Exemption Reason

The reason why an individual inventory device or user is exempt from consuming entitlements from this license, even though the inventory data has been found or allocations are in place (or both). When this column is blank, the usage of the application on this inventory device or by this user can count towards the consumption of this license. You can manually set the exemption reason for an inventory device or user through the Exemption reason drop-down list on this tab (see Setting Exemption Reason). The exemption reason should directly represent provisions in the original license agreement. For device-based licenses, these provisions are usually related to special-purpose computers.

Tip: While you can manually set an exemption reason through the Exemption reason drop-down list for individual inventory devices or users, exemptions can also be automatically set according to the device's role when all three of these conditions are met:

• The device has been assigned a role (such as Training) on the General tab of the device properties (see General Tab), keeping in mind that:
  • This use of exemption rules applies to the 'leaf nodes' (that is, the lowest level VMs on a virtual host, and not the virtual host itself nor any intervening pools)
  • Setting a specific exemption for a virtual host disables these rule-based exemptions for all its child VMs
  • If exemptions have been set for all the child VMs of a given virtual host, the virtual host also displays the Meets exemption rule... value, even when it has no rule applied separately at the host level.
• The license has a corresponding Exemption by device role set on the Use rights & rules tab (see Allocations and Exemptions)
• A reconciliation has been calculated since these settings were saved Go to the Reconcile page..

Always validate that an exemption reason is authorized by your license agreement.

Tip: Eight of the following values, as marked, may be set as a result of an inventory import from ILMT, if the exemptions have been set in that tool.

Important: For the IBM PVU license type, when ILMT is your chosen source of truth for sub-capacity license calculations, avoid setting exemptions in IT Asset Management for devices imported from ILMT. Instead, set the device exemption within ILMT, for these reasons:

• When ILMT is your source of truth, IBM receives your reports from ILMT for review. Any device exemptions should therefore be recorded in the source records.
• If you mistakenly set an exemption for an imported device within IT Asset Management, it modifies the current consumption shown in the Consumption tab of the license properties, but does not affect the peak consumption shown in the Compliance tab (because that is your license liability, and you have chosen to use ILMT to calculate that result).

Exemptions made in ILMT are also imported into IT Asset Management. Normal exemptions, for example, display as Covered by related product.

For details on setting exemptions, see Setting Exemption Reason. You may also add exemption reasons of your own, for which see Adding a Custom Exemption Reason.

The default set of exemption reasons include the following:

Alpha, beta, early support program

Used for installations of software in such programs, which normally have many terms and conditions, one of which may be zero license cost. (May be set by import from ILMT.)

Backup, disaster recovery

This is usually a cold standby device (normally powered down, receiving synchronizing updates only at some specified maximum frequency), or at least one that cannot be in production use for this software. Check the terms of your license agreement carefully. You may find that the Fail-over exemption reason is a better fit. (May be set by import from ILMT.)

Component is not compatible with the server or agent system

May be set by import from ILMT. In ILMT, this exemption means that the component is installed on a server and cannot be initiated because of differences, for example, in the architecture or operating system. An example might be a file server.

Component of a non-PVU licensed offering

Legacy exemption reason for backward compatibility: in the current product, consider using a multi-product license instead. May be set by import from ILMT. In ILMT, this exemption means that if the product has a different licensing model than PVU or systems model, its component might be excluded from the calculations, depending on your license agreement. Best practice is to use this exemption only temporarily (keeping in mind that the exemption acts like an allocation to tie the exempted device to this license, and prevent it consuming from any other license); and as soon as possible to allocate the device to the correct license from which it should be consuming (also removing the exemption from the IBM PVU license).

Covered by AHB

The "Covered by Azure Hybrid Benefit" exemption is applied automatically during reconciliation calculations for the Microsoft Server/Management Core license type, when the following check boxes are set:

• Azure hybrid benefit/license mobility
• Entitlements may be used simultaneously in the cloud and on-premises.

Tip: These check boxes are visible in the license properties, on the User rights & rules tab, when you expand the License consumption rules section. Under Cloud service providers, first select either Any cloud service provider, or (for example) Selected cloud service providers > Microsoft Azure, and then ensure that the two check boxes mentioned above are selected. As the Azure Hybrid Benefits are complex, varying by product and even by purchase method, it is best practice to prepare license records from purchases that refer to the correct SKUs, and allow the downloaded Product Use Rights Libraries to set the license consumption rules appropriately for you.

This exemption is applied when a device hosted in an approved cloud service provider consumes from this license, and the license for the installation is configured within Microsoft Azure as the BYOL cloud license type.

Covered by related product

Applied automatically during reconciliation calculations for a multi-product license. Occurs when a device is already allocated to the multi-product license, but the current inventory import and reconciliation shows that this device has only supplementary product(s) from the bundle installed, with no installation of a primary product. During reconciliation, the allocation for this device is switched to this exemption reason.

Also set when inventory for IBM PVU licenses is imported from ILMT (as the source of truth for sub-capacity calculations), and the device is exempted within ILMT.

Here's further background:

Normal licensing for a bundle assumes that the various products in the bundle are installed on the same device, and under these conditions, the primary product(s) consume from the license, and the supplementary products consume zero. The zero consumption by supplementary products (in these cases) is allowed only where at least one primary product is also installed on the same device; and under these conditions, the zero result is automatic (no exemption needed).

However, some product bundles allow installation of component products on separate devices. For example, you may be allowed to install a client product on one device, and install a related (supplementary) database product on a separate device, still covered by the same license at no additional cost/consumption. In these circumstances, it is correct that the primary product is missing from the device with the supplementary database installed, and the normal requirement for the co-located primary product must be waived. To achieve this, simply use an allocation to link the multi-product license to the device with the supplementary product installation. Because the database is supplementary, at the next license reconciliation the Covered by related product exemption is automatically added for the related device, and license consumption for the database is set to zero. (The license terms may also specify ratios of primary to supplementary products, but such ratios do not prevent the exemption being applied. Instead, ratios are checked for the overall license, independently of exemptions applied, and may put the license at risk of being over-utilized.)

Compare the outcomes for the following two devices:

• Our multi-product license has primary product A and supplementary products B and C.
• The multi-product license has been allocated to devices 1 and 2.
• Device 1 has products A and B installed. This device consumes as normal, because it has the primary product installed. 'Normal' means that the device consumes an entitlement for the primary product, and the supplementary product automatically consumes zero, and no exemptions are shown or required.
• Device 2 has products B and C installed. After reconciliation, device 2 has the Covered by related product exemption shown, and consumes zero, because it has only supplementary products installed (and cannot consume from any other license, because of the allocation/exemption).

Notice that if device 2 had not been allocated to the multi-product license, the absence of the primary product would prevent it being automatically linked to this license during reconciliation. Instead, it would search for other licenses covering products B and C, or finish in the list of unlicensed installations.

Tip: Since manually applying an exemption automatically also applies an allocation linking the device to the license, you may either make an allocation (allowing the next reconciliation to add the exemption); or just add the exemption directly. Remember this exemption really makes sense only on multi-product licenses, and only for devices that have only supplementary products installed (and no primary product).

Covered by virtual application access

This exemption reason is applied automatically in the following circumstances:

• The device to exempt is listed on the Consumption tab of a Device license.
• For this same license, the License consumption rules section of the Use rights & rules tab has all of the following settings, reflecting the terms of your license agreement:
  • Access granted to users, or usage, consumes license entitlements is selected
  • Consume one entitlement for each user is selected
  • The Consume entitlements based on drop-down list displays Access.
• The licensed virtual application is shared with the user who owns the device in question (the virtual application may be published through App-V, Citrix Virtual Apps, or Citrix Virtual Desktops).
• The same user owns other device(s) that are also listed as consuming from this license. For example, the same end-user may be the assigned user for both a desktop device and a notebook/laptop, and both devices may appear in the Consumption tab of this device license.

Because the license terms allow limiting consumption to one entitlement per user (that is, a single entitlement covers all the devices owned by a common user), the exemption is applied to the second device (and any subsequent devices) for which the same user is the 'owner' (assigned user, or calculated user). Thus only the user's first device consumes a license entitlement.

If you choose to apply this exemption to a license manually, be careful to leave one device that is linked to this user with no exemption, so that exactly one entitlement is consumed for the user.

Development

The device is restricted to use for development, and is not used in production environments.

Evaluation, trial

The installation of the software on this device was approved for evaluation purposes, usually as part of a pre-sales process. Check the license agreement for terms of expiry, such as elapsed time or the completion of the sales process (whether a sale resulted, or did not). Depending on the license agreement terms, this installation may later need to be uninstalled, or have the exemption removed so that it is fully licensed. (May be set by import from ILMT.)

Fail-over

This device is not "in production", but is a standby server as defined by your license agreement. Check these license terms carefully, as some licenses may allow an exemption only for a cold standby (normally powered down, receiving synchronizing updates only at some specified maximum frequency), or a warm standby (running in the background, with mirrored data received at regular and possibly specified intervals); but these kinds of licenses may require that a hot standby device is separately licensed, and not exempted.

No recent usage of virtualized applications

This exemption may be applied automatically to any of the following license types:

• Device
• IBM Authorized User
• Named User
• User.

It is applied when the License consumption rules section of the Use rights & rules tab has all of the following settings, reflecting the terms of your license agreement:

• Access granted to users, or usage, consumes license entitlements is checked
• On Device licenses, one of the Consume one entitlement ... choices is selected (see scenario discussion below for the differences in behavior for these two different settings) — this is not relevant for a user-based license
• The Consume entitlements based on drop-down list displays Usage within the time limit (and the correct time limit in days is displayed in the following field).

Because the license agreement specifies consumption within the last x days (the default is the last 90 days), IT Asset Management applies this exemption for the user/device when there are no usage records within that period.

Consider these example scenarios:

• UserA owns devices ComputerA1, ComputerA2, and ComputerA3.
• UserB owns ComputerB1 and ComputerB2.
• Your virtual application administrator publishes an application to both UserA and UserB (the virtual application may be published through App-V, Virtual Apps, or Virtual Desktops).
• UserA uses the application from ComputerA1 and ComputerA2 within the 90 day window.
• UserB has not used the application.
• With a Device license that has Consume one entitlement for each user selected (allowing merging of the multiple devices owned by a user), only a single entitlement is consumed for UserA (merging his two devices used within the time period). (UserB has no usage within the period, and so does not consume an entitlement. If either or both of her devices are linked to the license, they show an exemption for No recent usage of virtualized applications.)
• If the same Device license now has Consume one entitlement per device owned by each user selected, two entitlements are consumed, one for each of ComputerA1 and Computer A2. (Neither the computers owned by UserB, nor ComputerA3, consume entitlements because they have no usage records in the applicable time window. )
• Switching now to a user-based license, only UserA has usage records (and not UserB), so that only one entitlement is consumed (even when UserA accessed the application from several of his devices). If UserB is allocated to the same license, she has the exemption No recent usage of virtualized applications displayed.
• Now assume that UserB makes use of the same application. From the next license reconciliation, the exemption against her (or her devices) is removed, and appropriate consumption for each scenario is added.

Not eligible for PVU licensing

May be set by import from ILMT, where the exemption value is Not eligible for licensing. It means that the PVU or systems license agreement was not signed for a product. It is best practice to authenticate this exemption with a note or a document attached to the license record. Consider allocating this device to a different license from which it can legitimately consume entitlements.

Other

Used when none of the existing reasons gives an adequate description. Rather than using this non-specific reason, you may prefer to add a custom exemption reason. If you decide to continue using this reason, best practice is to add a note to the license (on the Identification tab) or attach a document (on the Documents tab) to ensure that the details remain available during any future audit. May be set by import from ILMT, where IBM documents that "you must enter a comment to justify the exclusion". Such a comment is not imported from ILMT, and you may need to replicate the details in IT Asset Management.

Second use

The license grants the right of second use (which should be visible in the Use rights & rules tab), and this is the device (such as your laptop) that you are counting as the second use after some other device (such as your desktop) that also appears in the Consumption tab of this license.

Test

This device is used exclusively for testing (as far as the licensed software is concerned) and cannot be used in production; and the license agreement specifies a test environment as a valid exemption.

Not available for CAL Legacy licenses.