License Management
You can use license management to compare the number of licenses with the number of purchased licenses that have been used, and thus carry out a target/actual comparison.
This gives you an overview of how many licenses are used according to the respective license conditions, how many licenses are too few or how many licenses are too many.
Attention
These data are important to document the software compliance of the company and to prove that the license conditions of the manufacturers are being adhered to during both internal audits and external audits.
Info
In addition, it is possible to evaluate the usage of software products. This enables you to find out on which computers installed software is not being used, which can reveal considerable savings potential, especially with expensive software.
In license management different types of products can be managed, e.g. software, operating systems, CALs, fonts or online subscriptions.
If required, the distinctions between licensing per device, licensing per user and licensing per VM via host are always available.
In total, different metrics (= calculation rules) are supported in order to map various license models and deployment scenarios.
When storing licenses, different license types are available, including Pool licenses, Device licenses, User licenses, Subscription licenses and Maintenance licenses.
Conclusion
To use license management, you must identify the products that are subject to license requirements and store the existing licenses.
LOGINventory helps you to get an overview of existing and used licenses and to identify unused software and has one goal: optimizing the license inventory.
Adding Products to License Management
To add a product to license management, the function New Product can be selected from the ribbon menu if the node License Management has been selected in the tree structure.
This opens a wizard for creating license products. In the wizard you can set which products are to be added and how the consumption calculation is defined.
Define Products
The first step is to define how the consumers of the licenses can be identified (e.g. presence of a certain software package). However, LOGINventory already recognizes many products automatically.
The products to be managed in LOGINventory can be added to the list on the right by clicking on Apply Selected Products. This can also be done by double-clicking.
Detected Products
Based on the data from the inventory of the network, many licensed products are already recognized. The correct versions and settings for the metric (see below) are automatically created here. Several recognized products can also be selected and added simultaneously using the control and shift keys.
Info
If virtualized products subject to license, such as SQL Server or Windows Server, have been detected, there may be multiple entries on different hosts for a single product. This is necessary because with virtualized software or operating systems, the licenses must always be explicitly assigned to the host due to the license conditions, i.e. extra entries in the license management are required. These hosts are always identified by a square bracket in the Name column. 
Info
If the license conditions for a product differ depending on the edition or existing maintenance (Software Assurance or SA), this is indicated in the list of Detected Products by square brackets in the Edition column.
If such a product is added to the list of products to be managed, an additional window opens in which you must select the edition for which licenses are to be added or whether valid maintenance is available, as the settings in the calculation formula change depending on the selection. 
Example
Examples of the administration of virtualized operating systems and virtualized SQL servers can be found below.
Software Packages
From the list of all found software packages further corresponding products can be identified and added to the list on the right side. The result set can also be restricted with the help of filtering.
Attention
When installing a software product, several software packages are often installed. In order for the consumers of the licenses to be correctly identified, the correct software package must be identified by means of which the existence of a product can be unambiguously identified. Typically, packages named "MUI", "Language Pack", "Tool", "Components", "Update", or similar do not contain the correct package to uniquely identify a product.
Once the desired package has been identified, a slider can be used to define by what the product name without version is recognized. If the slider does not suggest the correct selection, it can be adjusted.
Tip
Often no steps at all are necessary here, but the slider should always be positioned in such a way that the product including edition but without version is identified, e.g. "Microsoft Office Professional Plus" and not "Microsoft Office" or "Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013".
Info
If the slider does not allow the desired filtering, the product filter can also be adjusted subsequently.
Important
All packages can be categorized so that you can tag packages as important. Navigate, for example, to the node Software -> Software Packages and use the Custom Property widget. In this way, several result rows can be marked with Shift and Control keys and then marked as "Irrelevant" or "Relevant". A false or true is then set in the "Hidden" column.
By selecting the drop-down menu in the license management wizard, the result list can be restricted from "All" to "Todo". All packages that have not yet been categorized or marked as relevant are counted as "Todo".
So it can be guaranteed that newly recognized packages appear automatically in the todo list and unimportant packages are hidden 
Tip
The categorization can also be done outside of license management in the list of all software packages. It might also be helpful to create a Task so that if new unclassified packages are found, an email is sent.
Of course, if a product has already been added via the Detected Products, it no longer needs to be added via the Software Packages.
AppV Packages
If AppV packages (version 5) were found, they can be added analogously to the software packages.
Operating Systems
Normally, the relevant operating systems should already have been added via the recognized products. If this is not the case, you can also add them via this list.
SWID tags
Software Identification Tags (SWID tags) provide information about installed software, such as name, major version, subversion, etc., and are defined in IEC standard 19770-2:2015. This means that existing software can also be recognized by SWID tags if the software publisher has paid attention to the relevant standard - which is currently very rarely the case.
The products can then be added analogously to software packages.
AD Group
To manage products for which all members of an AD group require a license, the groups can be added to license management.
Info
This includes, for example, Client Access Licenses (CALs) which are user-related, i.e. User-CALs for the SQL Server, Windows Server or Exchange Server. Because of Microsoft's license terms, all users who theoretically have access to a product must be licensed, even if only a subset actually uses the access. We therefore recommend that you restrict access to these products via group memberships and then add these groups to license management.
Through the regular inventory of the AD, changes in the number of members of a group are recognized and the license requirement changes accordingly.
After a group has been selected, in the second step you can configure whether the user members of this group or the asset members should be counted as consumers. A combination is not possible and does not make sense.
Attention
If you select ADGroup Memberships per Device, only devices that have also been created as assets by LOGINventory will be displayed as consumers. So if you want to add a group of computer accounts to License Management that contains devices that have not been captured by LOGINventory, they will not be listed as consumers. If it is not possible to have the devices captured by LOGINventory, a workaround is to create your own query that lists the computer accounts in that group and then reference them using Manual Counting.
Tip
If your AD groups contain not only real persons, but also users such as "Reception" or "Admin", you can first create your own query that excludes these members and then add the group via the Manual Counting.
Please always observe: Only real persons are subject to licensing. If a user has more than one account, he only has to be counted once.
Example
An example of the use of group memberships in license management can be found in management of user CALs.
Cloud Subscription
If data from Microsoft365 has been gathered during the online data collection, these subscriptions can be displayed in license management. The products to be managed can be selected and added.
Tip
For cloud subscriptions we recommend - as for all other products - to add them via the item "Detected Products", because only in this case the checkbox "Assign licenses to products and versions automatically if possible" is checked, which means that the manual assignment of licenses is no longer necessary.
Important
The API, which is used to retrieve data from Microsoft365, unfortunately does not provide the ability to read the expiration date of licenses. Therefore we recommend to manually enter the expiration date for the licenses (End).
Font
If you use licensed fonts in your company, the fonts can be added in the same way as software packages.
Publish App / XenApp
If programs have been published via a terminal server or remote desktop server, these can be managed in license management. The members of the groups for which the application was published are counted as consumers.
Manual Counting
Manual counting can be used to store the number of result queries as consumers in license management. This is always necessary if none of the supplied nodes delivers the correct result. For example, a custom query could be created that lists all thin clients and defines them as users for remote desktop licenses.
Info
In addition, a constant number of consumers can be entered here if the number of consumers cannot be determined automatically via LOGINventory, but you know how many consumers exist.
Example
In order to manage the product "LOGINventory" in the license management, the Manual Counting can be selected and in the next step , the "Assets" node can be selected as the source, because every successfully inventoried asset needs a license.
Subsequent Editing of the Product Filter
If a product has not been defined via the list of Detected Products, e.g. by setting the slider in the list of Software Packages, then a query is always created below the appropriate node in the tree structure in the IT Inventory area, which is linked to this product in License Management.
Important
If subsequent adjustments are to be made to determine the consumer quantity, this is only possible in the linked query in the IT Inventory area.
More complex filtering can also be carried out here, which the slider does not support when adding products.
Example
If an entry is selected for the Software Packages in the wizard for adding products to the license management, a query appears under the "IT inventory -> Software -> Software packages" node.
If an AD group is added, a query is created under the "IT inventory -> Active Directory -> AD Groups" node.
These queries can then be edited as normal using the Query Editor, for example to exclude certain result rows or to include additional packages, groups, operating systems, fonts etc. in the focus of the license management product using an OR operator in the filter condition.
After adjusting the query, the calculation of the product in License Management must be restarted in order to see the change.
Configure Products
In the next step, you can set for each product how the license consumers are calculated exactly and which versions are to be created for the respective products.
For each product you can define how the license consumption is calculated. Depending on the Metric selected, different setting options are available for this purpose.
Note
The option "Assign licenses to products and versions automatically if possible" is only available for cloud subscriptions and Windows operating systems where OEM licenses can be read.
For example, you can set how the licenses are counted (in highest version only or in any version), whether there is a calculation formula for license counting (normally: one license per device), whether maintenance licenses are required (see License Types), whether multiple use by a user is possible on different devices and which device types should be included in the license count.
With the device source, for example, virtual machines can be excluded from the license count or queries other than the asset node or all active users can be set as the source of the users.
Tip
The Custom Property FunctionalRole is created by default and available in the Assets node and is suitable for marking test devices as such and thus excluding them from the license count, since test installations often do not require a license.
In addition, Usage evaluation can be activated for software products.
Info
For automatically detected products the settings are already preset here and should only be checked for correctness.
Calculation Formula
Most products require one license per device. LOGINventory can also map products such as SQL Server or Windows Server, where the number of licenses consumed can depend on the number of CPUs or cores. The corresponding formulas are supplied as templates for this purpose. These can be selected by clicking on the magnifying glass symbol.
Of course you can also create your own formulas if the product you want to manage is not listed here.
Software Usage Evaluation
For software products (not operating systems), various options are available to activate the usage evaluation.
In order to know whether a product has been used, LOGINventory needs to know which file can be used to detect the use of the product.
For software installed via an MSI package, the usage evaluation can be detected automatically. In the background, a mapping is made between the path in which the program was installed (SoftwarePackageInfo.InstallLocation) and the path from which a program is started (ProgramUsage.PathName). If this mapping is not successful or no InstallLocation is unknown, a manual assignment must be made so that the usage can be evaluated. For this purpose it may be necessary to set a custom filter or to select a query which evaluates the use of the corresponding product.
To test whether data is available for one of the options, the "Test" button is intended. This will show you how often the product has been used in the selected period (recommendation: 90 days), has not been used and how often the use cannot be determined.
Attention
You will only receive reliable usage data if the Software Usage Evaluation Agent has been distributed. Otherwise, incomplete data may be supplied!
Info
The ProgramUsage table shows for each relevant file (.exe, .bat or .jar) when and where it was last executed by whom.
Example
For a program named "AFS-NetClientX6" the usage should be evaluated. It is noticeable that the InstallLocation differs from the ProgramUsage.PathName. (AFS is started via the network). Therefore, in a new Program Usage query, PathName has to be filtered to "afs". 
In this query the filter condition can still be adjusted, so that really only relevant entries remain: PathName resembles %\AFS\AFS-Order\Order.exe
Now the newly created query can be selected in the license management of the product and the mapping is carried out correctly. 
Host Licensing
It may also be necessary to map the licensing of an operating system or a software product per virtual machine. LOGINventory provides the metrics Operating Systems per VM via host and Software Packages per VM via host.
Tip
We always recommend adding such products via the list of Detected Products, as this automatically applies the correct settings and creates versions.
These two metrics have an additional setting option for host configuration. Here you must first select the host on which the corresponding VMs are running.
Info
Operating system licenses are always hardware-bound (also for VMs). Therefore, the products may have to be added several times, for each host individually, to the license management. The linked licenses are then inherited by the VMs. See the examples for managing different products.
If the checkbox Validate host licensing is set, a formula for host licensing must be stored / selected. If a supplied calculation formula is selected here from the templates, this also affects the settings for VM licensing. Nevertheless, each formula can also be adjusted individually afterwards using the formula editor.
If the checkbox VM licenses must be covered by a multiple of the host licenses is set, then for a host (which consumes 16 licenses) and has 5 VMs (which each consume 8 licenses), the total requirement is not calculated as 5 * 8 = 40 licenses, but as 3 * 16 = 48 (multiples of the host licenses). This means that the VMs are not counted individually, but in steps of two. Setting this checkbox also means that all hosts must have licenses in the highest available operating system version of all VMs.
Info
In the drop-down list of available hosts, all devices are displayed that are in the "Virtual Hosts" query provided in the "Platforms" folder (see explanation of the tree structure).
You can adjust this query yourself if you want to manage hosts in License Management on which there are currently no virtual machines and which are therefore not available here in the drop-down menu. If necessary, you can also undo the query adjustment once the host has been added to License Management.
Special Case: Manual Counting
Manual counting can be used if either the number of consumers only corresponds to a constant or the number of consumers can be determined by the number of result rows of any query.
Tip
If a query with the entity Device or User is selected, the corresponding devices or users are listed in the list of consumers. If a query with a different entity is selected, only the number of result rows is shown in the list of consumers.
If a query was selected for manual counting, correction factors can be added if necessary or further queries can be selected as source and then an arithmetic operation (addition or subtraction) can be selected accordingly. By using the difference, evaluations such as "All assets but..." can also be carried out.
Info
If the query is to be accepted in this way, the default settings "0" for Constant number and "Addition" for Calculation operation are correct, since "0" is then added to the number of lines.
Definition of Versions
By clicking on the arrow next to the product name you can define which versions should be created. The currently available versions are automatically detected and added. The names of the versions first correspond to the version number, but they can be changed manually. The preview for each version shows which installations for the respective version are considered consumers.
For each added product a corresponding query including the created versions will be added, e.g. if it is a software package, a query on the product and below for the versions will be added below the node "Software Packages".
It may be useful to create further missing versions here and to adjust the order correctly so that the calculation of Downgrades is carried out correctly.
Example
If only version 8 and version 11 of a product were found, only these two versions will be created (except the product was detected automatically). Versions 9 and 10 should now also be created here. Then you can set, for example, that version 11 has a downgrade right of two levels, i.e. versions 10 and 9 may be used, but not version 8.
Important
If, for example, software packages appear in the wizard that are incorrectly added to the respective version, you can subsequently adjust the corresponding query and remove the incorrect entries by adding filter conditions.
Example
If, when checking the versions of a software package, you recognize that an installation that ends in "Client" is also counted as a consumer, you can exclude it. To do this, go to the newly created product below the "Software packages" node in the "Software" folder and adjust the filter condition so that no installations are included if "Client" is included in the name. The license status of the product can then be recalculated and the "client" installations are no longer counted.
Special Case: Crossgrade Licensing
If licenses of another edition (e.g. Windows Server Enterprise) may be used for a product (e.g. Windows Server Standard), this can be set here. For each version, you can set which other product licenses may be used for which version.
Special case: Additional consumers
If it is not only the installations detected by LOGINventory that are to be counted as consumers of a product, manual queries can be selected that are considered as additional consumers.
Example
This is necessary, for example, if Office licenses of fat clients and thin clients are to be managed with a single product. On the fat client, LOGINventory will automatically detect that Office is present, whereas thin clients may not. In this case, a query containing all thin clients can be selected as additional consumers.
In the case of "per device" licensing, only queries containing devices can be selected. With "per user" licensing, queries for users and devices can be selected. In this case, the "owners" of the devices are counted as users.
Example
If you want to add users to a certain AD group as additional consumers, you can first create a query that filters to this group. Below you can then display the corresponding user accounts and below them the users as a query, so that they can also be used here.
Once all settings have been made, the product configuration can be closed by clicking on "OK" and an overview page with the product details is displayed.
Product Details
A node is now created for each product in license management. Licenses can be stored here, the license distribution, the consumers of the licenses, the usage evaluation, and a summary of the product can be viewed.
Attention
The calculation of the license status of a product is not triggered automatically. As soon as licenses have been stored or the settings in the product configuration have been changed, the license status should be recalculated. Since this is a computationally intensive task, the calculation is not performed automatically each time you view the product details. However, the calculation can be initiated manually (right click: calculate license status) or automatically according to a defined schedule.
Depositing Licenses
Important
For each product the purchased licenses must be stored manually. This process cannot be performed fully automatically because it is not possible to read out which contracts the company has made and which licenses have been purchased (exception: Windows OEM licenses & cloud licenses).
Info
Just because a software was activated with a key does not mean that it was purchased legally. For this reason, license certificates must be deposited. These must also be presented as part of an audit. The fact that certain product keys are known is not sufficient.
License Types
As a general rule, a distinction must be made between two types of licenses: Version-bound licenses (e.g., purchase of Office Professional Plus 2016) vs. Product-bound licenses (e.g., subscription of Office365). LOGINventory supports different subtypes of these licenses:
| License type | License type | Properties | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Pool License  |
Version-bound | Pool licenses are not assigned to specific consumers and can therefore be used by any consumer in the respective version (or, if a downgrade right exists, also in older versions). | Purchase of 5 FullL Packaged Products (FPP) from Microsoft Office Standard 2013 |
Device License  |
Version-bound | Device licenses are explicitly assigned to specific devices. If they are not assigned to a device, they are not valid. If the software is not available on the assigned device, the license is not used. Note: If assets with assigned device licenses are archived or deleted, the licenses will also be archived or deleted since they are directly bound to the device. |
Purchase of a computer with pre-installed Windows (OEM license). This license is computer-bound. |
User License  |
Version-bound | User licenses are explicitly assigned to certain users. If they are not assigned to a user, they are not valid. If the corresponding user has not installed the product on any of his devices (Custom Property "Owner), the license is not used. User licenses can allow one user to use the software on multiple devices. | Microsoft Windows Server 2016 User-CAL or Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2017 as Standalone License |
Subscription License  |
Product-bound | One Subscription License entitles the user to use all versions of the respective product during the validity period. | Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription |
Maintenance License  |
Product-bound | A maintenance license is only taken into account in the calculation if "Requires maintenance licenses" is checked for the product. In this case, a product must have at least as many maintenance licenses as it consumes, so that the product is not sublicensed. A maintenance license alone is not enough to license a product. In addition, subscription or version-bound licenses must be available. | Software Assurance for Windows Server |
Manual Storage of Licenses
There are two ways to store licenses: Either the appropriate product or version is selected and then the desired license type is added from the dropdown menu or a consumer is selected from the list of consumers and then Add License is selected.
Important
If a device or user license is added to a consumer, it is linked directly to the consumer. Otherwise, this license must be assigned to a consumer using the Custom Properties widget for it to be valid.
After selecting the license type, a window opens in which important values for the license, including name, license key & validity dates, as well as documents / invoices that are to be linked to the license entry, can be stored.
Important
To store further properties to the licenses, the widget Custom Properties can be opened when a license is selected. A variety of predefined properties such as license key, purchase price, resubmission date, etc. are already available. Further fields can also be defined here to define additional properties (free fields). 
Many of the stored properties are then also used in reports and, for example, the financial values are used to calculate potential savings.
Important
Furthermore, it is recommended to also deposit a corresponding license document for each deposited license, which proves the license ownership (e.g. PDF of the invoice). This can be done while adding license details or afterwards using the Documents widget when a license is selected in the license overview. The storing is important so that you can keep track of where the deposited figures come from and to have the license certificates directly available as part of an audit. 
Whenever new licenses have been stored, the calculation of the license status of the product is recalculated. Thereupon you can see in which version how many licenses are available and how many are consumed. The color of the circle on the product indicates if there are enough licenses available.
If there are enough licenses available, the circle is green. If the product requires maintenance licenses and only sufficient pool, device, user or subscription licenses are available, but not sufficient maintenance licenses, the circle is yellow. If there are not enough licenses available, the circle is red.
The folder above the product will have the same status if all products below it have the same status.
Assignment of Already Created and Automatically Recognized Licenses
In addition to manually storing licenses, OEM licenses that have already been created and automatically recognized can also be assigned. To do this, you can open an interface via the item License Assignment from the ribbon menu in which all unassigned licenses are visible.
These licenses can then be added to the corresponding products or versions via drag & drop.
The licenses for which the assignment to the product or version has been removed are also listed here.
Duplicating Licenses
Licenses can be duplicated in the license overview by clicking the Smart Duplicate button.
All values of the original are transferred to the copy, i.e. including prices, license keys, reminder dates and also the link to the linked document.
Tip
If both a start date and an expiry date for the license were stored on the original, the validity period is automatically extended smartly in the copy according to the previous period:
If the original term was 1 month, the term is extended by one month on the copy, if it was three months, it is extended by three months, if it was one year, it is extended by one year, and so on.
Example
When a license with a term from 04.01.2023 to 03.31.2024 is duplicated smartly, a new term from 04.01.2024 to 03.31.2025 is stored on the copy, which is shown here crossed out because it is currently (time of screenshot: mid-2023) not yet valid. 
Moving Licenses
If a license has been assigned to the wrong version, or if a license is to be assigned to a different version by purchasing a successor license (and using the duplicate function), it can be moved to a different version via drag & drop.
Creating a Subscription License
As mentioned above, License Management can also be used to manage products for which the resulting quantity of consumers cannot be determined by LOGINventory, e.g. a subscription for any online application that is not installed on the PC but is used by logging into a website. The New Subscription License option can be used to directly create such products.
The dialog that opens is the same as the one for storing subscription licenses for which products already exist.
When you click on Ok, a question appears asking whether an associated product to which the license is to be assigned should be created directly.
Note
LOGINventory license management always manages products to which licenses can be assigned.
If No is selected here, the license has been created but has not yet been assigned to a product and therefore does not appear in product management.
Licenses that have already been created can also be subsequently assigned to products via the license assignment dialog.
If this request is confirmed with Yes, a new product of the type Manual counting is automatically created, in which the number of consumers corresponds to the number of licenses specified in the first step.
Summary
The New Subscription License button can therefore be used to take a "shortcut": This creates a product of the Manual counting type and assigns the corresponding license directly. Of course, this process can also be carried out in individual steps.
Importing Licenses
With the Data-Import you can import information about existing licenses from csv files. The Data-Import is described in detail here.
Licenses can also be created via the Web API if the data originates from third-party systems.
Evaluation of the License Matrix
The license matrix shows in which version how many licenses are available and used. By clicking on the arrow next to License Allocation the license matrix can be extended and it is visible where downgrades or upgrades have been carried out.
Upgrades and Downgrades
For each stored license you can set in the Custom Properties for how many levels an upgrade or downgrade is possible. If this value is set to "0", no upgrade or downgrade can be performed. If, for example, a downgrade right of "2" is set, this means that the previous two versions may also be used with this license.
All versions created during definition of versions are authoritative for this. Therefore the order of the versions can be adjusted with the help of the arrows.
Example for upgrade
For example, in order to map the free upgrade from Windows 7 licenses to Windows 10 licenses in LOGINventory, the licenses purchased in version 7 can first be entered in version 7 as normal. Then an upgrade license can be added to version 10. To do this, the Custom Property "Method" must be changed from "Purchase" to "Upgrade" AND for Windows 7 licenses, an "UpgradeRight" of at least "3" must be stored. This means that Windows 7 licenses can be upgraded to Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (a total of three levels).
Software usage evaluation
LOGINventory offers the possibility to find out which software in your company is actually used by whom with the help of the specially developed usage statistics agent LOGINuse. In this way, expensive, unused software packages in particular can be identified and the number of licenses reduced.
Already without distributing an agent LOGINventory provides usage statistics for programs on the individual devices using data from Windows Explorer. This statistic is available for all supported Windows operating systems from XP onwards in the respective user context, but only takes into account the applications started via the Start menu, desktop or Explorer. Starts via the taskbar, for example, are not counted. Therefore, entries in the usage statistics without using the agent can be interpreted to mean that the presence of an entry means that the program was started safely, but the absence of an entry cannot be reinterpreted to exclude program usage.
In order for this usage data to be available in license management, the usage evaluation must be activated in the Product Configuration.
The pie chart then shows how often or rarely the corresponding product is actually used and what savings potential exists. The list of consumers also shows where the product has been used or not used.
The data for use can then look like the following:
Special Case: Cluster Products
In License Management, you can also create clusters consisting of several products that have already been added to License Management.
Tip: Cluster
Clusters can be used in LOGINventory for two applications:
- If several products have been created for one software in License Management in LOGINventory, but you do not want to allocate the licenses to these products yourself, but instead the licenses are to be stored in a "collective product" and the licenses are then automatically distributed to the individual products, this is possible via a Cluster Product.
- If several physical hosts have been interconnected to form a failover cluster and licensing is carried out with Windows Server Standard licenses, all cluster members must have sufficient licenses so that all VMs in the cluster can run on one host in the event of a failover. This case can also be covered using a Cluster Product.
Cluster Products only appear in the list of Detected Products if the following conditions are met:
- The products that are to be managed in the new cluster product to be created must already have been added to license management.
- The path of the product must contain "Windows Server" or "SQL Server".
- Only products for which the metric "per VM via host" has been selected are taken into account.
- These products must be located in a folder that contains "Cluster" in its name (e.g. by moving the products via drag & drop or by renaming the folder in which they are located).
If this folder (here "Cluster Berlin") is selected in the tree structure and then New Product is selected, the product with the name of the folder (here: "Cluster Berlin") appears in the list of Detected Products:
In the Product configuration, you can then select whether each host needs so many licenses to cover the licenses of the consumers of all other hosts as well (see tip above, 2nd case). If the checkbox is not selected here, the sum of the licenses per version is calculated in the Cluster Product (see tip above, 1st case).
In both cases, it is then no longer necessary to store licenses for the products belonging to the cluster. These change to the status "managed" (blue color) and are therefore no longer considered underlicensed.
The available licenses must now be only entered on the Cluster Product.
Warning
If the managed products are removed/moved out of the "Cluster" folder, this also affects the Cluster Product: These are then no longer taken into account by the Cluster Product in the calculation. The Cluster Product itself can easily be moved out of the "Cluster" folder to another location in the tree structure.
New servers / products can also be added to the cluster at a later date if they are moved into the "Cluster" folder. The Cluster Product must then be explicitly selected and the calculation of precisely this product must be restarted. Recalculating an overlying folder is not sufficient.
Examples of Cluster Products
More detailed explanations can be found in the respective examples for cluster licensing of Windows Server Standard & for splitting licenses across several license management products.
Examples for Managing Different Products
Note
In general we recommend to add all products via the list of Detected Products to the license management, because the correct settings will be made automatically. Occasionally it may be necessary to identify products by other sources in order to map them correctly in license management.
Management of Virtualized Operating Systems
Example
If a host has 2 CPUs with 12 cores each, 24 core licenses are required to fully license the host once and, in the case of standard licenses, to operate two VMs on it. If 48 (= 2 * 24) licenses are assigned to the host, the host is licensed twice and up to four VMs can be operated with the Windows Server Standard operating system.
The following generally applies here: At least 8 cores must be licensed per CPU of the host and a host always requires at least 16 core licenses, even if it has fewer cores.
When managing virtualized Windows Server installations, the corresponding host on which the VMs are located must always be added to the license management. For this purpose, all hosts on which at least one running VM with the "Windows Server" operating system has been detected appear in the list of Detected Products.
After a host has been selected here, a decision must be made as to whether this host should be supplied with Windows Server Standard or Windows Server Datacenter licenses.
Depending on this selection, the host configuration on the next page automatically determines whether the license allows any number of VMs or whether each VM must be counted. In either case, the number of licenses required for full licensing of the host is calculated using the calculation formula Max([Cpu.Count] * Max([Cpu.Cores], 8), 16) .
If licensing with a Datacenter license has been selected, any number of virtual machines with the Windows Server operating system may run on the host. Therefore, in this case it is selected that the VM licensing does not need to be checked.
If, on the other hand, the host is provided with Standard licenses, two VMs may run on it for each fully licensed host. The calculation formula for checking the VM licensing is therefore Max([LastVirtualHost.Cpu.Count] * Max([LastVirtualHost.Cpu.Cores], 8), 16) / 2.
The overview of license consumers and license distribution (without stored licenses) then looks e.g. as follows in the case of Windows Server Standard licensing:
If the host has been provided with Windows Server Datacenter licenses, the VMs do not require any licenses and the overviews (without stored licenses) are as follows, for example:
When storing the licenses, the number of core licenses purchased must be entered in the quantity field (e.g. if 8 2-packs were purchased, this corresponds to 16 licenses).
Management of Virtualized SQL Servers
Different license conditions apply to the product Microsoft SQL Server depending on the edition and any existing Software Assurance (SA). On the one hand, there is the option of purchasing a server license & additional corresponding CALs for the accessing devices / users and, on the other hand, the option of purchasing core licenses.
Core licensing is typically more widespread and requires that licenses are purchased according to the number of cores of the VM or host, whereby at least 4 cores must always be licensed per CPU, even if fewer are available. The following examples therefore show different scenarios in which core licenses are used. The use of CALs is described below.
1st example: Licensing with SQL Server Standard licenses
To manage SQL Server Standard licenses, each device (whether physical or virtual) on which the SQL Server is installed must have as many core licenses as the device has cores, whereby at least 4 core licenses are still required per installation, even if the device has fewer cores.
For this purpose, the product "SQL Server Standard (2012 or later)" can be selected in the list of Detected Products. Max([Cpu.Cores] * [Cpu.Count], 4) is then automatically set here as the calculation formula. Both physical and virtual machines are considered together here. No distinction needs to be made depending on a host.
When storing the licenses, the number of core licenses purchased must be entered in the quantity field (e.g. if 8 2-packs were purchased, this corresponds to 16 licenses).
2nd example: Licensing with SQL Server Enterprise licenses
The use of SQL Server Enterprise licenses allows the host to be fully licensed with core licenses, whereupon multiple virtual machines on this host may be provided with SQL Server Enterprise installations without having to license them individually. In the event that a valid Software Assurance (SA), or from version 2022 a valid SQL Server Enterprise Subscription license, is also available, any number of virtual machines with SQL Server Enterprise may be operated on this host. If there is no valid SA, as many VMs may be operated with SQL Server as there are core licenses assigned to the host.
Licensing must therefore be carried out for each host in LOGINventory.
In the list of detected products, "[HOSTNAME] SQL Server" (e.g. "[HYPERV1] SQL Server") is selected. Upon selection, a dialog opens in which you must select whether the license conditions for "Enterprise (with SA)" (i.e. any number of VMs in the case of valid Software Assurance or SQL Server Enterprise Subscription (from version 2022)) or "Enterprise (without SA)" (i.e. only a maximum of as many VMs as the number of core licenses assigned to the host) should be used.
Depending on this selection, the host configuration on the next page automatically determines whether the license allows any number of VMs or whether each VM must be counted.
In the list of License Consumers, in the case of Enterprise licensing with SA, all VMs appear with a license count of "0", in the case of Enterprise licensing without SA with a license count of "1". This means that a host that has 2 CPUs with 12 cores each (and therefore requires a total of 24 core licenses) and is assigned 24 core licenses would be underlicensed if it is running more than 24 VMs with one SQL Server installation each if no valid SA is available.
Cluster Licensing of Windows Server Standard
If several physical Windows Server hosts have been interconnected to form a failover cluster, each host must be licensed in such a way that it can simultaneously carry all VMs (in the event of failover). If the hosts are managed in license management via a corresponding Cluster Product, the total requirement of all licenses is determined.
Example
A company has a total of three physical hosts, each with a different number of VMs, which are to be supplied with Windows Server Standard licenses. The hosts are part of a failover cluster.
First, the three hosts must be added as products for license management, as described in the management of virtualized operating systems.
Then a new folder with the name "Cluster" in it is created and the 3 products that are part of this failover cluster are moved to this folder.
If you now navigate to the cluster folder in the tree structure and select New Product in the ribbon menu, a Cluster Product appears in the list of Detected Products. Select this product.
The next step is to ensure that the checkbox for Each host need so many licenses that it can cover the licenses of the consumers of all other hosts as well is checked. This only applies if the license conditions do not allow license mobility, e.g. if there is no software assurance.
The individual Windows Server hosts now change their status to Managed and the corresponding licenses must now only be stored on the Cluster Product.
The overview of License Consumers and License Allocation (without stored licenses) then looks as follows, for example:
Splitting Licenses Across Multiple License Management Products
Even if the individual physical Windows Server hosts have not been interconnected to form a failover cluster, it can still be helpful not to have to distribute the total quantity of all purchased Windows Server licenses individually to the respective hosts, but to store this total quantity in a "collective product". The licenses are then automatically distributed to the hosts according to the respective calculation formulas.
Example
A company has a total of three physical hosts, each with a different number of VMs, which are to be supplied with Windows Server Standard licenses. The hosts are not part of a failover cluster.
First, the three hosts must be added as products for license management, as described in the management of virtualized operating systems.
Then a new folder with the name "Cluster" in it is created and the 3 products that are part of this "collective product" are moved to this folder.
If you now navigate to the cluster folder in the tree structure and select New Product in the ribbon menu, a Cluster Product appears in the list of Detected Products. Select this product.
The next step is to ensure that the checkbox for Each host need so many licenses that it can cover the licenses of the consumers of all other hosts as well is not checked.
The individual Windows Server hosts now change their status to Managed and the corresponding licenses must now only be stored on the Cluster Product.
The overview of License Consumers and License Allocation (without stored licenses) then looks as follows, for example:
Adding an Upgrade Maintenance
To store licenses for a product for which licenses have been purchased in a specific version, but for which there is also a valid upgrade maintenance (Software Assurance) that entitles the user to use new major versions, proceed as follows:
Example
In this example, it is assumed that 20 core licenses of the SQL Server Standard product were purchased in the 2017 version and that Software Assurance was also purchased, which is still valid. All installations of the product are on physical machines. However, version 2019 is now being used productively on one machine.
After adding the 20 pool licenses in version 2017, another 20 licenses must be added for the valid Software Assurance. These are stored in the latest version (here: 2022) and the "Method" Purchase (default setting) is not selected, but Upgrade:
The product overview then looks as follows:
In the overview of License Consumers, you can see that the devices have been assigned the license type "Pool, Upgrade".
If another major version appears during the term of the Software Assurance, the Software Assurance license can be moved to the newer version.
If the Software Assurance ends and there is still a right of continued use for the last version already released, it makes sense to move the original purchase license from version 2017 to this version and to enter a corresponding comment.
Management of User CALs
If your company uses user CALs (Client Access Licenses) for a product (common examples would be Exchange Server User CALs, SQL Server User CALs,...), it makes sense to map them in license management.
Important
The basic procedure in LOGINventory is the same for all possible cases: You need a numerical value indicating how many CALs are used and a number of CALs available in your company. The difference can then be used to determine whether you are under- or over-licensed, or already have the right number. The number of CAL consumers in LOGINventory can of course be calculated dynamically by a query.
When user CALs are used, all actual real persons who theoretically have access to the application must generally be licensed. This means that the number of accounts from the AD or the number of mailboxes on the Exchange server often does not provide the correct number, because e.g. admin accounts, service accounts or mailboxes such as "reception" are incorrectly counted. It should also be noted that one account could be used by several real persons.
1st Option: Using a Group From the AD
The simplest option, if already available, is to use a group from the AD containing all the real people working in the company. If the application is only used by a certain user group, of course only this group can be added to the license management. If such a group is used, it must of course also be ensured that processes exist in your company that ensure that the right people are always included in the group (e.g. adding new hires). This organizational measure of regularly updating the groups is required when used in license management.
In the wizard for creating license products, AD Group must be selected on the left side and the corresponding group marked by a double click. In the next step no further settings are necessary.
In the product overview all active members of the group will be listed. The product can then be renamed by double-clicking on the node and the existing CALs can then be stored as licenses as with any other product.
2nd Option: Using Your Own Query
Instead of creating a user group, you can also create your own query, where the number of result rows represents the number of consumers. For example, when managing Exchange Server User CALs, it is a good idea to modify a copy of the existing mailbox query so that unneeded accounts no longer appear in the mailbox list. To do this, first create a duplicate of the Mailboxes query in the Microsoft Exchange folder. The resulting entries for non-consumers are now removed from this query by means of appropriate filter conditions. This includes e.g. service accounts, admin accounts, etc. Often, real persons can also be identified by the fact that a blank character is contained in the name. However, the filter conditions must be adapted to the actual circumstances.
Once the query has been fully customized, a New Product can be added to the license management. Select Manual Count as source and navigate to the corresponding query. In the next step it would be possible to add correction factors etc., but this is not necessary in this case.
Once the product has been added, you can see the number of result rows of the selected query at the consumers' end and licenses can be stored as usual. It also makes sense to rename the product in this case.
Management of Device CALs
When managing products that require device CALs, it is also necessary to create a query that has the number of consumers as the number of result rows. This can be created using the same procedure as described for User CALs and added to License Management.
Of course, an existing query (e.g. Windows Clients in the Platforms folder) can also be added in this way.
License Management Documentation
When products and licenses have been added to the license management, different aspects can be documented with the help of different reports. These reports are described in detail in the topic Documentation and can be applied to the products from the ribbon menu. If all products are to be included in a report, the query All Products below Evaluations can be selected.
Info
Of course you can customize all included reports and create your own.
In addition, Dynamic Documents are provided, which can be used in the context of an audit announcement from Microsoft. This so-called Microsoft Deployment Summary is available under the node Documentation and provides the required key figures for device, software and license usage.
Automation in License Management
All stored values can also be used in own queries. For example, queries can be created that filter for resubmission date, license status, and the like. Some examples for such queries are already delivered in the node Evaluation below License Management. These queries are suitable for positioning Tasks on them. So you can stop sending e-mails if underlicensing is noticed, contracts expire soon and much more.
In addition, the current compliance documentation can be filed or sent monthly, for example.
Attention
In order for the notifications to refer to the current license status, the calculation of the license status must be periodically repeated. You can use a schedule to define when the calculation is to be carried out. Depending on the number of products managed and the number of users, this intensive task can also take a long time, which is why it is advisable, for example, to calculate the license status regularly if LOGINventory is not used (e.g. at night) or before tasks are evaluated that relate to the license status.
To set the schedule for recalculating the license management status, a task can be defined on the license management node. Here you can select only "License Calculation" as action.
By default, the recalculation is performed at 2 a.m. each day.
License Management Preferences
In the License Management Defaults, the data sources for products and consumers can be adjusted. For each entity, queries other than the standard queries can be selected, which means, for example, that not all assets are considered as potential consumers, but only a subset (freely definable query). This can be used, for example, if license management is to be performed separately for different business units (see below).
Normally, however, no settings are necessary here.
Use of Multiple Separate License Management
In special cases it may be necessary to use a separate license management. This is the case, for example, if certain products in your company are managed by another business unit (for example, headquarters).
It may then be necessary to create several license management nodes and store other data sources for consumers and products there in the license management default settings.
To create an additional license management node, either the Asset Management or the IT Inventory node must be selected, then a New License Management can be created with a right click.
