Virtual Machines Tab

FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R1 (On-Premises Edition)

FlexNet Manager Suite displays the Virtual Machines tab on the Inventory Device Properties page when you select VM Host as Inventory Device Type. When a VM host inventory record is linked with an asset, the virtual machines hosted on the host are automatically registered with the host asset record. You can configure FlexNet Manager Suite to create separate asset records for each virtual machine (not the default behavior) from the System Settings > Inventory tab. For more information, see System Settings: Inventory Tab. This page provides details of all the virtual machines hosted on this VM host.

For hardware that allows sub-capacity management through partitioning, FlexNet Manager Suite treats the partitions as virtual machines, allowing a single point of management for different virtualization technologies. A physical hardware layer is imported into FlexNet Manager Suite as a VM host and the hardware partitions on the hardware layer are imported as virtual machines. The discovery and inventory process automatically links virtual machines to their host records.

The following inventory device properties (listed alphabetically) are available on this tab.

Table 1. Virtual Machines tab details
Field Description
Asset linked

The column contains the name of an asset, if any, that the device is linked to.

FlexNet Manager Suite generates the value of this field.

Assigned user

The user assigned to this device. This assignment overrides the Calculated user.

Editable in the Assigned field in Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Calculated user
The name of the most frequent user of this inventory device, over the previous 10 inventory collections. This value is calculated as follows:
  • If there is only one primary user linked to the inventory device, this user is recorded
  • If there are multiple primary users linked to the inventory device, the most frequently logged in user is recorded
  • If there is no primary user associated with the inventory device, the last user to logon is recorded.

The value of this field is automatically generated by FlexNet Manager Suite.

Not available when you create an inventory device manually.

Category

The category of this device. FlexNet Manager Suite enables you to create customized categories to group inventory devices logically. These categories are additional to Inventory device type and Device role categorization. For example, you can create categories to differentiate database servers, network servers, or firewalls. The custom categories have no impact on license consumption.

To select a category:
  1. Click the Category text box and click Search.
  2. Click + to expand the root-level categories (Hardware or Software) to select a category for this device. You may need to expand sub-categories too.
  3. Select the check box corresponding to the required category.
  4. Click Add category to assign the selected category to this device.
    Note: You can click the revert link to change the existing value of this field.
Clock speed (MHz)

The maximum clock speed (in MHz) of the processor that is installed in the inventory device.

Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). If the value is gathered from inventory, it cannot be edited; however, it can be overridden.

Compliance status
Indicates the compliance status of an inventory device. It can have any of the following values:
  • Changed — Indicates a change in the compliance status of an inventory device. This value is changed automatically when the following conditions are met:
    • The inventory device has a linked asset.
    • You have defined the device compliance settings to track any changes in the hardware properties of this device.
    • There is a change in the hardware properties for which the device compliance settings have been defined. This change can be manual or a result of a new inventory import.
  • Compliant — The inventory details reported in the last inventory import match those of previous imports, or any changes to those details have been approved. For details about reviewing or approving changes to assets, see Viewing and Accepting the Changes to a Device Asset.
  • New — The default value for all newly imported devices. This value is not changed until there is a change in the hardware configuration or an asset is linked to this device.
  • Not tracked — Indicates that the device is no longer tracked for compliance. This may happen when an inventory import leads to a duplicate device record with some change in its properties.

The value is calculated by FlexNet Manager Suite and can be manually set on the General tab of the inventory device properties.

Connection name

The name of the connection through which FlexNet Manager Suite received the last inventory for this inventory device.

Not editable.

Core affinity

Specifies the processor core or range of processor cores to which this virtual machine is bound.

Valid only when you select Virtual Machine as Inventory Device Type.

Cores

The total number of processor cores available in a physical inventory device; or the number of cores assigned to an inventory device that is a virtual machine.

Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, the number of Cores can be manually overridden in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (see Hardware Tab).

Corporate unit

The corporate unit responsible for the inventory device.

Editable in the Corporate Units page under the Enterprise tab.

Cost center

The cost center responsible for all costs incurred for this inventory device.

Editable in the Cost Centers page under the Enterprise tab.

CPU affinity

Specifies the CPU or a range of CPUs to which this virtual machine is bound.

Editable in the VM Properties tab of the inventory device properties.

Created
The date when this inventory record was created in FlexNet Manager Suite.
Tip: New inventory device records are created during a full import to the compliance database, as new inventory is identified. Therefore it's quite possible to have a creation date that is later than the inventory date, with the difference being due to scheduling, such as the scheduling of imports from third-party tools, or delays between the upload of FlexNet inventory and the full import and compliance calculations (for example, if your full imports are scheduled weekly, or the like).

Not editable.

Creation method

Identifies how this inventory device record was created. The possible values are Automatic (for devices discovered in incoming inventory), Manual and VM Host.

FlexNet Manager Suite generates the value of this field.

Disk (GB)

The total space of all hard drives installed in the inventory device, in Gigabytes.

Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only.

Display adapters

The total number of display adapters installed in the inventory device.

Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (manually-created records). The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only.

Not editable for existing inventory devices.

Domain name

The name of the domain to which the computing device belongs.

Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties for manually created records. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only.

Friendly name

The friendly name of the virtual machine, as displayed in the user interface of the VM management software (such as ESX), and returned in inventory (matched by serial number).

Editable in the VM Properties tab of the inventory device properties. The compliance calculation updates this field with the machine name returned in inventory (matched by serial number).

Hard drives

The number of hard drives the computer reported after the inventory.

Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties, when you are creating an inventory device manually.

Not editable for existing inventory devices

Host

Identifies the name of the host when this inventory device is a virtual machine.

Host affinity

Indicates whether host affinity is enabled for this virtual machine. Host affinity enables you bind a virtual machine to the current virtual host.

Editable in the VM Properties tab of the inventory device properties.

Valid only when you select Virtual Machine as Inventory Device Type.

Inventory chassis type

The chassis type for an inventory device, as reported by the inventory process.

This read-only value cannot be edited, however for the purposes of license calculations, you can override its value with the Assigned chassis type setting in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties.

IP address

The IP address of the inventory device. For inventory devices with multiple IP addresses (for example, those with multiple network cards), a comma-separated list (up to 256 characters) is shown. IP addresses in the IPv6 address family are not reported in FlexNet inventory for devices running UNIX-like operating systems.

Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties.

Last inventory date

The date when the last inventory information was collected by the Last inventory source for this inventory device.

The inventory process generates the value of this field.

Last inventory source
If you have multiple overlapping inventory sources that report on the same device, it is possible for some inventory details to come from one source and other details from another source. This column identifies the most recent source of inventory that reported the majority of the hardware properties for this device. If you have declared a primary inventory connection and this device appears in inventory from that primary connection, it is likely that your primary connection is supplying the majority of hardware properties, and so is shown here.
Tip: If your primary source reported the majority of hardware properties some time ago, and since then one or more secondary sources have updated a minority of additional properties, this value still shows the primary source (source of the majority of hardware properties). Tracking the primary source is particularly valuable if you have a variation from IBM allowing you to use FlexNet inventory agent and FlexNet Manager Suite as replacements for IBM tools (such as ILMT) in the calculation and reporting of sub-capacity licensing for IBM PVU licenses. That agreement requires that you can demonstrate that the Last inventory source is FlexNet Manager Suite, and that this source is reporting every 30 minutes.
The values are system-provided, and cannot be modified. Most values are self-explanatory; some less obvious ones include:
  • Data Platform — the inventory was imported from Flexera Normalize (previously BDNA Normalize, part of BDNA Data Platform)
  • ManageSoft — the inventory was collected by legacy versions of the FlexNet inventory agent, and saved in a separate inventory database
  • Manual — you created this inventory device record manually, and no matching inventory has been received yet.
  • SMS — the inventory was imported from Microsoft SCCM (previously known as SMS)
  • Tivoli Endpoint Manager — inventory was imported from IBM Big Fix, or one of its earlier renamings (IBM Endpoint Manager, Tivoli Endpoint Manager).
Tip: If you have custom inventory adapters, entries for these may also appear in this column as appropriate.

Not editable.

Last logged on user

The name of the user that was discovered to be the last logged on user on this device.

Editable by clicking the linked full name in the Last logged on field displayed in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties.

Location

The location within your enterprise that is responsible for the device.

MAC address

The Media Access Control (MAC) address of the inventory device. If a device has multiple network interface cards, this field displays a comma-separated list of MAC addresses.

Editable in the General tab of the discovery device properties.

Manufacturer

The manufacturer of the inventory device.

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

Model

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

Editable in the Model field in the General tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). If the value is gathered from inventory, it cannot be edited, however it can be overridden by entering a new value in the Overridden field in General tab of the inventory device properties. The original value continues to display on the General tab, alongside the overridden value, and may be restored at any time.

Network cards

The total number of network cards installed in a physical inventory device; or the number of network cards accessible by a Virtual machine.

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

Operating system
The operating system running on this device.
Tip: This value may be blank because:
  • The device is recently discovered – the operating system can only occasionally be populated during first discovery, and is often backfilled once inventory is returned for this device.
  • The device is a VM host that is a hardware frame that may not be running its own operating system. In this case, the computer Name field is set to a serial number associated with the hardware (because, without an operating system, there is no host name). In fact, no inventory of any kind is possible without an operating system, so FlexNet Manager Suite synthesizes the VM host record from common data reported by its guest VMs. The virtual machines in these cases may typically be partitions like:
    • LPARs running on IBM PowerPC servers
    • Solaris zones on either x86 or SPARC architectures
    • nPar or vPar partitions running on HP Integrity servers.

Editable in the VM Properties tab of the inventory device properties.

Overridden

Indicates whether the operator has manually changed one or more properties discovered in inventory, or if the inventory details are unchanged for this inventory device.

FlexNet Manager Suite generates the value of this field.

Partial number of processors

The equivalent number of full-time processors set by the time-sharing controls on the hardware console. Some virtualization technologies (such as on IBM's AIX operating system) report this setting in inventory. You may override an incorrect inventory value for this field.

Populated and (by default) updated on virtual machines by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (only for virtual machines) can be overridden with a manually entered value. An overridden value is no longer updated by incoming inventory.

Available only for inventory devices of the type Virtual Machine.

Pool

The name of the resource pool the virtual machine is in.

Processor type

The type of processor installed in the inventory device.

Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this value can be manually overwritten in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (see Hardware Tab).

Processors

The number of logical processors assigned to a Virtual machine.

Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties can be overridden with a manually entered value (see Hardware Tab). Overridden values are no longer updated by incoming inventory.

RAM (GB)

The size of Random Access Memory (RAM) installed in the inventory device, in gigabytes.

For manually-created records, this is editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only.

Recommended asset link

Displays a link to an asset that is recommended for this inventory device. If you click the link, FlexNet Manager Suite connects this inventory device to the recommended asset.

Role

The role assigned to the inventory device, such as Development, Test, and Production. Device roles (where permitted by the product use rights on a license) can exempt devices from consuming entitlements on a license to which they are (and remain) attached. For example, some license agreements may grant an exemption for devices used exclusively for testing. For more details, see Exemptions.

Editable in Device role field in the General tab of the inventory device properties.

Serial number

The serial number of the device, attempting to uniquely identify either the hardware (for a stand-alone device) or the virtualization container (for a virtual machine). For records created automatically (or updated) from incoming inventory, this is as reported in inventory.

For manually-created inventory device records, this value is editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. This value is not editable for records created or updated from collected inventory.

Service pack

The service pack number or ID reported by the operating system.

For manually-created records, this is editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only.

Service provider

Indicates the service provider when a virtual machine is hosted on an external cloud. You can specify a value for this field only when you select the Located in cloud option.

Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties for virtual machines.

Sockets

The number of virtual sockets assigned to this Virtual machine.

Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. If it is not available from your hardware inventory, or if the value is inaccurate, you can permanently override the inventory data with a manual value.

Status
Indicates the current state of a device. It can have any of the following values:
  • Active — A device for which the inventory information is received from an inventory source.
  • Archived — This device is in transition pending deletion, but is currently held because of its historical impacts on IBM PVU sub-capacity retrospective calculations.
  • Awaiting Inventory — This device is a place-holder that has not yet appeared in imported inventory from any source.
  • Ignored — The device that is not managed. An ignored device is not considered in license consumption calculations.
    Tip: If an inventory device is linked to an asset record, and that asset is given a status of either Retired or Disposed, this Ignored value is automatically set for the linked inventory device.

Provided that the inventory device has not [yet] been linked to an asset record, this value is editable in the General tab of the inventory device (although Awaiting Inventory is no longer available once inventory has been collected for the device, and Archived can never be set manually).

Threads

Displays the number of logical processors (virtual processors in a virtual machine, or threads assigned to a partition) assigned to the virtual machine.

Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties can be overridden with a manually entered value (see Hardware Tab).

VM name

The name of the virtual machine that is recognized by the host server. This value is visible in the properties of the VM host, in the Virtual Machines tab, in the VM name column.

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

VM type

The type of the virtual machine.

For manually-created records, this value is editable in the VM Properties tab of the inventory device properties for the Virtual machine. The value may be overwritten by incoming inventory.