Cloud Service Provider Inventory

IT Asset Management (Cloud)
This page lists the majority of devices revealed in inventory and other information gathered from cloud service providers.
Tip: Entries in this page may come through different methods:
  • The page automatically shows information from AWS (both AWS EC2 and RDS) and Microsoft Azure when you run the AWS or Azure connectors. However, the Azure connector, on its own does not return full software or hardware inventory.
  • Where cloud instances have the FlexNet Inventory Agent locally installed (usually because the it has been configured as part of the base image from which they have been instantiated) and these have returned inventory, the instance are listed here.
  • It includes inventory reported from Google Cloud instances where the FlexNet Inventory Agent is locally installed, and able to report to an inventory beacon; but in the case of Google Cloud, other instances that do not have the FlexNet Inventory Agent are not listed.
  • You may add rows to this listing either by a spreadsheet import (see Inventory Data One-Off Upload Page) or through the Business Importer.
The listed devices are typically 'floating' virtual machines, although they may include some special cases (for example, for AWS EC2, the list may include dedicated instances and bare metal instances). The one exception is that AWS "dedicated hosts" are not displayed in separate rows in this listing. Since this is the host type that gives visibility of sockets, cores, and host affinity that may be required for some licenses, the Host value of any virtual machine running on your dedicated host links to the inventory device record for the dedicated host. You may review the hardware details imported from the cloud service provider there.
Important: Be careful to ensure that instances generated at different times from the same base image have been given distinct computer names or domain names. If this is not done, the records are assumed to come from a single device, and are merged into a single device record. Changing names may require that you customize start-up scripts to modify preferences for FlexNet Inventory Agent when your VMs are instantiated; or your cloud service provider may provide other techniques to achieve unique naming of instances. For more information, see Common: Ensuring Distinct Inventory in the Gathering FlexNet Inventory PDF, available at https://docs.flexera.com/.
For listed types other than dedicated hosts, where you have arranged for collection of FlexNet inventory (or imported third-party inventory) from one of these devices, this cloud instance record is linked to a separate inventory device record where, as always, you can study details of installed software and the like. Where the instances reported cannot be linked to an inventory device record (when the Inventoried column displays No), then apart from related reports, this page is the only management view in IT Asset Management that summarizes these devices.
Important: Only instances that are linked to inventory device records have any impact on license compliance calculations. It is assumed that for software on other, unlinked instances reported by the cloud service provider, the software license is part of your rental agreement; or that you have made other arrangements for licensing software on instances where you do not gather software inventory. If neither of these assumptions is correct, installed software may represent an audit risk, and you should remedy the lack of inventory.

The following properties (listed alphabetically) are available in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page. Some are displayed by default, and others are available in the column chooser (see Managing Columns in a Table).

Name Details
Account

The identifier or name for your enterprise, as provided by your cloud service provider.

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
Availability type
The type of hosting under which your virtual machine is made available:
  • On hardware shared with other enterprises (Default)
  • On hardware reserved for your enterprise alone, but managed by your cloud service provider, creating a dedicated instance (Dedicated)
  • On hardware reserved for your enterprise and where you control the configuration directly, sometimes called a dedicated host (Host).

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
Availability zone

The particular availability zone (subsection of a region) associated with this virtual machine, as reported by the cloud service provider.

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties. Imported directly for cloud service providers where IT Asset Management supports a direct data-gathering connection, such as AWS.
Cloud service provider The name(s) of the cloud service provider(s) hosting your instances in the cloud. Possible values include all the names defined in the Cloud service providers tab of the System Settings page. The default values include:
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Google
  • IBM SoftLayer
  • Microsoft Azure.

Any other cloud service providers defined by your operators are also available in the list.

For manual editing of inventory device records, this value is set in the Hosted in property on the General tab of the inventory device properties. For instances identified in automated imports from supported cloud service providers (such as AWS), this value is set on import, and any manual changes are overwritten at the next import.
Cloud service provider date

The date when the instance was reported by the Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure integration using AWS or Microsoft Azure inventory adapters.

The Cloud service provider date would not be populated if the instance was only reported by the FlexNet Inventory Agent but not by the inventory adapter integration.
Cores

For a virtual machine instance reported by the cloud service provider, this is the number of cores assigned to the instance.

Restriction: Not available from:
  • Google Cloud instances
  • Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) instances.
Creation date
Charges for the particular cloud service commence from this date and time, being when either:
  • The virtual machine was instantiated, or
  • For other device types, rental commenced.

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
Device name

The name of the inventory device linked to this record. Click to open the properties of the inventory device.

An inventory device is only linked when full inventory has been imported for this instance, often because you have configured the FlexNet Inventory Agent in the image from which your cloud 'devices' are instantiated, or because you have imported inventory from a third-party source. If this instance record was not matched with incoming inventory, this column remains blank.
Host
For a virtual machine instance that is running on a dedicated host, this identifies the host reported by the cloud service provider. For details of the dedicated host itself, the Host provides a link to the inventory device properties for that host — a dedicated host (and only this type) always automatically has an inventory device record created for it, so that it can display its hosted VMs in the Virtual Machines tab of its inventory device properties. In summary:
  • For a floating instance, this column is blank, and the host may be changed from time to time at the discretion of the cloud service provider
  • For a "dedicated instance", this column is blank, because you do not have detailed management control of the host
  • Only for a "dedicate host", this column identifies the host and links to the inventory device record automatically created for the dedicated host.
In contrast, an inventory device record for each hosted virtual machine is created only when inventory is imported from the VM (that is, when there is a link available under Device name in this listing). For an instance without inventory, the appearance in this listing is the only management record. Therefore, if you use this Host to drill through to the host properties, and check the Virtual Machines tab for the host, you find this current instance only if inventory has been returned from the instance.

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)
Image ID

Identifies the machine image (operating system, software, and configuration) from which this virtual machine (or instance) was launched.

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
Instance ID

The unique identification code supplied by your cloud service provider to represent this virtual machine (or instance). Used for matching with incoming inventory to create/update an inventory device record.

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties. Editing is useful only when you are manually creating records. For AWS, the value is recovered from the API and overwrites any local edits.
Instance region

This geographic area reported by your cloud service provider as 'owning' the Instance ID for the current virtual machine. This region is the parent of the Availability Zone in which the virtual machine was launched.

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
Instance type

The kind (or size) of virtual machine reported by the cloud service provider for this device. Typically this choice directly controls the pricing for the virtual machine.

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties. Imported directly for cloud service providers where IT Asset Management supports a direct data-gathering connection, such as AWS.
Inventoried
Displays Yes if this device has been linked to a separate inventory device record (look for its name linked in the Device name column). Displays No if IT Asset Management has been unable to match this incoming record with any detailed inventory import.
Tip: If the FlexNet Inventory Agent is installed on the device hosted by the cloud service provider, records should be matched by either the Instance ID (requires FlexNet Inventory Agent version 13.1 or later) or the MAC address. Inventory collected by other third-party tools may also be matched on the MAC address. Alternatively, you may create a business adapter to link the cloud service provider record with an inventory device record. As noted above, records here that display No may represent a compliance risk, so that you should investigate these devices, and arrange for inventory collection from them. Best practice is to include FlexNet Inventory Agent (version 13.1 or later) within the images used to start all instances, and have FlexNet Inventory Agent configured to collect inventory immediately after start up.
Inventory date
The date when the most recent information was received about this instance.
Tip: The imported information may come from either of two sources:
  • From direct connection to the cloud service provider to import available details. It can be the case (such as with the AWS adapter) that this is high-level information only, and lacks details about installed software needed for license management.
  • From an inventory source such as FlexNet Inventory Agent or a third-party tool, such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM). In this case, the instance is linked to an inventory device name, and the detailed inventory is held in that inventory device record.
For a given instance, if both data sources are available, the date of the more recent import (from either source) is shown.
Last known state
Specifies the status of this cloud instance (typically a virtual machine) when most recently reported by your cloud service provider. For a virtual machine, it may be one of:
  • Started — The virtual machine was running at the last import.
  • Stopped — The virtual machine has been stopped, releasing all its resources to the host. Some cloud service providers allow for a virtual machine to be restarted from this state.
  • Suspended — The virtual machine has been put into sleep mode. All the running processes still consume resources, and the machine can quickly resume.
  • Terminated — The virtual machine has been permanently deleted and cannot be restarted. At the next full import and compliance calculation, which by default happens overnight, any matching inventory device record will be removed (unless you have taken the most unusual step of linking that inventory device record to an asset record). Removing the inventory device record prevents the terminated virtual machine having any future impact on license consumption calculations. See also tip below.
  • Unknown — The state is unknown.
Note: These state values are standardized by Flexera and might not be exactly the same as the values defined in the inventory source. For example, there is no Terminated state in Azure and Flexera has mapped the Azure state Deallocated to the standardized state value Terminated. The table below shows each of the different states and what they correspond to in IT Asset Management.
IT Asset Management AWS Azure Hyper V GCP VMware
Started Running Running ON Running

Enabled

Starting

Resuming
Stopped Stopped Stopped OFF N/A

Disabled

Stopping
Terminated Terminated Deallocated Suspended N/A

Paused

Pausing

Suspended

Saving
Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown N/A

Unknown

Snapshotting
Tip: Some inventory sources take time to clean up inventory records, so that inventory imports may unavoidably include stale inventory in that period between the instance termination and the inventory clean-up. To help resolve any confusion, terminated instances remain available in this Cloud Service Provider Inventory page so that you can check here, confirming that the instance's inventory device record is correctly suppressed because the instance was terminated. By default, terminated instances are hidden, to reduce clutter. To review a terminated instance, in the simple filter area (top left), change the Include terminated instances setting to Yes. Thereafter, you may like to manage the number of terminated instances by changing the second simple filter for Instances reported from Any time, and choosing In last 30 days, In last 60 days, or In last 90 days. (Typically this has little effect on instances that are not terminated, since these are always showing their current state at the time of last import, and don't have historical records.)
MAC address

The Media Access Control (MAC) address of the hosted instance. If the instance is hardware with multiple network interface cards, this field displays a comma-separated list of MAC addresses.

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

This value, collected from the cloud service provider, is not editable in IT Asset Management.
Network ID

The primary network interface reported by the cloud service provider as associated with this virtual machine or instance. (This is the default interface, and remains associated with the instance throughout its lifetime.)

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties. Overwritten by incoming data for those cloud service providers for which IT Asset Management supports a direct connection (such as AWS).
Purchased option

The instance option you have purchased, such as Scheduled (instances always available on a recurring schedule) or Spot (running only on unused instances).

(Not available from Google Cloud instances.)

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties.
RDS license type
The method of licensing Oracle Database running in Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). Values may be:
  • BYOL — Bring Your Own License, meaning that you are taking license entitlements that were originally purchased to authorize an installation of Oracle Database in your own on-premises data center, and transferring these to now cover the database running in the AWS cloud. (This is typically used for a scenario where you are migrating the database operations from your data center to the cloud.) Only instances using this license type can be inventoried by direct connection to the Oracle Database (and only when running in Amazon RDS).
  • PAYG — Pay As You Go, meaning that AWS is providing license coverage for the Oracle Database running in Amazon RDS, and you are covering the costs in your AWS subscription. Do not allow any PAYG licenses to consume from active license records within IT Asset Management, as this would be double-counting.
  • Unknown — There is not enough information in the imported inventory to allow the method of licensing to be determined.
Resource ID Unique identifier for the Azure VM instance.
Service type
The kind of service from AWS that is in use. Values may be:
  • EC2 — An instance in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, which may run a variety of software (optionally, though perhaps unconventionally, including an Oracle Database). Inventory can be collected from EC2 instances by installing the FlexNet Inventory Agent on the instance.
  • RDS — Amazon Relational Database Service. Notionally this service offers any mainstream relational database; but Oracle Database is the special case that allows direct connection for inventory collection (provided that the Service type is RDS and the RDS license type is BYOL).
  • Blank when the cloud service provider is not AWS.
SQL server mobility
Tracks the method of licensing Microsoft SQL Server on virtual instances hosted by any cloud service provider. For Microsoft Azure, the cloud license model is collected by the Azure connector (see Managing Azure Connections). For other cloud service providers where there may not be information available, you can set the cloud license model in the application properties. Possible values are:
  • Blank for instances where you have not configured the Azure Hybrid Benefit within Azure (or else where this instance data is imported using the old AzureRM PowerShell module that does not support AHB data — for details, see Managing Azure Connections); or where the data is imported from another cloud service provider that does not include this information
  • BYOL — Bring Your Own License, meaning that you have repurposed license entitlements originally purchased to authorize on-premises installations to now cover installations hosted by the cloud service provider
    Tip: To be eligible for BYOL, your license entitlements must be covered by current Software Assurance.
  • PAYG — Pay As You Go, meaning that the cloud service provider licenses the relevant software, and includes the costs in your cloud subscription, typically billing per second so that you pay only for the time used (these instances should not be allowed to consume from your purchased license entitlements, and by default do not)
    Tip: Be careful not to allocate license entitlements to these instances, as an allocation may trigger license consumption.
  • Unknown — There is insufficient evidence in the incoming inventory to determine how the software is licensed (these instances consume from your on-premises licenses by default, to minimize exposure in a license audit).
    Tip: If you have additional information, you can override the Unknown status with either of the values described above.
Subscription ID
An ID for the subscription (or billing arrangement) for services your enterprise uses from this cloud service provider. Your enterprise may have multiple subscriptions with a given cloud service provider (CSP), for example for different departments (corporate units), or for different specialized services. You may use separate subscriptions as a way to divide costs between business units for more efficient charge back. Every subscription must be linked to exactly one Tenant ID. This page allows you align the individual VMs with the subscription where they are charged for – and since the subscription ID maps to a single tenant ID, to also follow through to the higher level if required (for those with multiple tenant IDs).
Tip: Not all CSPs supply subscription IDs, so that the column may remain blank. One CSP that supplies this value is Azure.
Tenant ID
The tenant ID is generated by the cloud service provider as you create your new subscription, and represents the highest level contract between your enterprise and the cloud service provider. This tenant ID may relate to multiple subscriptions.
Tip: This tenant ID from the cloud service provider is completely unrelated to the IT Asset Management tenant ID used for multi-tenant implementations operated by Managed Service Providers.
It is common for an enterprise to have only one tenant ID from a given cloud service provider. However, if your enterprise has (for example) a history of mergers and acquisitions, you may have multiple tenant IDs from one cloud service provider.
Tip: Not all CSPs supply tenant IDs, so that the column may remain blank. One CSP that supplies this value is Azure.
Threads per core

The number of threads that your cloud service provider reports are available for each core assigned to this virtual machine (or, when this inventory device is a server, for each of the cores available in the server). This property is available in reporting of your cloud service provider instances.

Restriction: This attribute is not available from:
  • Amazon RDS instances
  • Google Cloud instances.

Editable in the Cloud hosting tab of the inventory device properties. Overwritten by incoming data for those cloud service providers for which IT Asset Management supports a direct connection (such as AWS).
Windows server AHB
Tracks the method of licensing Microsoft Windows Server, taking account of the Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB). Values may be:
  • Blank for instances where you have not configured the Azure Hybrid Benefit within Azure (or else where this instance data is imported using the old AzureRM PowerShell module that does not support AHB data — for details, see Managing Azure Connections)
  • BYOL — Bring Your Own License, meaning that you have repurposed license entitlements originally purchased to authorize on-premises installations to now cover installations hosted by the cloud service provider
    Tip: To be eligible for BYOL, your license entitlements must be covered by current Software Assurance.
  • PAYG — Pay As You Go, meaning that the cloud service provider licenses the relevant software, and includes the costs in your cloud subscription (these instances should not be allowed to consume from your purchased license entitlements, and by default do not)
    Tip: Be careful not to allocate license entitlements to these instances, as an allocation may trigger license consumption.
  • Unknown — There is insufficient evidence in the incoming inventory to determine how the software is licensed (these instances consume from your on-premises licenses by default, to minimize exposure in a license audit).
    Tip: If you have additional information, you can override the Unknown status with either of the values described above.

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

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