Upgrading licenses

BMC Asset Management supports the upgrading and downgrading of license certificates.

When you have a license to use a certain version of a product (for example, Microsoft Visio 2003), you want to have a license certificate that allows you to upgrade when a new version of the product (for example, Microsoft Visio 2007) is released. Rather than purchasing new full licenses of Microsoft Visio 2007, you could decide to buy upgrade licenses, which might be a more cost-effective option. However, in order to be able to use the upgrade licenses, you need to have a certificate for the original full version. Asset Management provides a wizard to walk you through upgrading your original certificate to a new upgraded certificate.

The procedures are followed by scenarios that describe various combinations of original and upgrade certificates.

To upgrade licenses

1. On the Software Asset Management (SAM) Console, select the Company, Manufacturer, and Product Name for which you want to upgrade a license certificate.
2. In the Functions section, select Upgrade License.
   The Upgrade License Certificate wizard is displayed.
   
   
   
3. On the Product to upgrade page, complete all necessary fields, and then click Next.
4. On the Certificate to upgrade page, select the appropriate Master Certificate and Available Certificates to upgrade.

   Note

   In this page, you must select a Master Certificate. After you do so, the wizard works properly and you can proceed to the next step.

5. At the bottom of this page, select Create Certificates or Search Certificates, depending on whether you need to create a new upgrade license certificate or can use an existing upgrade license certificate. Then click Next.
6. If you selected Create Certificates, complete all the necessary fields on the Upgrade information page, and then click Next.
   The Summary page is displayed, prompting you to either save the certificate or go back and review your information. Skip to step 8.
7. If you selected Search Certificates, select an existing certificate on the Search existing certificates page, and then click Select.
   The Summary page is displayed, prompting you to either save the certificate or go back and review your information.
8. Click Save.
9. In the dialog box that displays the upgraded certificate number, click OK.
   The wizard closes and the SAM Console is displayed.
10. On the SAM Console, select the certificate that you upgraded, and click View Certificate.
    On the General tab of the License Certificate Information screen, the upgraded product details are shown in the Related Product Categorizations table. The Group Certificates tab displays the newly upgraded license certificates. However, if you had selected more than one certificate to upgrade, a corresponding upgrade certificate is created for each of the original certificates.

To roll back the upgrade of an original license certificate or delete an upgrade license certificate

After you have upgraded some or all of the licenses on a license certificate, and you want to revert or roll back the upgrade to the original certificate, or delete it, perform the following steps:

1. On the SAM console, select the master certificate, and click View Certificate.
   The License Certificate Information screen opens displaying details about the master certificate.
2. On the General tab, from the Related Product Categorization table, select the upgrade product categorization, and click Remove.

   Note

   Perform this step only if you do not have any certificates in the group with this version, otherwise leave it as is.

3. Open the Group Certificates tab and select the certificate that was upgraded (not the original certificate), then click Ungroup Selected.
   A dialog box appears asking you to confirm the upgrouping.
4. Click Yes.
   A message appears confirming that the certificates have been removed from the group.
5. Select the original certificate, and then from the Functions menu, select Compliance details.
6. In the Number of licenses purchased field, enter the amount of original licenses, and click Save.

   Note

   The original licenses should be the original plus the licenses that were moved to the upgrade certificate.

   You can delete the upgraded certificate or leave it in a draft state if you want to use it later for upgrading another original certificate.
7. If you keep the upgraded certificate, clear the Full license flag as the certificate is not valid towards a full license.

Scenario 1

Upgrade-only types of certificates can be used only if the original certificate that covers the original product exists. In this scenario, you have a certificate for 100 licenses of Visio 2003 with no upgrade rights. When version 2007 becomes available, you buy upgrade rights to upgrade 50 licenses from Visio 2003 to 2007.

Before you upgrade, Certificate 1 includes 100 licenses for Visio 2003.

After you upgrade 50 of the 100 licenses to Visio 2007:

• Certificate 1 includes 50 licenses for Visio 2003.
• Certificate1_Upgrade includes 50 licenses for Visio 2003 and 2007.

So you can still use up to a maximum of 100 Visio 2003 licenses, or you can use a combination of a maximum of 50 Visio 2007 licenses and 50 Visio 2003 licenses.

Following are more details about the certificates and their relationship:

• The Number Purchased value of Certificate 1 was downgraded by 50 licenses and is still good for 50 licenses of Visio 2003.
• The Number Purchased value of Certificate1_Upgrade is 50 licenses and is valid for Visio 2003 and 2007 licenses.
• Certificate1_Upgrade was created as the next available Sequence number on the master certificate.
• Certificate1_Upgrade Product Categorization Visio 2007 is added to the master certificate. (The master certificate now has both Visio 2003 and 2007.)
• Both certificates are grouped on the same master certificate under the Grouped Certificates tab.
• Both certificates are related to each other on their Related Certificates tabs with the appropriate relationship.

Scenario 2

If an upgrade only type of certificate is purchased or is manually created in the system, it can be used only if the original certificate that covers the original product exists. So, if you have a certificate for 100 licenses of 2003 with no upgrade rights, when version 2007 becomes available, you buy upgrade rights to upgrade all 100 licenses from 2003 to 2007.

Before you upgrade, Certificate 1 includes 100 licenses for Visio 2003.

After you upgrade all 100 licenses to Visio 2007:

• Certificate 1 includes 0 licenses for Visio 2003.
• Certificate1_Upgrade includes 100 licenses for Visio 2003 and 2007.

You can now use a combination of a maximum total of 100 Visio 2003 and Visio 2007 licenses.

Following are more details about the certificates and their relationship:

• The Number Purchased value of Certificate 1 was downgraded by 100 licenses to 0 and no longer usable.
• The Number Purchased value of Certificate 1_Upgrade is 100 licenses and is good for both Visio 2003 and 2007 licenses.
• Certificate1_Upgrade was created as the next available Sequence number on the master.
• Certificate1_Upgrade Product Categorization Visio 2007 is added to the master certificate. (The master certificate now has both Visio 2003 and 2007).
• Both certificates are grouped on the same master certificate under the Grouped Certificates tab.
• Both certificates are related to each other on their Related Certificates tabs with the appropriate relationship.
• Because the number of purchased for Certificate 1 became 0, it will now be marked Historical and the Status reason will be upgraded.

Scenario 3

If an upgrade only type of certificate is purchased, it can be used only if the original certificate that covers the original product exists. So, if you have a certificate for 50 licenses of 2003 and a certificate for 100 licenses of 2003 and 2005 grouped on a master with no upgrade rights. So when version 2007 becomes available, you buy upgrade rights to upgrade all 150 licenses from 2003 to 2007.

Before you upgrade:

• Certificate 1 included 50 licenses for Visio 2003.
• Certificate 2 included 100 licenses for Visio 2003 and 2005.

(You originally have 150 licenses of Microsoft Visio 2003 or a combination of licenses for Visio 2003 and Visio 2005, with a maximum of 100 licenses for 2005.)

After you upgrade, all 150 licenses to Microsoft Visio 2007:

• Certificate 1 has 0 licenses for Visio 2003.
• Certificate1_Upgrade has 50 licenses for Visio 2003 and 2007.
• Certificate 2 has 0 licenses for Visio 2003 and 2005.
• Certificate 2_Upgrade has 100 license for Visio 2003, 2005, and 2007.
• Because Certificate 1 and 2 are left with 0 licenses, they will be marked Historical and Status Reason will be upgraded.

So you can now use 150 Visio 2003 licenses, or 150 Visio 2007 licenses, or a combination of a maximum of 100 Visio 2005 licenses with a combination of 50 Visio 2003 and 2007 licenses.

Following are more details about the certificates and their relationship:

• The Number Purchased value of Certificate1 was downgraded by 50 licenses to 0 and no longer usable.
• The Number Purchased value of Certificate1_Upgrade is 50 licenses and is good for both Visio 2003 and 2007 licenses.
• Certificate 1_Upgrade was created as the next available Sequence number on the master certificate.
• Certificate 1_Upgrade Product Categorization Microsoft Visio 2007 is added to the master certificate. (The master now has Visio 2003, 2005, and 2007.)
• Both certificates are grouped on the same master certificate under the Grouped Certificates tab.
• Both certificates are related to each other on their Related Certificates tabs with the appropriate relationship.
• The Number Purchased value of Certificate 2 was downgraded by 100 licenses to 0 and no longer usable.
• The Number Purchased value of Certificate 2_Upgrade was created for 100 licenses and is good for Visio 2003, 2005, and 2007 licenses.
• Certificate 2_Upgrade was created as the next available sequence number on the master certificate.
• Certificate 2_Upgrade Product Categorization Visio 2007 was already added to the master certificate when the first certificate was upgraded.
• Both certificates are grouped on the same master under Grouped Certificates tab.
• Both certificates are related to each other on each of their Related Certificates tabs with the appropriate relationship.