virtual or both, within a single physical host. Each license entitlement covers one processor. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to set scoping rules or allocate the license to computers. |
multi-edit
Selecting multiple database records for the same kinds of object (such as "asset"), and having the same type (such as "workstation"), from a list, and opening the properties page to edit one or more of the shared properties to a common value. For details, see Multi-Editing.
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 IT Asset Management 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:
|
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. |
See Also
multitenant
IT Asset Management is a multitenant system, meaning that a single website provides a software-as-a-service instance that serves multiple customer-organizations. The underlying dataset and the system configuration are both partitioned, so that each customer's data is protected, and operators can see the data only for the customer for which they are authorized.
In a multitenant system, each customer is referred to as a tenant.
Microsoft User CAL (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A Microsoft User Client Access License (CAL) is a software license that entitles a user to access the services of some server products like Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL Server. A Microsoft User CAL typically provides the right to access software or services on physical or virtual machines. A user with a User CAL for a server application can access any number of instances of that server application. For example, a User CAL for a Windows Server enables a user to access any Windows Server in your computing estate.
Select this license type for users that access one or more instances of a server application from multiple devices. For example, a User CAL for each user accessing any MS SQL Server. IT Asset Management has the capability of automatic creation and linking of Microsoft User CALs through purchase processing.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights and upgrade rights. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud. |
|
Group assignment |
Not available. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique users who access the software or services of a server application. Any user access to a server application consumes a CAL entitlement, unless the server has a processor-based license for that application. |
|
Scoping to groups |
Scoping to groups is supported. |
|
Included |
Users within the scope of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the number of users accessing the server application is less than or equal to the number of Microsoft User CAL entitlements purchased. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to devices may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
|
Changing to |
Any existing allocations to devices may be deleted. Scoping rules may be deleted. Compliance rules for the new license type may be different. It is recommended to run a reconcile after changing the license type. |
A license that allows access to the software by a specific number of named users.
In some cases, these licenses can be transferred from one user to another.
When you create the license, you should allocate the license to specific users. Only installations associated with allocated users are counted.
For example, if the license is allocated (only) to users Sam and Jan, the maximum installation count is two.
Any other installations of the licensed application are treated as unassigned installations. For example, if Mary has also installed the licensed application but has not been allocated to the license, her installation will not be shown against installations of this license.
To see unassigned installations of an application, review the Unlicensed Installations page.
|
Category |
Description |
||||||
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud.. |
||||||
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
||||||
|
Consumption |
The sum of all of the following:
|
||||||
|
Included |
Users to whom the license has been allocated. Note:Enterprise groups assigned to the computer are not relevant. Only user allocations are taken into account. |
||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
||||||
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
||||||
|
Changing to |
You will need to allocate the license to specific users. |
A license that allows access to the software on a specific number of named computers.
These licenses are usually for server applications such as database or VMware products.
In some cases, these licenses can be transferred from one computer to another, usually by requesting a new license code.
|
Category |
Description |
||||||
|
Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
||||||
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
||||||
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that meet both of these conditions:
|
||||||
|
Included |
Computers to which license entitlements have been allocated. |
||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
||||||
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
||||||
|
Changing to |
You will need to allocate the license to computers. |
A license delivered with hardware and tied to its life-cycle. These licenses cannot be transferred to other hardware. (OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer.)
This means that when a computer that has an OEM license installed on it is removed from your enterprise and no longer reports inventory, the number of licenses is reduced. This reduction applies to both the available entitlements and the consumption.
|
Category |
Description |
||||||
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights and upgrade rights. |
||||||
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
||||||
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that meet both of these conditions:
Tip:In general, there is no difference in installation evidence for software installed under an OEM license. Since the installation or license type cannot be determined automatically, you should track the devices (perhaps through a list of serial numbers supplied by your hardware vendor) that come with OEM software, and manually allocate these computers to the appropriate OEM license(s). If you have additional copies of the same software not covered by the OEM license, you should also create an additional volume license to capture those additional installations. Note that when a computer with OEM-licensed software installed is removed from your enterprise and no longer reports inventory, the consumption recorded against the license is (as always) reduced. However, the license allocation is not automatically removed, and you should make removal of the OEM allocation part of your business process for decommissioning computers. |
||||||
|
Included |
Computers to which the license has been allocated. |
||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
||||||
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
||||||
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
operator
A person using IT Asset Management who has been made a member of the Operator role. In most contexts of casual use, this may also include people who are in the Administrator role, since these roles share access to all product functionality.
operations databases
The central databases for IT Asset Management as a cloud service, where the application server (hosted by Flexera) stores data.
Oracle Application User (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A user-based license type applicable to users of Oracle's E-Business Suite (EBS). The license can be applied to any level of EBS applications or their modules, as required by your license agreement with Oracle. It licenses the number of Oracle users who can access the applications in your particular implementation of the Suite, with accounts recorded on your Oracle EBS server(s) and gathered as part of inventory. This license type may also be over-utilized when the license is expired.
In theory, a license for Oracle EBS includes a multi-product license that also covers the underlying database application. However, it is a requirement of Oracle that if the EBS applications are customized in any way, the underlying database must be separately licensed. Since it is the norm for the applications to be customized to meet your enterprise's requirements, this is most likely to mean that you still require a separate database product license for any system that services only the EBS users.
For this reason, by default IT Asset Management does not provide a multi-product license covering the database license and E-Business Suite. If you have an Oracle database instance used exclusively for servicing only unmodified EBS applications, you can either:
| • | Create a custom multi-product license for both products, or |
| • | Create a custom exemption for that database server so that it does not consume a database license. |
Since an Oracle user may have an associated count (for example, the ForkLiftDrivers account may cover 10 individuals who drive fork lifts), for each user name this license type consumes the highest count on any of the EBA applications. For example, if 2 fork lift drivers access one of the modules, and 7 access another, then 7 entitlements are consumed for all linked applications.
Compared to other Oracle license models, the Oracle Application User license has tighter controls over which applications may be promoted to being Oracle applications.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts (virtual and sub-capacity licensing are built in to this license type, and there is no field in the console for turning that off). |
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique Oracle users assigned to instances of the Oracle application, or the minimum number of users for the license, whichever is greater. |
|
Included |
Oracle users assigned to applications associated with all servers linked to the license. If the same Oracle user is assigned to more than one application per server, the greatest quantity for the user assigned to any application is counted. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the total count of users is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to specific users. |
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license for Oracle Database applications, based on the number of computers or instances.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights. |
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of instances allocated to the license. |
|
Included |
All instances. |
|
Compliance |
Compliance calculations are not performed for this license type. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers with database instances. |
Oracle Named User Plus (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license for Oracle Database applications, based on the number of users for whom you are licensed on Oracle Database servers. This license type may also be over-utilized:
| • | When the license is expired |
| • | When a database instance and an option are installed on the same computer (physical server or virtual machine) and have licenses of different types. |
|
Category |
Description |
|||||||||||||||
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts (virtual and sub-capacity licensing are built in to this license type, and there is no field in the console for turning that off). |
|||||||||||||||
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|||||||||||||||
|
Consumption |
The greater of:
Note: In some licenses (such as for Oracle Database Standard Edition), the minimum limit is specified as an absolute number (regardless of processor specifications). In other licenses (such as for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition), the minimum is specified per core on the server. To configure the latter kind of license, in the Identification tab of its properties:
With this configuration, the minimum number of users required on each server is multiplied by the number of processor cores returned in hardware inventory for the server. You may need to check that your hardware inventory tool is appropriately populating the number of processors, or manually add this data to the hardware inventory record. |
|||||||||||||||
|
Included |
Oracle users assigned to instances associated with all servers linked to the license. If the same Oracle user is assigned to more than one instance, the greatest quantity for the Oracle user is counted. For example, if the named user account is ForkLiftDrivers, and on one instance 6 drivers access the database, and 13 drivers access another instance, the consumption count for this Oracle user on this license is 13. |
|||||||||||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when the total count of all Oracle users on the license is less than or equal to Total licensed. The license must also meet a number of other constraints, such as all options on the same server having the same license type applied. |
|||||||||||||||
|
Changing from |
Any existing allocations to users may be deleted. |
|||||||||||||||
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to specific users. |
IT Asset Management automatically exempts the standard Oracle named users from consuming licenses on Oracle instances. The Appendix E: Oracle Standard Users Exempted From Consuming Licenses topic in the Oracle Discovery and Inventory section of the System Reference lists these standard users.
Oracle Processor (license type)
Note:This license type is available only when you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product.
A license for Oracle databases, applications, or options, based on the number of processors on the computer (sub-capacity licensing is supported for virtual environments). This license type may also be over-utilized:
| • | When the license is expired |
| • | When a database instance and an option are installed on the same computer (physical server or virtual machine) and have licenses of different types. |
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
The rules for Oracle Processor license consumption calculations are rather complex, and require that:
| 1. | The processors in inventory devices linked to the license are grouped according to their points factors (such as 0.25 points/core, 0.5 points/core, 0.75 points/core, and 1.0 points/core). These points factors are determined by the machine and processor type. |
| 2. | Within each points-value group, the number of cores is added up: for a free-standing inventory device, the total cores; or, for virtual machines, the total assigned cores, taking account of capping by resource pools or by the host capacity. |
| 3. | The resulting subtotal of cores for each group is multiplied by the appropriate points/core from the points rule table. |
| 4. | Any fractional result per group is rounded up to the next whole number. |
| 5. | The whole-number subtotals from each group are then summed to give the total points consumed for the license. |
As required, this process is applied for license compliance calculations, and the result is displayed in the Consumed entitlements field on the Compliance tab of the license properties, as you expect. This is also the figure displayed as Consumed in license listings, such as the All Licenses page.
The Consumption tab of the license properties cannot display this result, because it must show an estimated consumption for each inventory device; and because you cannot consume a fraction of a point, the points consumed for each device within this listing are already rounded up per device. The "rounded sum" from the Compliance tab may well be less than the simple "sum of rounded values" from the rows of the Consumption tab; and where there is any difference, the Compliance tab is the real result. For example, consider these three inventory devices, which for simplicity all have the same points/core value in the points rule table:
|
Cores |
Pts/Core |
Compliance Points |
Consumption Tab (Rounded Up Per Device) |
|
1 |
0.25 |
0.25 |
1 |
|
2 |
0.25 |
0.5 |
1 |
|
4 |
0.25 |
1 |
1 |
|
TOTAL |
1.75 |
3 (simple sum of rounded values) |
|
|
Rounded up |
2 |
3 |
For virtualization using Solaris zones, there are special calculations for consumption from this Oracle Processor license type. For an application running in any zone, the calculations take into account:
Zone's Threads (max) / (host's Threads / host's Cores)
These values are available in various listings in the user inteface, and in the inventory device properties as follows:
| • | The zone's Threads (max) value is displayed in the VM Properties tab for the Virtual machine. This value is read-only, and must be present for consumption to occur against an Oracle Processor license. |
| • | The host's Threads and Cores counts are displayed on the Hardware tab of the host's inventory device properties. These two values are normally reported in inventory; but missing or incorrect values can be overridden to correct them on that same tab. It's clear from the formula above that a zero (or missing) value for either of these counts prevents calculation of consumption from an Oracle Processor license on every zone (Virtual machine) on this host. |
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts (virtual and sub-capacity licensing are built in to this license type, and there is no field for turning that off). You may also record the right of license mobility, including for cloud computing, but this indicator is for record-keeping purposes only, and does not affect any compliance calculations. |
|
Group assignment |
Not supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of processor points calculated for the computers that run one or more instances of the Oracle application. Tip:Oracle databases installations can consume entitlements from an Oracle Processor license whether or not individual database instances have been identified. For example, if the installation is identified by an inventory tool that does not identify the instances, the installation consumes as a single instance. |
|
Included |
Computers with processor type matching one of the license points rules. |
|
Compliance |
If sum of points from all installed computers (shown in Consumed ) is less than or equal to the points available under this license (shown in Total licensed ). The license must also meet a number of other constraints, such as having database and options licensed under the same license type. |
|
Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You will need to define one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
A license is over-utilized when the records so far available in IT Asset Management show that more entitlements have been consumed than have been purchased, or are otherwise available through additional product use rights (such as a right of second use). Uncorrected over-utilization may represent a compliance risk in the event of an audit or legal action. Optional actions for an over-utilized license include:
| • | Correcting incomplete records of purchases. |
| • | Correct outdated records of consumption (for example, have you been retiring assets within IT Asset Management when the physical assets are disposed of). |
| • | Taking correct account of the product use rights (such as upgrades, downgrades, right of second use, and so on) which may account for additional copies. |
| • | For licenses that are subject to true-up, create some kind of reminder to ensure adequate purchases at true-up time. Licenses subject to true-up by definition are permitted to go into over-utlization until the due date for the next true-up. |
| • | Reduce consumption in ways appropriate to the license type, such as uninstalling software for a device license, or restricting user access for a user license or for some licenses for virtualized applications). |
Note:Some license types require that you pay for the period of over-utilization. Be sure to check the terms of your license.
| • | Purchase additional entitlements to cover the over-utilization. |
PaaS
Platform as a service. For details, see SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.
Password Store
A repository for account names and passwords on an inventory beacon. Each account name and password pair is identified by a friendly name for external reference without transferring passwords to the central server.
A shortened version of the phrase “central processing unit” (CPU), originally the chip within a computer responsible for its main computing capabilities. Some modern computers may have several such computing chips that work together in processing (“multiprocessor” computers). Some forms of software licensing take into account the number of processors in a computer as a measure of the power of the computer, which drives the price of the license. These are generally called Processor licenses of some kind (for example, the Microsoft Server Processor (license type) license type). Software publishers also realized that not all processors are created equal, and so began rating different processor models for Processor Points licenses.
As processors have become more powerful, they have included multiple cores on the same substrate (or die). Strictly each core is a separate processing unit, but the term “processor” continues to be used for the processing chip mounted on the computing motherboard, regardless of how many cores it contains.
Tip:Not all software publishers agree on this definition for licensing purposes. For example, on the one hand, Microsoft does implement this widely-accepted definition (one processor means one chip that can be placed in one socket on the mother board). On the other hand, Oracle historically wanted to insist that each core was a separate processor, but now has special core counting methods based on counting cores as a fraction of a processor, with many specific rules and exceptions (for example, Intel Hyperthreading, which makes one core look like two, still counts as one). IT Asset Management standardizes on the meaning of processor (the chip that occupies a single socket on the motherboard), and distinguishes cores as a separate specific count. You may need to carefully examine the license agreement for some products to determine the appropriate license type to use to record your entitlements.
A specialization of the Processor Points license on which the points rules are fixed, and license consumption is defined as one point per installed processor on all computers where the software is installed.
Tip:While it is possible to over-ride the points per processor for individual computers, it is best practice to keep this license type consuming one point per processor, and switch to the Processor Points license for cases where you need to specify multiple points.
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The sum of processor points calculated for all computers that run one or more of the applications linked to the license and have a match in the points table. By default, each processor is limited to a value of single point. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope (restrictions) of the license where the properties of the computer (processor type, computer model, and number of processors) match one of the license points rules. |
|
Compliance |
If sum of points from all installed computers (shown in Consumed) is less than or equal to the points available under this license (shown in Total licensed). |
|
Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Processor Points (license type)
A Processor Points license entitles you to a certain number of points, and each installation consumes some number of points per processor based on rules set by the software publisher. The rules are recorded in IT Asset Management (usually updated by the downloadable libraries) and used in calculating compliance. A simple case might consume one point per processor (for which see the Processor license type), but different machine architectures might mean that each processor counts for some other value of points. There is no direct relationship between the points consumed and how many computers the software is installed on.
Tip:For capacity-based licenses, if you allocate the license to an individual device but inventory does not show any relevant applications (linked to the license) installed on that same device, consumption on that device is calculated as for a device license (a count of one per device, regardless of the device capacity). You can manually adjust the points consumed using the Overridden consumption value (consumption is then updated at the next compliance calculation). If corrected inventory is later imported that shows installation of relevant applications, you also need to remove the manual assignment of points.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Multiple use, downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and licensing on VM hosts. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The sum of processor points calculated for all computers that run one or more of the applications linked to the license and have a match in the points table. The matched row in the points table defines the number of points that must be added per installation. |
|
Included |
Computers within the scope (restrictions) of the license where the properties of the computer (processor type, computer model, and number of processors) match one of the license points rules. |
|
Compliance |
If sum of points from all installed computers (shown in Consumed) is less than or equal to the points available under this license (shown in Total licensed). |
|
Changing from |
Points rules will be deleted. Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You will need to define one or more points rules. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
When we want to talk about a set of applications that include different releases and editions and platforms but are all the same product, IT Asset Management uses exactly that natural language: we call that a product. A product is a consistent set of applications varying in version or edition.
Some software publishers muddy this distinction by making a product a useful grouping across various versions, but having such strong distinctions between editions that it becomes more convenient to think about a product being a set of releases (versions) across a particular application edition. By these publishers, MyApp Pro is considered a distinct product from MyApp Basic. When this usage presents a problem, we can use the term software title as a non-specific way to refer to all the editions and versions of MyApp. But in general, IT Asset Management prefers the term product.
See Also
The entity responsible for the creation and publication of software. Examples include Adobe and Microsoft. Companies that sell hardware may also be software publishers, such as IBM.
Mergers and acquisitions in the software publishing market mean that one application may have different publishers at different times in its history. For example, the Dreamweaver application was originally published by Macromedia (prior to version 8), but that company was acquired by Adobe. Since version 8, the publisher for Dreamweaver is correctly recorded as Adobe.
See Also
purchase quantity
In the context of IT Asset Management, this relates to the purchase of hardware or software assets. A 'software asset' is typically the license to use a particular application, granted in exchange for the purchase price for that license. In many purchases, the purchase quantity is the number of license entitlements you have bought, but not always.
For example, sometimes you may make a single purchase of a bundle that includes multiple copies of an application, or even several different applications. In such a case, you have made 1 purchase of a bundle of (say) 5 licenses. Here, the purchase quantity is 1 but the licensed quantity is 5.
In another example, when you purchase an upgrade for an application you already use, you cannot run any more copies. Instead, you are allowed to swap out an old copy and use a more recent copy in its place. In this example, your purchase quantity is 1 (for a single upgrade), but your licensed quantity in the upgrade purchase is zero (no increase in the number you may have installed).
To handle such cases, IT Asset Management records the purchase quantity separately from the licensed quantity. The purchase quantity is always the quantity shown on the purchase order line. Where a single license has more than one purchase order linked to it, its Licensed from PO value is always the sum of the Licensed quantity shown on all the linked purchase order lines.
For both hardware and software asset management, you need to record the things that you have purchased; but it is particularly important for software assets, where the purchase of license entitlements is the key measure of your legal rights to use the software.
Your purchases are recorded in purchase order, each of which may record one or more separate items purchased from the same vendor and ordered at the same time.
The legal document with which your enterprise places an order for supply of goods on an external vendor. Each purchase order consists of two main parts: the header that records information like the purchase order number, the date, and the vendor; and the details about the actual purchase or purchases. On a physical purchase order document, individual purchase items may be recorded on a number of lines.
Every purchase order line records a single purchase which contains all the information needed to built up your legal rights to use software (your license entitlements). Each line, or each purchased item, must be considered separately. Therefore, in IT Asset Management, each purchase is recorded separately, with a set of properties that allow the system to calculate compliance.
However, because in the real world, your purchase order system may have recorded several distinct purchase items in separate lines within the one purchase order, the properties for each purchase record include a set of header properties such as the purchase order number, the date, and the vendor. When any two (or more) purchase records share common values in these header fields, they are regarded as being from the same purchase order.
Note:The acronym may be used for brevity in context such as "the PO header" and "a PO line".
Product Use Rights Library (PURL)
A library of settings appropriate for license properties for various products purchased in different ways from specific vendors. In FlexNet Manager for Clients, only a very limited set of basic rights are covered. However, the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product adds significant data volumes to your PURL. For example, you may opt into the Microsoft PURL as part of the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product, and so on for other PURLs. Each PURL embodies deeply researched license knowledge encoded by specialists within Flexera.
A company that is part of the sales channel between the publisher (originator) of some software and the end purchaser, which is an enterprise that actually uses the application. A reseller does not manufacture or publish software, but typically buys it from the publisher (at a wholesale or partner price) and then resells it to the consumer at list price (or some discount below list).
Resellers may have various other names, such as Value-Added Resellers (VARs), Major Account Partners, or other terms.
A reseller is one kind of vendor available in IT Asset Management, but are mainly of interest because they are recorded in purchase orders as the supplier from whom you ordered the software. All resellers are identified in the vendor database table.
See Also
responsibility
A duty assigned to a user, or something for which this user is held accountable. Responsibilities may include:
| • | Being the owner of a license (as distinct from having license entitlements allocated to you, or simply owning the computer on which a device-based license is consumed) |
| • | A responsibility for either a contract, or an individual term or condition that makes up a contract, that has been specifically assigned to the user |
| • | Being the escalation manager for task over-runs in contract management. |
The term 'at risk' is used to warn when the terms of the legal license agreement, that exists between your enterprise and the publisher of some software in use in your enterprise, do not appear to be reflected in the current data. The most common reason for this condition is using too many copies of the software. InIT Asset Management, at risk is often represented as a quantity, by which you are At risk.
Important:In IT Asset Management, "at risk" means only that your records of consumption against a license exceed your records of purchases. This may be caused by multiple factors, including when there are license entitlements have not yet been imported. At all times your enterprise has and retains the legal responsibility of ensuring that, in fact, it complies with the terms of all contracts, including software licenses and maintenance agreements, to which it is a party. For this reason, the general terminology in help is that a license is "over-utilized", according to records in the system.
role
Every person who uses IT Asset Management must be assigned to a role. Everyone within a particular role can access the same area of product functionality. Roles available by default include:
| • | The Administrators role can create new accounts to access IT Asset Management in any role. People in this role can also access all areas of product functionality. |
| • | Operators can access all areas of product functionality, but they cannot create accounts, nor assign an account to a role (including changing roles). |
| • | View Only users cannot access IT Asset Management Settings, Inventory, or Organization menus but can access all remaining areas of the product. However, their access is limited to read-only mode for all data: they cannot create or edit records. They can manipulate lists through column choice, filtering, sorting, and so on to suit their preferences. |
rule
One of a set of principles or conditions set down by the license agreement. For example, the license may establish a set of “points rules” that define the number of license points that are to be consumed by installation on a certain model of computer. In another example, SAP establishes a set of license rules that govern how license optimization may be conducted.
A license that provides access rights to third party vendor software embedded in an application. The use of the runtime license is limited to the application through which it has been acquired.
|
Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
|
Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|
Changing to |
You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
Cloud computing means computing capability delivered as a utility through Internet standards and protocols. The computers are offsite (not within your enterprise) and managed by a third party, known as a cloud service provider.
SaaS stands for "software as a service", a business model where applications used by your enterprise are hosted in a cloud by a cloud service provider. This typically refers to a specialized application offered on a subscription (pay-as-you-go) basis. In this model, the application provider typically managed all license requirements, which from the subscriber's perspective are bundled in the subscription costs.
PaaS stands for "platform as a service", which offers hosted application servers with potentially massive scalability, together with the necessary supporting services like storage, security, integration infrastructure and development tools for a complete platform. PaaS is most often suited to new/custom application development, where applications can be annotated with resource descriptors that identify required network endpoints, load balancers, CPU cores, memory, software dependencies, and the like. In this model, it is quite common for the subscriber (your enterprise) to be responsible for any required software licenses.
IaaS stands for "infrastructure as a service", which is similar to traditional hosting. You use the hosted environment as a logical extension of your on-premises datacenter, and typically have full control of the software configuration on the hosted devices. In IaaS, you are almost always responsible for the required licenses to cover the applications you configure.
The practice where the cloud service provider relies on your enterprise to ensure adequate licensing of the applications in use within the cloud service is often called "bring your own software license" (BYOSL).
For more information about support for BYOSL within IT Asset Management, see BYOSL for IaaS/PaaS.
The following diagram by Microsoft shows the varying divisions of responsibility between the cloud service provider and your enterprise as the subscriber to the various kinds of service.
Separation of Responsibilities
Note:The source for the Separation of Responsibilities diagram is:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/yungchou/2010/11/15/cloud-computing-primer-for-it-pros/
An allocation of the license to an individual user made within SAP Business Suite. Data is imported from FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications into IT Asset Management, and the license is generated automatically during the import. You cannot make allocations within IT Asset Management. The Consumed count is the total of license allocations made in SAP Business Suite (the same value that would be calculated by the SAP License Administration Workbench [LAW] if it were run at the same time).
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
No additional rights. The count imported from SAP is the final count. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of users that SAP reports as consuming the license (that is, the number to whom a license has been allocated in SAP). |
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Included |
All users reported by SAP. Tip:If SAP reports two users that IT Asset Management determines are duplicate records, the user will have a consumed count that is greater than one (the sum of all the duplicate records detected). |
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
You cannot change this license type to any other. |
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Changing to |
You cannot change another license type to this type. |
Consumption for SAP Package licenses is measured by usage. Usage data is imported from FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications into IT Asset Management, and the license is generated automatically during the import. The metric that is used for calculating consumption depends on the SAP package. You may select or define the metric on the relevant package details page in SAP mode.
SAP Package licenses are over-utilized when the value of their Consumed property exceeds the value of their Total licensed property (both of these are displayed in the Compliance tab of the license properties sheet). Legally, this license type does not fall out of compliance until true-up.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
No additional rights. The count imported from SAP is the final count. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of units of a business metric that SAP reports as consuming the license. Each SAP package has a different business metric which reflects the business value provided by that package. |
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Included |
The outcome of a formula applied by FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications, most commonly operating on the results of system measurements run on SAP systems. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. Tip:In reality, this license type does not fall out of compliance until true-up. |
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Changing from |
You cannot change this license type to any other. |
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Changing to |
You cannot change another license type to this type. |
A SaaS User license is a software license that entitles a user to access Software as a Service products such as Salesforce. A SaaS User license type typically provides the right to access cloud-based software or services.
Tip:If you have licensed Flexera SaaS Manager and have authorized integration with IT Asset Management (see IT Asset Management Settings: Integrations Tab), license records imported from Flexera SaaS Manager automatically create SaaS User licenses within IT Asset Management. Be aware that to delete such a license, you must delete it in both systems – otherwise:
| • | If you delete the SaaS User license only in IT Asset Management, it will be reinstated on the next nightly import from Flexera SaaS Manager |
| • | Conversely, deleting the license in Flexera SaaS Manager does not automatically remove the matching license record in IT Asset Management, since this may be needed for historical records. |
In short, for deletion of such a license record, be sure to delete separately in both systems.
Select this license type for users that access instances of SaaS applications (for example, create a SaaS User license with entitlements for each user accessing Salesforce, Office 365, or other SaaS offerings).
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Category |
Description |
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights and upgrade rights. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud. |
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Group assignment |
Not available. |
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Consumption |
The number of unique users who access the SaaS application. Any user access to a SaaS application consumes a SaaS entitlement, unless the server has a processor-based license for that application. |
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Scoping to groups |
Scoping to groups is supported. |
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Included |
Users within the scope of the license. |
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Compliance |
Compliant when the number of users accessing the SaaS application is less than or equal to the number of SaaS entitlements purchased. |
scope
For a license, the scope is a prescribed area of your enterprise in which the license is legally permitted to apply. Only enterprise groups identified in the Restrictions tab of the license properties may consume from a scoped license. For example, some publishers make heavily discounted licenses available within certain African countries, but the licenses may not be used outside those locations. When there are no scoping restrictions, the license may be consumed anywhere within your enterprise, subject to usage rights as usual.
single sign-on
A method of account authentication that allows a person to log in once and be granted access to several systems within the enterprise.
IT Asset Management supports integration with a variety of tools ("identity providers") that allow for single sign-on. The requirement is that the identity providers must comply with the SAML 2.0 standard. For more information, see Authentication in the System Reference.
The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) also allows for federated authentication, which means the sharing of identities between separate enterprises. A widely-known example is using your Google or Facebook account to authenticate access to a separate application, such as a diary. However, within IT Asset Management, we are concerned only with the subset of functionality that is single sign-on within your enterprise.
Tip:A limitation of the underlying library (Kentor.AuthServices) means that SAML authentication for IT Asset Management cannot support Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).
A license to install software on an unlimited number of computers at one physical location. Any installations of related software that are outside the scoped location cannot be attributed to this license, meaning that it can never be over-utilized. (If there is no other license to consume for those out-of-scope installations, they will appear in the unlicensed installations list.)
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights. |
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Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|
Consumption |
The number of unique computers that have installations of one or more of the applications linked to the license. |
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Included |
Computers with the scope (restrictions) of the license. |
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Compliance |
Always compliant. These licenses cover all installations on computers within the scope of the license. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
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Changing to |
You may wish to set up scoping rules to limit this license to the appropriate site. You may want to allocate the license to computers. |
A method of operation for inventory adapters where part of the adapter code is running on an inventory beacon, and the other part of the same adapter is running on the central operations database server. Factory-supplied inventory adapters may run in split mode, but you cannot ever modify a factory-supplied inventory adapter (they cannot run if modified).
See Also
Historically, this was the physical mechanism for mounting a processor chip on a motherboard of a computer: to protect the processor, a socket was first soldered to the motherboard, and then the chip was inserted into the socket, thereby avoiding the risk of heating the processor by soldering. Wave-flow soldering and other assembly techniques have made physical sockets (generally) obsolete for modern processors, and the term now refers to any place on a computer's mother board where a central processing unit can be inserted.
For licensing purposes, socket-based licensing is usually aimed at measuring the maximum power that the computer could have when fully configured. This means that it is not relevant to the license whether the socket is actually populated (has a processor chip mounted at this point or not), but simply that a CPU could be located here. If the license instead counts only those sockets that are actually populated with processors, consider using a processor-based license. For a license that insists on accounting for sockets (empty or not), such as some Oracle licenses, be aware that hardware inventory normally returns only the count of populated sockets (that is, of processors). If you need to account for empty sockets, you can manually modify the figures returned from inventory, and your changes are preserved through all future inventory collections.
stock-keeping unit (SKU)
An identification code for a product (or service) that captures all the important aspects of the product and differentiates it from others that the vendor may supply.
Normally abbreviated to SKU, this identification code may originate from any point in the supply chain where stock needs to be kept, or stored: for example, it may be created by the original manufacturer, by a wholesaler, or by a reseller/retailer. For computer software, the practice is generally well established for using the SKU provided by the publisher. However, SKUs need to be considered carefully, since a distributor or reseller may extend the original SKU with a prefix or suffix to assist their own operations. For example, a publisher may decide on the SKU BH-1883. A wholesaler may distinguish distribution intended for Europe with a suffix like BH-1883-EU, and a reseller may add a prefix to help manage their sources, giving AP-BH-1883-EU. Since all these variations may identify an identical product, you need to consider SKU values carefully.
IT Asset Management has a SKU library, updated frequently, with SKUs provided by publishers, distributors, and resellers and mapped to individual software applications (and sometimes to other details such as the purchase program or maintenance sold inclusively with the software). If you find a SKU that is not recognized by the system, you may wish to notify Flexera of the complete SKU and product details to enhance automated processing.
A subscription license is one that is both:
| • | Time limited, with license entitlements provided for a defined period |
| • | Renewable by regular payments that extend the period of entitlement. |
In IT Asset Management, a subscription is not a distinct license type, but a characteristic that can be applied to licenses of any type. For example, you may have a Device subscription license which has all the same properties as any other (perpetual) Device license, with the addition of:
| • | An Effective date when you may begin using the licensed software (the applications linked to the license record) |
| • | An Expiry date, by which you must either renew your subscription with a further payment, or stop using the licensed software. |
IT Asset Management provides flexible ways to manage license subscriptions:
| • | If your enterprise raises a purchase order (or includes a line item within a purchase order) for each renewal payment due on your subscription, you may simply attach the purchase records to the license. |
| • | If you record only a single purchase for the original acquisition of the license, and then rely on some form of payment automation for your renewals, you can create a payment schedule to track the regular payments. |
The benefits and differences between these approaches are outlined below.
Using Purchases
This approach can provide high levels of automation, including adjustment of entitlements if the subscription expires. In overview, the process is:
| 1. | Import the purchase records from your purchase order system (or spreadsheet, or create the records manually), ensuring that: |
| • | Each purchase has a Purchase type of Software subscription, or references a recognized SKU that has its own Purchase type of Subscription (in the event of conflict, the SKU setting has priority) |
| • | Each purchase records the Effective date when it started or renewed the subscription |
| • | Each purchase records the Expiry date when the subscription period covered by the associated payment runs out (and in an ideal world, the effective date of the next purchase is a day after the expiry date of this one) |
| • | Each purchase preferably records the SKU for the related software, or at the very least uses an identical description of the software. |
| 2. | Process the first of these purchases (navigate to Unprocessed Purchases page, and see Processing a Subscription Purchase) to create the appropriate license; and then process the rest (for which the page's recommendation is linking to the same license, based on the matching SKU or description). Merely linking these purchases to the license ensures that its Duration is set to Subscription, and its Expiry date is updated to the latest expiry date recorded on any of the linked purchases. |
| 3. | As the latest purchase approaches its expiry date, the license (and linked purchases) appear in the License and Maintenance Expiry page (see License and Maintenance Expiry), so that you can: |
| • | Import or create another purchase record to renew the subscription, or |
| • | Let the subscription expire, at which time the entitlements authorized by the series of purchases fall to zero, and any installations shown against this license in following inventory imports are marked as at risk. |
Using Payment Schedules
This approach allows more direct manual control and intervention, as well as allowing for more detailed financial records. In overview, the process is:
| 1. | Create the license for the software subscription. (If there was an original purchase covering the subscription, you could achieve this through purchase processing, so that license and purchase records are linked.) |
| 2. | Create a contract (because payment schedules can exist only when attached to a contract). A suitable contract type might be Subscription, although you could also use Software License, depending on your corporate preferences. Optionally, you may link the contract to the license, but that is not a requirement. |
| 3. | Once the contract has been saved, its Payment schedules tab is available and you can create the payment schedule, including details of budgeted and estimated amounts. On the Licenses tab of the payment schedule properties, you can link this schedule directly to the license you created. |
| 4. | Now, as each installment on the payment schedule approaches, the license appears in the Licenses > License Expiry > Licenses with Payments Due page (see Licenses With Payments Due). When you are ready, you can mark each installment as paid. |
Note:As changing this setting does not modify the properties of any linked license, you may also need to adjust the Expiry date on the license properties.
| 5. | Payment schedules have no effect on license entitlements, so if you decide to let the subscription expire, you must manually reduce the available entitlements on the license to zero. |
Sometimes publishers group a closely related set of different products together and sell them (and license them) as a unit. The common name for such a set of products is a suite. Well-known examples of suites include Microsoft Office (which groups Word, Excel, and many other applications) and Adobe Creative Suite (which groups Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, and a variety of other products, depending on the edition of the suite).
From a licensing perspective, suites have many characteristics analogous with applications:
| • | A set of executable programs for related tasks |
| • | Able to be purchased as a set |
| • | Licensed as a set |
| • | Recognizable by various kinds of installation evidence |
| • | Generally published in a series of releases (versions) over time |
| • | Often have special editions (such as Adobe Creative Suite Design Standard or Web Premium, and the like) |
| • | May have versions for different operating system platforms. |
The only significant difference is number: an application is sold singly for a particular purpose, and a suite is sold as a set of several applications fulfilling related purposes.
Therefore IT Asset Management treats suites and applications alike, with only one difference. A suite can contain applications (and only applications—not other suites), and an application may not. Conversely, an application can be a member of a suite (or a member of several suites), and a suite may not.
Notice that suites are separate from "bundles" (which are represented as multi-product licenses within IT Asset Management), as represented in this table:
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Aspect |
Suites |
Multi-product licenses |
||||||
|
Feature of |
Application |
License |
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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. |
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|
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"). |
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|
Recognized by |
Either:
|
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). |
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Processed during |
Application recognition |
License reconciliation |
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|
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. |
See Also
A customer using IT Asset Management. The term is used because IT Asset Management is a multitenant system.
The particular requirements embodied in a contract that specify the actions and states that are required for the contract to be fulfilled. In the particular case of software license agreements, these often include particular product use rights that are assigned by the agreement in return for the 'consideration' (such as the purchase price). License terms and conditions also specify how the consumption of the license entitlements is to be measured. For example, the agreement may specify that certain types of computers will consume a set number of points when the software is installed on them.
Represents a license that allows access to the software on a specific number of named computers that match the hardware tier requirements of the license. These licenses are usually for server applications such as storage products. (Regrettably, as publishers are reluctant to share tier data, these details must be supplied manually based on your individual license agreement.)
Allocation of a license entitlement to each computing device is a requirement. In some cases, these licenses can be transferred from one computer to another, usually by requesting a new license code.
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Category |
Description |
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Product use rights |
Second use, multiple use, downgrade rights, and upgrade rights. |
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Group assignment |
Not supported. |
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Consumption |
The number of unique computers that simultaneously meet both these requirements:
|
||||||
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Included |
Computers (within the scope of the license) to which the license has been allocated. |
||||||
|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
||||||
|
Changing to |
You should ensure that all computers intended to consume from this license are shown as allocations. |
upgrade
Moving an application to a higher standard, in either of two ways:
| • | By moving to a more recent release (in IT Asset Management, releases are called versions) |
| • | By changing to a more powerful edition (such as upgrading from Standard to Pro or Gold). |
There are two paths to achieve an upgrade, which should be kept distinct while using IT Asset Management:
| • | Your license for the current (original, or previous release) application may include an upgrade right, most commonly if the license is purchased under a volume purchasing agreement or is subject to a continuous maintenance (or support) agreement. In this case, the upgrade is available at no additional cost. |
| • | When you do not have such a right, you may still purchase a separate upgrade license. This relies on you owning a qualified prior version (specified with the upgrade license), and normally requires that you replace the installed prior version with the later version. Occasionally, an upgrade allows continued use of the prior version on the same machine for reasons of backward compatibility (some versions of Adobe Photoshop are licensed that way). More often, this right to “downgrade” (use the older version as well as, or instead of, the newly licensed later version) will depend on other conditions, such as a maintenance agreement. |
user
An employee of your enterprise who uses one or more of the computers in your estate to support your main line of business. Users use your assets (including computers), manage purchasing, deal with contracts, and so on.
They are called end-users to clearly differentiate from the people using IT Asset Management itself (operators, administrators, and view-only users). However, there are some contexts where the term can be conveniently abbreviated:
| • | User-based licenses are licenses that may be consumed by users (rather than by installations on their computers) |
| • | Oracle users are users of the Oracle databases in your enterprise, and the list of Oracle users is usually obtained by interrogating the Oracle products. |
Note:Do not use this term unqualified. Attach an adjective such as Oracle user, and otherwise use user.
A license that allows access to the software by a specified number of users. Each user accessing the software, regardless of the computer on which the software is installed, counts as a single entitlement consumed.
For compliance calculations, each installation is assessed as follows:
| • | If usage tracking is turned on for this application and records exist for this installation, then the number of users who ran it is counted |
| • | In the absence of usage data, the assigned user for each computer on which the application is installed is counted |
| • | If there is no assigned user, then the calculated user derived from the most recent inventory for each computer is counted |
| • | Where there is no user available for a computer, then the installation of the application on that computer will be counted as a single user for license consumption. |
User licenses can be allocated to individual users, but in general allocations do not alter how installations are counted. If you want individual allocations to be included in the consumption count for compliance purposes, set the Allocations consume license entitlements check box in the License consumption rules section of the Use rights & rules tab of the license properties.
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Category |
Description |
|||||||||
|
Product use rights |
Downgrade rights, upgrade rights, and a specific right for each user to access multiple installations. For record keeping purposes only (not affecting any calculations), you can also record license mobility rights including use in the cloud. |
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|
Group assignment |
Group assignment is supported. |
|||||||||
|
Consumption |
The sum of all of the following:
|
|||||||||
|
Included |
Users as above. Where an installation has no user associated with its computer, the computer itself is counted, and in this case the enterprise group assignment of the computer is taken into account (in place of the enterprise group assignment of the end- user). |
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|
Compliance |
Compliant when Consumed is less than or equal to Total licensed. |
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|
Changing from |
Scoping rules will be deleted. Allocations to computers may be deleted. |
|||||||||
|
Changing to |
You may want to set scoping rules or allocate the license to specific users. |
One who sells. A vendor may be an individual or a company, but in the context of software licensing, is commonly a company.
In IT Asset Management, two distinct kinds of vendor are relevant: publishers, and resellers. 'Vendor' is a collective term that embraces both of these. Both kinds of vendor are stored in the same database table.
Used exclusively in IT Asset Management to refer to the release number of an application.
Version numbering may take various forms, such as a numeric sequence (10.1, 10.2) with various levels in the hierarchy (by default, the system differentiates the first two levels); or a year number; or some other encoding like 2015r2. For this reason, the Version field is not numeric.
Note:'Version' is sometimes used in everyday conversation to refer to the computer/operating system platform to which an application relates, as in "the Windows version" or "the UNIX version". This information should not be recorded in the Version field of license properties, because version numbers are used for managing automatic upgrade and downgrade paths. If required in the license properties, this information can be added to the Edition field or the Notes field.
See Also
A computing environment running its own operating system and applications, but consuming only a part of the resources of a physical hardware computer. That is, a virtual machine is a software implementation of a computer system that can run as a guest on a host computer (which may be running the same or a completely different operating system). Microsoft refers to guest virtual machines as "operating system environments", or OSEs. For brevity, in IT Asset Management all kinds of guest operating systems are referred to as virtual machines (VMs).
There are many different virtualization technologies (or ways of sharing the facilities of the physical, or host, computer between the various virtual machines running as guests on that host). As well, there are many different approaches to licensing among software publishers. This matrix of technologies and licensing approaches makes it complex to understanding software licensing in virtual environments.
Because virtual machines may come and go (that is, be started and stopped) at any time, it is best practice to use an inventory agent installed in the VM to collect their software inventory, preferably with a policy that triggers inventory collection at start-up or on other schedules that account for the transient nature of VMs. For some types of VM, such as Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp) downloads, it is possible to take inventory of the template from which individual downloads will be cloned.
volume
Used to describe purchasing programs that are designed for purchasing large quantities of licenses for use within enterprises. The volume purchasing programs are sometimes said to support 'volume licensing'.
XenApp Server
The server which provides management control of a Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp) implementation. This is an umbrella term and an abbreviation for terms that vary across versions of Citrix Virtual Apps:
| • | In version 6.x, the XenApp server was officially named the Zone and Data Collector. One such controlling server was required per farm. |
| • | In version 7.5 and later, the XenApp server is called the Delivery Controller. One such controlling server is required per delivery site. |
A method in which IT Asset Management, through the inventory beacon, can use remote execution to gather software and hardware inventory details from a computer. This method does not require the installation of FlexNet inventory agent on the target device. (This method was previously called "zero-touch inventory", but this term is now deprecated because it led to misunderstandings.) On many platforms, Zero-footprint inventory gathering temporarily installs an agent on the target device (so that it is not strictly zero "touch"); but the temporary agent is removed afterward collecting and uploading inventory, so that there is no residual installation footprint.