3 Licensing Tips to End The Year

While these three little snippets might not seem particularly sensational they are worth noting precisely for that reason - they are likely lurking in the background, ready to cost you money when you least need it!

1. IBM License Management Tool (ILMT)

OK, so we all know that under the IBM sub-capacity rules we must produce a report from ILMT every quarter right? And we know that we must sign and date that record, and keep them all as an artefact that may be required during any audit too, right?

​All good, then the tip:

 Make sure you have configured ILMT correctly and fully for VM Management. ​

What's so important about VM Management in ILMT? If not properly configured it will default to 120 PVUs per core, so you could be over-reporting without being aware. How can you tell if its configured? Firstly, it shows a status on the Dashboard, and secondly, if not configured servers will be displayed with a serial-like number beginning with 'TLM_VM' or similar.

If you need more information on how to configure just look here.

2. Microsoft Subscription Licensing.

Microsoft in many ways have led the industry in a shift to SaaS offerings backed by subscription based licensing. While this may appear to have a favourable ROI initially, there are other Time-Value commercial components to consider.

Firstly, you need to be aware that your licensing is now not only visible but manageable real-time by Microsoft. So from a commercial perspective there is now no locked-in pricing for the typical 3 year term of an Enterprise Agreement, instead you will see price increases built-in year on year in your CPS. And more so, there is no 'True-Up' benefit whereby you would pay essentially half the cost in the year in which you deployed the product - you now 'reserve' the additional licenses you need to be drawn down, and you start paying from that month onwards.

​The tip?

Make sure you consider TVM with subscription changes in your ROI / Cost Comparisons.

And the last tip for 2017 ... a favourite topic here at Software Compliance ... processor to core conversion.

3. No 'unpacking' of Core Licenses​

So a quick tally of the number of core licenses across your Windows Server fleet divided by 16 gives you your number of 16 Pack licenses required right?

Wrong! ... A license pack is applied to a server, so where you have say a 12 Core server you need to assign 6 x 2 Core packs - you can't assign 12 from your 16 Core pack, and then apply the other 4 elsewhere. A nasty - and potentially expensive error - if not properly considered in determining your conversion.

And so ends 2017 ... we look forward to a busy and productive 2018 for us all!