Managing licenses

From the Licenses node of the the Global Settings page, you can manage the BMC Client Management licenses within your network. Licenses control your access to functionalities on the console. If you do not have required license for a functionality, the respective main node is not visible at all and the subnodes (such as assigned devices or assigned device groups) are dimmed.

If you are evaluating BCM features with the temporary license that comes on the product DVD, a maximum of 20 agents can be licensed for a period of 30 days.

While planning to purchase licenses, you can either purchase the complete license suite or purchase license modules for specific BCM features depending upon your business needs. For example, when you purchase the BMC Client Management - Inventory commercial license module, you get access to Application Management, Inventory licenses.

This topic includes:

For more information about license management operations, see:

Available licenses and commercial license modules for BMC Client Management

The following table describes licenses that are bundled with commercial license modules:

License	Description	Commercial License Module
Application Management	Activates all the different options of application management, that is, the monitoring and prohibiting of applications and self-healing functionalities as well as the software license management for Windows devices, application monitoring, prohibiting and software license management for Linux devices.	BMC Client Management - Inventory
BCM Agents	The basic license of the product; it provides you with the maximum number of agents installed on clients which the database accepts. For the initial and evaluation license this number is fixed at 20. Note that unconnected devices for which the inventory is integrated do not decrease this value (that is, these devices are not counted for licensing purposes).	All licenses
Compliance Management	Activates the device compliance management of BMC Client Management. If you want to include software compliance you require the Software Catalog-specific license as well.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Direct Access	Provides the direct access features to the remote clients of your installation.	BMC Client Management - Remote
Inventory	Activates all base inventories: software, hardware, custom, connectivity, security, and the inventory of unmanaged devices. All other inventory types are part of their respective functionality.	BMC Client Management - Inventory
Multicast	Activates the multicast transfer option for transferring packages and other information between the CM agents.	All licenses
Operating System Deployment	Activates the operating system deployment module which allows you to create OS images and deploy them to any device within your network. This feature is only available for Windows devices.	BMC Client Management - Deploy
Patch Knowledge Base Update	Required to maintain the patch knowledge base up to date on which the patch management functionality is based.	BMC Client Management - Patch Management
Patch Management	Defines how many devices can be patched at the same time. For the initial and evaluation license this number is fixed at 20. This license is not available for Linux or Mac OS devices.	BMC Client Management - Patch Management
Power Management	Activates the Green IT / Power Management feature.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Remote Control	Activates the remote control feature. This feature is not available for Linux devices.	BMC Client Management - Remote
Security Configuration Updates	Required to maintain the Security Products catalog up to date, which is required for the Security Products inventory.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Software Catalog Updates	This license is required to maintain the Software Catalog up to date.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Software Catalog	Activates the Software Catalog option. It is used for software inventory, software compliance, software license management and application management.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Software Distribution	This license activates all software distribution features of the product such as package generation and scheduling the distribution.	BMC Client Management - Deploy
Super Master	This license is required for a super master architecture with a super master and a number of site masters.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management
Topology Graph	Activates the graphical display of your network topology.	All licenses
Windows Device Management	This license activates the peripheral device monitoring and controlling functionalities for Windows devices.	BMC Client Management - Compliance Management

License utilization

The following table explains how a license is consumed or released:

License	Consumed when...	Released when...
BCM Agent	An agent uploads its identity. A mobile device is enrolled and is integrated in the database. Note A deprecated/unmanaged device does not consume a license.	An agent or a mobile device is removed from the database. An agent is deprecated.
Compliance Management	A device is assigned to at least one Compliance Rule. An agent collects Security Product Inventory. An agent is assigned to a SCAP job.	A device is no longer assigned to any compliance rule, Security Product Inventory of an agent is purged, and an agent is no longer assigned to any SCAP job.
Software Catalog	An agent collects Software Catalog inventory	Software Catalog Inventory of an agent is purged.
Inventory	A device (except a deprecated device) collects at least one of the following inventory types: Custom Hardware Software Security Settings Connectivity System (iOS) An unmanaged device on the network consumes an inventory license if it collects Hardware and Software inventory.	All inventories for a device (except a deprecated device) are purged.
Application Management	An agent is assigned to at least one Application List.	An agent is no longer assigned to any Application List.
Patch Management	An agent collects Patch Management Inventory.	The Patch Management Inventory of an agent is purged.
Direct Access/Remote Control	One license allows remote control/direct access to unlimited devices.	Direct Access/Remote Control license is never released. It may be released if you import a new license without this functionality.
Operating System Deployment	One license allows deployment of unlimited OS on unlimited devices	Operating System Deployment license is never released. It may be released if you import a new license without this functionality.
Software Distribution	An agent is assigned to an operational rule with type Software Distribution.	An agent is no longer assigned to any operational rule of type Software Distribution.
Windows Device Management	An agent collects Windows Devices Event Log. An agent is assigned to an operational rule with one of the following steps: Create Device Management Rule Disable Windows Burning Service Disable USB Storage Write Access Disable Wi-Fi for LAN Connection Enable Windows Burning Service Enable USB Storage Write Access Reset Device Management Rule Wi-Fi Status Verification	An agent is no longer assigned to any operational rule with the listed steps and has no Windows Devices Event Log.
Power Management	An agent collects Power Management Inventory. An agent collects Power Management Event Log. An agent is assigned to an operational rule with one of the following steps: Delete Power Plan Hibernate Define Power Plan Suspend Update Power Management Inventory Create/Modify Global Power Policies Create/Modify Power Plan Create/Modify Advanced Power Plan	An agent is no longer assigned to any operational rule with the listed steps and has no Power Management Event Log or Inventory.

License types

Full License

This license provides the necessary access to the software and its basic components. When it is imported it will erase any previously imported license, such as an earlier full license or a temporary license. This type of license defines the number of licenses that are available for each purchased functionality. If a functionality exceeds its license count all administrators with the capability to manage licenses will be notified of this fact by email, if they have one defined in their profile.

Also, when the console is opened a pop-up-window appears to inform you which licenses have exceeded. In this case some functionalities such as assigning objects to each other might no longer be available under the respective nodes.

Temporary License

Each DVD of the software comes with a temporary license which is valid for all features but limited to 20 devices and 30 days of usage after installation. When installing the master a selection of the features to be evaluated must be made which are then included in this temporary license.

This type of license cannot be combined with any other license, as soon as you import any other type of license it is erased. In the same way all already existing licenses will be removed when you import a temporary license. If this license expires without being replaced by a full license, only the only node shown in the console will be the license node, no other object will be accessible anymore.

If a license is expired all administrators with the capability to manage licenses will be notified of this fact by email, if they have one defined in their profile. Also, when the console is opened a pop-up-window appears to inform you which licenses have expired. In this case the respective nodes will no longer appear in your console.