Configuring license types

In the Mid Tier interface, as an administrator, you can use default license types or create your own custom license types. Administrators with Contract Config or Asset Config permissions use the license type wizard to create custom license types. When a contract manager or software asset manager creates a license certificate, the manager needs to specify a license type.

Default behavior for license types

The default behavior is the criteria that are used by default to relate a CI to a license certificate or check the compliance of the license certificates. The default behavior for connection criteria uses a certificate's company and product categorization criteria to query certificates matching that license type and determine which CIs can be connected to a certificate. For any default or custom license type, the system uses the default behavior when generating the rules for various license types. The default behavior for compliance criteria queries certificates that match a license type and tests the result of the query against compliance criteria.

The following table explains how the default license types work:

Contract type	Description
Enterprise	Licenses all of the software from a manufacturer that is being used by a given company. There is one enterprise license per company. Anyone in the company can use the license. This license type is set to non-groupable. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. Compliance One computed compliance question is specified for number of licenses deployed. The certificate for this license type is always compliant.
Site	Licenses all of the software from a manufacturer that is being used by a given site. A site license applies to a single site within a company. If a site license applies to multiple sites within a company, the contract manager or software asset manager must add a site license certificate for each site. This license type is set to non-groupable. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. In addition, one connection question exists for this license type, which is Enter Certificate Site?. When the license type is created, this question maps to the site of the computer system on which the product is installed. For each product that matches the default certificate criteria for connections, the site where the product is installed, is used to connect the product to the license certificate of that site. For example, a contract manager creates a license certificate with the default certificate criteria for connections: Company = Calbro Services Manufacturer = Microsoft Product = Visio The contract manager specifies this Site license certificate is for Front Office Support. A copy of Microsoft Visio is installed on a computer in Front Office Support. That product is connected to the license certificate. A computer in Backoffice Support Services has both Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Word installed. Microsoft Visio is connected to the site license, but Microsoft Word is not (perhaps it is connected to an Enterprise license). Compliance One computed compliance question is specified for number of licenses deployed. The certificate for this license type is always compliant.
Per instance	Counts each instance of the license as one license consumed. Any instance of software found requires a license. This license type is set to groupable. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. Compliance The following compliance question are asked: Number of licenses purchased? Breach warning level 1? Breach warning level 2? Number of licenses deployed (computed question) The answers to these question are used to: Determine the number of software instances related to the certificate Set the certificate to not compliant, if the number of software instances related to a certificate is greater than the number purchased Example Two instances of BMC Helix CMDB Enterprise Manager were found. In this situation, two licenses are required.
Per copy per device	Counts the number of licenses consumed based on the number of computer systems on which the product is installed. To be in compliance, the number of licenses must be equal to or less than the number of licenses purchased, and the number of copies per device must not exceed the number indicated on the license certificate. For example, if a license certificate for Product X indicates that it is licensed for two copies per device, but three copies are discovered on a single computer, the license is out of compliance. This license type is set to groupable. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. Compliance The following compliance questions are asked: Number of licenses purchased? Breach warning level 1? Breach warning level 2? Number of copies allowed per device? Number of licenses deployed (computed question) The answers to these questions are used to compute compliance: If any devices have more than the allowable number per device, the certificate is marked as not compliant. If the number of software licenses related to a certificate is greater than the number purchased, the certificate is marked as not compliant. Example Two copies of Microsoft Word were found on a computer, but only one license exists. If the number of copies allowed on a device is one, this license is not compliant.
Per copy	Associates one license type per user. Each unique user (since, for example, there could be two software items linked to one user) is counted as one license consumed. If a user is not linked to a license, it is assumed that one license is consumed. This license type is set to groupable. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. Compliance Compliance is computed based on the number of unique individuals using a software product. The following compliance question will be asked: Number of licenses purchased? Breach warning level 1? Breach warning level 2? Number of licenses deployed (computed question) The answer to these questions are used to determine the number of unique individuals connected to a product. If the number counted is greater than the number of licenses purchased, the license certificate is set to not compliant. Example Two copies of an application were found on separate computers owned by one user and only one license exists. This situation is compliant because only one license is required.
AR System fixed and floating	Associates and reserves a fixed license type with a user name. A floating license type is not associated with a user name and is not reserved for any specific user. Multiple users can use the same Floating licenses, one user at a time.
Per Server	Counts the servers with the specified manufacturer and model, on which a particular software title is installed, and compares that with the total number of servers with the specified manufacturer and model, that a certificate allows from a compliance standpoint. Connection Uses the default certificate criteria for connections. The only additional information that needs to be stated for the connection are details about the physical server on which the software is installed so that you can potentially limit a certificate for a particular hardware type or manufacturer. Compliance The compliance rules for this license type are based on the calculation of the number of unique physical servers that are associated with the products related to a certificate. This license type requires that you start with a product and then query the computer system to which the product is related.
Per CPU Sum Based	Sums the number of CPUs on which the software is installed. These server instances can be either physical or virtual systems. Connection The connection rules for all Per CPU licenses are the same. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per CPU Sum Based license model is based on the sum of all the CPUs associated with the products that are associated with the certificate. This rule searches for the products that are associated with the certificate. For each product, the rules query to find the associated physical hardware and the number of CPUs associated with that physical hardware. The total per physical hardware is stored and the next product is evaluated. If two or more products are on virtual systems associated with the same physical hardware, those CPUs are counted only once.
Per CPU Multiplier Based	Indicates a multiplier factor for each processor based on the CPU model. The value of each processor is summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. Connection The connection rules for all Per CPU licenses are the same. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per CPU Multiplier Based license model is computed based on a multiplier factor for each processor. The value for each processor is then summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. For each unique CPU, the system looks up a value in an AR System form called AST:ComplianceMultiplierLookupTbl. The multipliers can be defined by Software Manufacturer, Processor Type, Processor Model, Processor Family, and Max Clock Speed of the processor. Processor Family and Max Clock Speed are optional in the multiplier lookup table, and the multipliers need not be defined based on these fields if the multipliers are the same. For example, an Intel processor might have a value of 2 while an AMD processor might have a value of 1.
Per CPU Constant Based	Indicates constant factor of each processor based on the processor model. The value of each processor is summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. Connection The connection rules for all Per CPU licenses are the same. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per CPU Constant Based license model is computed based on a constant value for each processor. You must define a constant multiplier for every software manufacturer. The value for each processor is then summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. The compliance calculation is based on each unique core having a constant value based on the processor type with which it is associated.
Per Core Sum Based	Sums all CPU cores based on the unique hardware on which the software is installed. Connection The connection rules for Per Core licensing are similar to the way other licenses work as well as how the Per Processor model works. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per Core Sum Based license model is based on the sum of cores on the unique hardware on which the software is installed. These server instances can be either physical or virtual systems. This rule searches for the products that are associated with the certificate. For each product, the rules query to find the physical hardware associated and the number of cores associated with that physical hardware. The total per physical hardware is stored and the next product is evaluated. If two or more products are on virtual systems associated with the same physical hardware, those cores are only counted once.
Per Core Multiplier Based	Counts a multiplier factor for each processor. The multiplier factor is based on the processor model. The license type is computed based on a multiplier factor for each processor core. The value for each processor is summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. Connection The connection rules for Per Core licensing are similar to the way other licenses work as well as how the Per Processor model works. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per Core Multiplier Based license model is computed based on a multiplier factor for each processor type, which is then multiplied by the number of cores found. This value is then summed to determine the total number of cores in use. For each unique core, the system looks up a value in an AR System form called AST:ComplianceMultiplierLookupTbl. The multipliers can be defined per Software Manufacturer, Processor Type, Processor Model, Processor Family, and Max Clock Speed of the processor. Processor Family and Max Clock Speed are optional in the multiplier lookup table, and the multipliers need not be defined based on these fields if the multipliers are the same. For example, an Intel processor might have a value of 2 while an AMD processor might have a value of 1. The total number of cores that are required for compliance is based on these numbers and not on a raw count.
Per Core Constant Based	Associates a constant factor with each processor core. The constant factor is based on the processor model. The value for each processor is summed to determine the number of licenses consumed. Connection The connection rules for Per Core licensing are similar to the way other licenses work as well as how the Per Processor model works. The connection between the CIs and Certificate is made based on the matching Company and Product Categorization. Compliance The Per Core Constant Based license model is computed based on a constant value for each processor, which is then multiplied by the number of cores found. You must define a constant multiplier for every software manufacturer. This value is then summed to determine the total number of cores in use. For each unique core, the system looks up a value in a table that is stored for that processor type. For example, an Intel processor might have a value of 2 while an AMD processor might have a value of 1. The total number of cores that are required for compliance is based on these numbers and not on a raw count.

For more information about configuring license types, see the following topics:

Configuring license types

Default behavior for license types

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