License Consumption Rules

FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R1 (On-Premises Edition)

Derived from license terms (as amended by maintenance contracts and purchase agreements), the License consumption rules part of the Use rights & rules tab determines how consumption of entitlements on this license is calculated.

Tip: This section only appears on license types that have one or more of the enclosed controls to display. See Restrictions below in this topic.

Background

Four main factors affect this calculation, varying across license types:

Software installations revealed in imported software inventory always trigger consumption for device-based licenses. There are limited ways to modify this behavior, such as retiring the hardware asset on which the software is installed. For some device-related licenses (such as processor limited), the hardware configuration may prevent an installation consuming from (or being covered by) this license. But as a general rule, installation requires license coverage.
Tip: For virtual machines, the ability to consume from a particular license may be limited by what is set as the Hosted in for the inventory device (see General Tab), compared with what is selected here for the Cloud service providers choice (see below). For example, if this license has only On-premises selected, then an inventory device marked as hosted in any cloud environment cannot consume from this license.
Individual allocations from this license to computers or users have either of two effects:
- The default behavior is that, in competition for limited license entitlements, an allocation gives top priority to an installation (or usage) record. For example, if you had a single entitlement and two installations, one of which is backed by an allocation, then the allocated installation wins the entitlement, and the other installation is unlicensed. This is useful behavior when it is possible to inventory computers in the normal way.
  Note: For Microsoft Client Access Licenses (CALs), each allocation to a user (for a Microsoft User CAL) or device (for a Microsoft Device CAL) by default consumes one entitlement.
- You may choose to make all allocations (for a given license) always count as consumption, even for those computers that cannot be inventoried. For example, if a road warrior's notebook eludes you, you can allocate a license to that machine, and make allocations count for consumption. Since allocations may only be made and removed by manual effort, this has the downside risk that you forget to remove the allocation when necessary. (At the time of retiring a computer asset, any existing allocations are stripped off; but be aware that it is still possible to make a new allocation to a device for which the asset record is marked as retired, until such time as you clear this device out of inventory.) Also be aware of the need to manually set the Overridden Consumption on point-based licenses.
The simple ability to access an application (having adequate network permissions) is enough to count as consumption for some licenses, particularly those that are hard to measure (such as CALs, or licenses for virtualized applications streamed from an application server or delivered through a virtual desktop).
In other cases (sometimes after some firm negotiation with the publisher!), consumption of these 'difficult' licenses only occurs when there is evidence that the application has actually been used by someone (called usage in FlexNet Manager Suite).

The controls in this section of the accordion control these behaviors. They may appear in slightly different forms for different license types. For many licenses, these settings are configured for you by the product use rights libraries; but on other occasions, you may need to digest the legal terms of your license and set these manually as appropriate.

Separate controls apply to the "whether or not", "why", and "what" of license consumption, as listed below.

Important: For information about multi-product licenses and their handling in FlexNet Manager Suite, see Multi-Product License.

Restrictions

The Allocations consume license entitlements control is not available on the following license types (and therefore they do not display the License consumption rules section):

CAL Legacy
Microsoft User CAL
Microsoft Device CAL
Oracle Application User
Oracle Legacy
Oracle Named User Plus
Oracle Processor

The following license types show controls for handling application virtualization and desktop virtualization:

Appliance
Client Server
Device
Device (Core-Limited)
Device (Processor-Limited)
Evaluation
IBM Authorized User
Named User
Run-Time
User.

The Cloud service providers section is not displayed for the following license types:

CAL Legacy
IBM Authorized User
IBM Concurrent User
IBM Floating User
Microsoft Device CAL
Microsoft SCCM Client Device
Microsoft SCCM Client User
Microsoft User CAL
Named User
Oracle Application User
Oracle Named User Plus
SAP Named User
SAP Package
Users.

Consumption per device, user, or access

The following controls are available:

Control	Details
This license does not have contracts with license consumption rules	This label indicates that this license has no linked contract attached to it that has applicable license consumption rules. License consumption rules can be inherited from a contract, or specified in this section. This label appears when the contract attached to this license has no license consumption rules. See Contracts Tab.
Inherit application license consumption rules from contract	Indicates the name of the linked contract from which this license can inherit license consumption rules and rights. When you select this check box, you instruct FlexNet Manager Suite to dynamically inherit license use rights and rules from an automatically-selected linked contract. If a license is linked to multiple contracts, the license inherits use rights and rules from one of the linked contracts based on the following conditions: If one of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, its use rights and rules are inherited by the license. If none of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that has a greater value for the Expiry date field. If none of the linked contracts has a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, and all of the linked contracts have same value for the Expiry date field, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that appears first in database order (normally the contract record that was created first). If all of the linked contracts have a value `Yes` for the Evergreen field, or all of the linked contracts have same expiry date, the license inherits use rights and rules from the contract that appears first in database order. Note: You cannot use other rights options when you select this check box.
Allocations consume license entitlements	Clear this check box for the default behavior. In this case, an allocation by itself does not consume license entitlements directly. Instead, it gives top priority to the target user or device to which the allocation was made, so that when an installation record appears in inventory, it is in the first group (the group of all allocations) to consume from the available entitlements. This is valuable when there may not be sufficient entitlements purchased for a license to cover all installations, and you wish to ensure that certain people/machines are covered by this license. Set this check box to force all allocations on this license to count as consumption. This is valuable when there are devices (or users) not conveniently covered by your software inventory processes. You can use an allocation to ensure that both that the target user/device is licensed, and that its consumption is correctly recorded regardless of the fact that there is no corresponding inventory. Device- and user-based licenses, and CALs, typically consume one entitlement for each allocation. Points-based licenses default to zero points for each device, and you must manually set the Overridden consumption per device on the Consumption tab of the license properties. Important: An allocation is only reflected in consumption calculations from the next inventory import/calculation after both the setting of this check box and the existence of the allocation in the Consumption tab of the license properties. This option is not available for Microsoft User CALs and Microsoft Device CALs as it is automatically selected for these license types.
Access granted to users, or usage, consumes license entitlements	For most licenses, the default setting (the check box is clear) is correct. For licenses covering virtualized applications, set this check box to expose additional controls. (Here virtualized applications includes those streamed from an application server, or deployed from such a server for local installation, or delivered through a virtual desktop solution.) In short, select this check box to allow license consumption for App-V, XenApp, and XenDesktop applications (the "whether or not" setting for consumption for virtualized applications). Tip: The choice between access or usage is made by the last of the newly-exposed controls, described below.
Consume one entitlement for each user or Consume one entitlement per device owned by each user	This group of radio buttons determines, once consumption is triggered, exactly what quantity is consumed (the "what" of consumption). One entitlement per user: some licenses (more typically for application virtualization) require a device-based calculations, but make the concession that all the devices 'owned' by a single user may be grouped together and counted as one. This sounds rather like user-based licensing, but meets the publishers' requirements for device-based licenses that can allow such grouping of devices. Tip: Some licenses (for example, in VDI environments) allow a right of "roaming use", where a single user may access the application from any number of end points (devices). For this right, select Consume one entitlement for each user. One entitlement per device: other licenses require that every device is separately licensed, and further require that if a user can access the virtualized application on any device, then they are deemed to have access through each of their devices, all of which must be licensed. In this case, a device is 'owned' by a user when the user is either: the Assigned user for a device the Calculated user for a device (both of these are visible in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties). Restrictions: These radio buttons are only visible for the license types listed above the table.
Consume entitlements based on	When it is visible (that is, when Access granted to users, or usage, consumes license entitlements is checked), this control determines exactly what triggers consumption calculation (the "why" of consumption). Choose one of the following values: `Access` — If the user's computer is listed for access in a record returned from inventory (in the access evidence or through the appropriate adapter for App-V, XenApp, or XenDesktop), consumption is triggered. For CALs, this control works as follows: For Microsoft User CALs, a CAL is consumed for each of the users listed on the All Users page, unless any restrictions are applied. (See Restrictions Tab). If you restrict the scope of this license to a specific enterprise group, a CAL is consumed for each user of that enterprise group. For Microsoft Device CALs, a CAL is consumed for each inventory device listed on the All Inventory page, unless any restrictions are applied. (See Restrictions Tab). If you restrict the scope of this license to a specific enterprise group, a CAL is consumed for each inventory device assigned to that enterprise group. `Usage within the time limit` — Consumption is only triggered when there is a usage record (from the same adapters) within the time limit specified in the next control (which appears when you select this option). If there is no usage record within that period, there is no consumption calculated for that device/user. Specifically, even if the device/user is listed in inventory as having access, there is no consumption without the usage also being recorded. Similarly, prior usage outside the time limit counts for nothing. The time limit is always the specified period immediately prior to the most recent compliance calculation (a rolling window). For CALs, the collected access evidence control works as follows: For Microsoft User CALs, a CAL is consumed for each accessing user (who accessed the server application that requires a CAL). The usage tracking must be enabled for the accessed application. For Microsoft Device CALs, a CAL is consumed for each accessing device (through which the server application that requires a CAL, was accessed), only if the accessing device record matches one of the inventory device records. FlexNet Manager Suite uses the properties like IP address, device name, and domain to match the records. The usage tracking must be enabled for the accessed application. As an example, suppose there is a usage record for Sam's computer on May 1, and the time limit is set to 90 days. When you examine status on July 29, Sam's computer is consuming from the license. Look again on August 1, and now it is not consuming, because the usage record is outside the rolling 90-day time window. This will be true even though Sam may be listed for access in the App-V data.
Usage time limit in days	This control appears when you choose to Consume entitlements based on `Usage within the time limit`. Enter or spin up the number of days (immediately prior to the current compliance calculation) to examine for a record of usage. The default value (90 days) is a typical provision in such licenses, but check the details of your license agreement. Note: For CALs, the usage record consumes a license only if the accessing device record (the device through which the server application was accessed) matches an inventory device record.
Clients accessing servers that consume this license will be exempted from CALs (No CALs required)	Available only for the following license types: Microsoft Server Core Microsoft Server/Management Core Microsoft Server Processor Device license. When selected, this option exempts users from consuming a CAL entitlement for accessing the server application linked to this license. Note: For this exemption to work, the Product and Version must have matching values on both the consumed server license and the CAL.

Cloud service providers

The following check boxes are available. At least one of these check box must be selected; you may also select more than one of these check boxes, in which case all your selections apply simultaneously. For example, if you select both On-premises and Any cloud provider, any inventory device may consume from this license, regardless of where it is hosted, since you allowed both alternatives at once. Default values vary by license type, and are listed below.

When you select any of the following check boxes, the results are as follows:

Control	Details
On-premises	Inventory devices may consume from this license under either of the following circumstances: They are physical devices (physical devices do not display any setting to show where they are hosted) — more precisely, their Inventory device type has any value except `Virtual Machine`; OR They have both of the following settings in the General tab of their properties: Inventory device type = `Virtual Machine` Hosted in = `On-premises`.
Any cloud service provider	Inventory devices (which must be virtual machines) can consume from this license when their Hosted in is set to the name of any individual cloud service provider. Tip: This applies even for cloud service providers who are added in future, after this setting has been chosen for this license.
Selected cloud service providers	This selection enables the list of all available cloud service providers registered in FlexNet Manager Suite (some names are provided by default, and others may be defined within your enterprise, as described in System Settings: Cloud Service Providers Tab). You may select as many of the providers as required. For points-based licenses, you can create a points rule for each cloud service provider, so that this one license may apply to multiple cloud service providers, with each having the appropriate points values applied (provided that all the other license properties are suitably aligned). To consume from this license, inventory devices must have a matching cloud service provider selected as the Hosted in value. For example, if you selected Google and Microsoft Azure from this list, devices with either of these names as their Hosted in may consume from this license; but devices with Hosted in = Oracle Cloud may not.

Control

Details

On-premises

Inventory devices may consume from this license under either of the following circumstances:

They are physical devices (physical devices do not display any setting to show where they are hosted) — more precisely, their Inventory device type has any value except Virtual Machine; OR
They have both of the following settings in the General tab of their properties:
- Inventory device type = Virtual Machine
- Hosted in = On-premises.

Any cloud service provider

Inventory devices (which must be virtual machines) can consume from this license when their Hosted in is set to the name of any individual cloud service provider.

Tip: This applies even for cloud service providers who are added in future, after this setting has been chosen for this license.

Selected cloud service providers

This selection enables the list of all available cloud service providers registered in FlexNet Manager Suite (some names are provided by default, and others may be defined within your enterprise, as described in System Settings: Cloud Service Providers Tab). You may select as many of the providers as required. For points-based licenses, you can create a points rule for each cloud service provider, so that this one license may apply to multiple cloud service providers, with each having the appropriate points values applied (provided that all the other license properties are suitably aligned).

To consume from this license, inventory devices must have a matching cloud service provider selected as the Hosted in value. For example, if you selected Google and Microsoft Azure from this list, devices with either of these names as their Hosted in may consume from this license; but devices with Hosted in = Oracle Cloud may not.

Default cloud service providers by license type

Licenses created before the availability of the cloud service provider settings, and those not in the list below, receive the default setting On-premises. There is no need to retrofit this value to existing records: in the absence of other input, it is provided automatically.

The following table lists the default settings for new licenses created for each of the following types. It does not matter whether the license is created manually, by processing purchases, or by using the Business Importer, these defaults are applied in the absence of other input.

Tip: The default selection is set by the license templates downloaded with the ARL and PURL, and so may be updated from time to time.

CAUTION:

If you subsequently change the license type, the default settings are not updated, and you must make any adjustments manually.

License type(s)	Default selection
IBM PVU Tip: Points rule provided.	On-premises Selected cloud service providers Amazon Web Services Google IBM SoftLayer Microsoft Azure.
Oracle Application User Oracle Legacy Oracle Named User Plus Oracle Processor.	On-premises Selected cloud service providers Amazon Web Services Microsoft Azure.
All other license types	On-premises.