IBM Licenses Best Practices

Morgado asked a question.

February 1, 2019 at 8:00 AM

Hello there,

We are in the process of add new IBM passport licenses to Snow and we are trying to understand if there is out there any best practice for Snow and integration of these licenses.

We have several licenses which includes maintenance but not for the full quantity. For instance, one license has 1000 quantity and only 50 of those 1000 have maintenance. How could this be represented in Snow? Both quantities have different part numbers.

Could be added in Snow as a single licenses? Or needs to be added 2 licenses using the base license option to link the 50 to the remaining 950?

Concerning the contracts, how are you displaying the passports in Snow? Any tip is more than welcome!

Thanks and regards,

Morgado

Software & License Management

rubenclaes
7 years ago
Hi Morgado, Here some tips: Add each site agreement as a separate agreement in Snow License Manager. Ideally your organization structure in Snow License Manager mirrors your contractual situation with IBM. You can link your site agreements to the master agreements you have in place with IBM by adding the site agreements as sub-agreements to the respective master agreement. Make sure you have different names for each agreement, you could include the site number within the contract name as well, for example. You would add your base licenses at the date of original purchase with maintenance periods for as long as the full quantity was under S&S (=maintenance). Make sure to select the version you purchased originally. Following page can help you to identify the right version in case of doubt: IBM software lifecycle - IBM Support Especially in case of partial maintenance with IBM, it is important to have this right so the system can upgrade your entitlements to the highest available version based on your maintenance history for the relevant quantities. Your risk here relates to the All or Nothing rule that is explained here For those licenses where you went into partial maintenance (in your example the '50'), upgrade those licenses to the relevant version (can be the same as the original base license, as applicable). The system will now upgrade your licenses of the '50' to the highest available version based on the maintenance dates in place. The old '950' will stay on the old version as it should. Now, in your compliance overview you will see which versions are covered or not. Whenever you see that there are compliance issues for a version where partial maintenance is in place, this requires your attention as this is most likely due to a violation against the 'all or nothing' rule that should be watched carefully. By the way, it's not even allowed to deploy older versions AND the newest version within one site in case of partial maintenance. That is also a violation of the all or nothing rule. The reasoning is that your 'old version' deployments can also benefit from the support you receive on the 'new version' deployments. Such cases would also require a reinstatement of your full deployment within that site. Hope this helps, Ruben
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- Community Manager (Flexera Software)
  7 years ago
  Hi Morgado, Rubens reply above is correct and would be in accord with best practice. You will see that the original license purchase has a different part number to the maintenance, and these part numbers can be recognised by SLM. To add the upgrade you can use the SKU as in in the majority of cases Snow License Manager will recognise the SKU as a maintenance or upgrade item.and will automatically tick the upgrade button. the next step is to enter all the information as normal and then go to the base license tab and add the correct base license(s). This will then allow you to allocate the licenses to the relevant base licenses and complete the entry. If you do not enter sufficient base licenses it will be stored as a incomplete license entry. When you now look at your Licenses you will see in the all licenses report two lines one for the maintenance and the original order for the remaining amount. This upgrade license function can also be used where you have consolidated licenses into a single maintenance renewal, just enter as normal and then in the base license tab select all the relevant products to be upgraded. Hope that helps Steve
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Morgado
7 years ago
Thank you both. Very helpful. Some orientations I was already doing the same way! Best, Morgado
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