cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

App Broker software optimization- License assignment

Can we auto assign/allot  software licenses from FNMS's license repository to user/device if requested through service now ITSM?

To elaborate- I want app broker to automatically assign a spare license in FNMS to users who have requested the software through Service now ITMS. Will this work simply if we integrate app broker to service now ? 

We have FNMS as our SAM tool and service now as our request portal, but currently we dont have any integration  system for them to communicate like app broker so we are thinking to purchase this module and any help or advice will great !!!

(2) Solutions

I think there may be a terminology disconnect here.  As Charles stated, we don't create allocations from App Broker, and we don't really recommend allocations as a best practice anyway, as it limits options around optimizing your license position.  That said, App Broker will check for availability of an entitlement and can create a license reservation for requests submitted via ServiceNow.  A reservation is essentially a placeholder that sets aside an entitlement for a specific request until that request is fulfilled (i.e. software is deployed) and inventory is collected and reconciled.  At that point, the reservation converts to consumption.  If, for some reason, the request is canceled/rejected before fulfillment, the reservation will be canceled, and the entitlement is added back to the pool of available entitlements.  The reservation process ensures that if you only have a small number of entitlements available and you get more requests than available entitlements before you can replenish them, those available entitlements will be set aside on a first-come-first-served basis, while the later requests will either be blocked or will trigger a procurement process before being fulfilled.  I suspect this is the functionality you're looking for rather than actually creating an allocation in FNMS.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

View solution in original post

App Portal and App Broker are effectively the same product.  We typically refer to it as App Portal when using our own web front end and as App Broker when using some other front end like ServiceNow.  They are technically two different SKU's, but the only real difference is that the App Broker SKU unlocks some additional REST API's that are used by 3rd party front ends to communicate with App Broker.  The pricing is the same for both, so I always suggest that we should only be selling the App Broker SKU (you can still use our web front end for App Broker if you want to).

Having said that, yes, license checks/reservations work in both products and produce the same results, but they both rely on FlexNet Manager Suite (on-prem) or Flexera One IT Asset Management (SaaS) for the licensing back end.  Since you already have FNMS and want to use this with ServiceNow, you would purchase the App Broker for ServiceNow SKU, and that would be all you need to achieve the desired outcome.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

View solution in original post

(4) Replies
CharlesW
By Level 12 Flexeran
Level 12 Flexeran

Currently, App Broker does not provide any functionality for actually allocating a license.  FNMS does have the capability to do this via API, but App Broker does not leverage this functionality. I might suggest going to "ideas" under the community, and submit this as a new idea.. I have encountered several customers who have inquired about this, so I think that it would be a good candidate for an enhancement.

I think there may be a terminology disconnect here.  As Charles stated, we don't create allocations from App Broker, and we don't really recommend allocations as a best practice anyway, as it limits options around optimizing your license position.  That said, App Broker will check for availability of an entitlement and can create a license reservation for requests submitted via ServiceNow.  A reservation is essentially a placeholder that sets aside an entitlement for a specific request until that request is fulfilled (i.e. software is deployed) and inventory is collected and reconciled.  At that point, the reservation converts to consumption.  If, for some reason, the request is canceled/rejected before fulfillment, the reservation will be canceled, and the entitlement is added back to the pool of available entitlements.  The reservation process ensures that if you only have a small number of entitlements available and you get more requests than available entitlements before you can replenish them, those available entitlements will be set aside on a first-come-first-served basis, while the later requests will either be blocked or will trigger a procurement process before being fulfilled.  I suspect this is the functionality you're looking for rather than actually creating an allocation in FNMS.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

How does license reservation for requests submitted via ServiceNow works and will this work even if we don't have app portal in place ? I can see here its from app portal: 

https://docs.flexera.com/appportal2017/Content/helplibrary/App_Portal_Software_Request_Workflow.htm 

Incase app portal is required does we need to separately procure it along side with App broker ?

Sorry lots of questions !!

App Portal and App Broker are effectively the same product.  We typically refer to it as App Portal when using our own web front end and as App Broker when using some other front end like ServiceNow.  They are technically two different SKU's, but the only real difference is that the App Broker SKU unlocks some additional REST API's that are used by 3rd party front ends to communicate with App Broker.  The pricing is the same for both, so I always suggest that we should only be selling the App Broker SKU (you can still use our web front end for App Broker if you want to).

Having said that, yes, license checks/reservations work in both products and produce the same results, but they both rely on FlexNet Manager Suite (on-prem) or Flexera One IT Asset Management (SaaS) for the licensing back end.  Since you already have FNMS and want to use this with ServiceNow, you would purchase the App Broker for ServiceNow SKU, and that would be all you need to achieve the desired outcome.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".