Consumption Tab
- It shows how the entitlements on this license are being consumed, as at the last
compliance calculation (the date and time of that calculation are shown on the
Compliance tab) –
that is, this page always shows current consumption. Tip: When FlexNet Manager Suite is responsible for sub-capacity points calculations (see IBM PVU Scanning), you can compare these current figures with the historical peak values by switching to the IBM PVU License Consumption report, using the link provided. Your license liability to IBM is not determined by the current consumption shown on this page, but by the sum of the peak values for each of three mandatory IBM regions within the reporting period.
- It allows you to allocate entitlements to individual computers or users (as appropriate for different license types) – see discussion below.
- It allows you to manage license keys for individual devices/users (depending on
license type), provided that on the Identification tab, the license key
Rule has been set to one of:
- One (single-install) key per installation (see Assigning a Single-Install Key to an Installation)
- One (multi-install) key per installation (see Assigning a Multi-Install Key to an Installation).
Because ways of measuring entitlements and consumption vary across license types, the appearance of this tab varies by license type. Not all of the controls listed below are available for every license type.
Why to allocate (and why not)
- If inventory shows that this computer (or user) should consume from this
license, the allocation gives them the highest priority on the
license.
Suppose your license has 10 entitlements; and there are 12 installations in inventory, of which 5 also have allocations. Those five will not be shown as over-consuming (at any compliance calculation using those numbers), because the allocation gives them top priority. Two of your other installations will be shown as over-utilized (too many installations for your entitlements); and as circumstances change, the particular installations shown as over-utilized may change with each compliance calculation; but on these numbers, the five allocations will never be shown as over-utilized.
- If you allocate to a computer (or user) that does not show up in
inventory for this license, by default the allocation has no immediate
effect on consumption. However, there are two ways you can override that
default behavior:
- On this Consumption tab, you can select the row for the device/user in question (or use the search facility to add more related ones), click the Allocate drop-down, and select Permanent. Permanent allocations always consume from the license, regardless of inventory results (and the Consumed count is updated after the next license reconciliation). This control applies at the level of the individual user or inventory device — you can set different allocation types on different rows.
- On the Use rights & rules tab (License consumption rules section), if Allocations consume license entitlements is set, each allocation is always counted as consumption, at top priority, regardless of any inventory results. This is an override that affects every allocation on the Consumption tab identically, regardless of the displayed consumption type. Only rows showing Unallocated are exempt from the effects of this license-wide setting.
Tip: You can also edit allocations from the "other side" of the relationship between the license and the device/user. Either on the inventory device properties, or on the user properties (as appropriate for this license), select the Licenses tab. In that listing, the Allocation type column gives the same control over allocation type, including setting a Permanent allocation.
- If you assign an installation-based license key to an individual computer (or user), this also sets an allocation so that the relationship between them and this license is maintained.
- Similarly, if you create an exemption for an inventory device, this functions as an allocation to maintain the relationship (preventing the device from consuming from another license for the same application).
- Oracle Processor and Oracle Named User Plus licenses
- IBM PVU licenses
- Any other license for which Rights on virtual machines and hosts is set to something other than No special virtualization rights (navigate to the license properties, Use rights & rules tab, and click on the Rights on virtual machines and hosts header to expand this section of the accordion).
- To give a certain device (or person) top priority use of this license
- To prevent that device (or person) consuming from an alternative license that could otherwise cover the installation
- To force counting for a device (or person) that cannot show up in inventory
- To correct historical data for IBM PVU points calculation
- To assign a license key (entering the license key value automatically makes
the allocation). For details, see either of:
Note: Counting is automatic for licenses driven by installation (typical device or user licenses). Where possible (that is, where the imported inventory has sufficient detail), FlexNet Manager Suite also calculates the appropriate number of points when a points-based license is allocated to a device. When inventory details are inadequate (for example, hardware cores are not reported), you can manually set the number of points for each allocation. For details, see Overridden Consumption.
And there is one big reason not to make allocations: you'll forget that you did. When the business circumstances change (the person is reassigned, the machine no longer has that software installed), you need to manually undo the allocation that you manually made. Which is why, if you are investigating license consumption, it's always handy to check the Allocated column in the list below.
For the two different ways to make an allocation on this tab (based on whether or not the consumption was discovered through inventory), see Making License Allocations.
How license properties impact consumption
Many license properties impact how many entitlements of a license are consumed. The following table describes some example use cases and the corresponding consumption:
Allocations consume entitlements | Allocation type | Applications(s) linked to license | Installation found? | Overridden consumption | Exemption reason | Consumption |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Any |
Any | Any | Not applicable | Not applicable | Yes | 0 |
Any |
Permanent | Any | Not applicable | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Any | Permanent | No | Not applicable | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Any |
Permanent | Yes | Any | No | No | Calculated consumption |
Any |
Permanent | No | Not applicable | No | No | 1 |
Selected | Any | No | Not applicable | No | No | 1 |
Selected | Allocated | Yes | No | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Selected | Allocated | Yes | No | No | No | Calculated consumption |
Unselected | Allocated | Yes | No | Not applicable | No | 0 |
Any | Allocated | Yes | Yes | No | No | Calculated consumption |
Any | Allocated | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Unselected | Awaiting inventory | Yes | No | Not applicable | No | 0 |
Selected | Awaiting inventory | Yes | No | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Selected | Awaiting inventory | Yes | No | No | No | Calculated consumption |
Any | Awaiting inventory | Yes | Yes | No | No | Calculated consumption |
Any | Awaiting inventory | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Overridden consumption |
Links to license consumption report
Based on the type of the selected license, a link to license consumption report is displayed below the title of this page. You can click the available link to view the suggested report. For example, for Device licenses, a link to Device License Details Reportis displayed; for User licenses, a link to User License Details Report is displayed; and for IBM PVU licenses, a link to IBM PVU License Consumption report is displayed.
Oracle Standard Users
FlexNet Manager Suite automatically exempts the standard Oracle named users from consuming licenses on Oracle instances. The Appendix: Oracle Standard Users Exempted From Consuming Licenses in the Oracle Discovery and Inventory chapter of the FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R1 System Reference PDF (available through the title page of online help) lists these standard users.
Consumption of processor-based licenses
The license consumption calculation for some processor-based licenses like Oracle Processor or IBM PVU depends on the hardware-specific details like Threads (max) or Threads per core (that is, a device that is missing these important values cannot consume from such a license, and is excluded from the license consumption calculations). When using data imported from any third-party systems, ensure that the hardware-specific details are present.
More details
Information about this tab is listed in the table of contents (on the left):
- Controls lying outside the list of existing consumption (expand "Free-standing Controls")
- The columns available in the list of existing consumption (some are displayed by default, and others are available in the column chooser; and some are available only on certain license types) (expand "Columns in List")
- Processes you can follow for managing installation-based license keys under this license, grouped under Managing License Keys: