Announcing FlexNet Manager 2020 R1 release

dgalecki · ‎May 29, 2020

Last updated: June 26, 2020

We are excited to share with you information about the release of FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R1 for Cloud and On-premises editions.

This update is planned to be available on the following dates:

European Cloud:

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) – May 21, 2020

Production – June 4, 2020

North American Cloud:

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) – May 28, 2020

Production – June 11, 2020

On-premises:

June 25, 2020 - downloadable from the Product and Licensing Center

This release delivers many new capabilities and improvements.

The complete list of all changes is available from the Features by Release documents for Cloud and On Premises. Other documentation can be found in FlexNet Manager Cloud and On-premises documentation in Flexera Community using the “Other Resources > Documentation” link. This includes:

List of issues resolved in this release
Online help
System requirements

We would like to thank all our customers and partners who provided their insights to help ensure the changes and new features in this release meet your needs.

Highlights of this release include:

Docker container discovery and inventory on Linux

FlexNet Manager agent can now discover your Docker containers on Linux and collect inventory of software running in these containers. This will allow you to understand whether software deployed in containers impacts license consumption.

This is the initial release of this capability and we will continue to update it in future releases to ensure you are able to discover containers, track software deployed in container images and include that software in appropriate license compliance calculations. Application installation inventory from Docker containers provides visibility into what software is deployed, but in this release it will not contribute towards your license consumption. We are looking for your feedback to help prioritize future work, so please post your feedback in the comments section for this post–we would love to hear examples of software and license models that you have running in containers.

SAP Digital Access license support

The SAP component of FlexNet Manager Suite now allows you to evaluate the cost of Digital Access licenses, new indirect license consumption model introduced by SAP. You can use this feature to compare the cost from the new metric to your existing Indirect Access license cost and decide whether you want to switch to Digital Access license model.

Based on data collected from the official SAP Passport interface for the new metric, you can get an accurate measure of the number of documents created and assess the costs to the organization at various levels of granularity.

Improved Flexera Analytics

We have added new Analytics Dashboards, built based on feedback we’ve heard from you. We will be continuing to periodically deliver additional updates automatically in our Cloud environments, and by providing an optional update to Flexera Analytics for On-premises deployments.

New FlexNet Manager Suite Management Dashboard

This is an updated, configurable version of the Management Dashboard. It is provided as an “experimental” feature in this release. You can access it by appending “/Management/Dashboard” to the standard FlexNet Manager Suite URL. You may wish to try bookmarking https://your-server/Suite/Management/Dashboard to be used as your entry point to FlexNet Manager Suite.

We are working on additional enhancements and are looking for feedback for this feature. Please post your feedback in the comments section for this post.

Flexera SaaS Manager integration

Integration with SaaS Manager enables SaaS consumption information to be shown in FlexNet Manager Suite, providing a unified view of all on-premises software license consumption alongside SaaS consumption.

Oracle Database transparency

This is a new capability for the on-premises edition of FlexNet Manager Suite, allowing you to view detailed information about the collected usage evidence, including the sources of the evidence, for Oracle Database Options and Management Packs.

This capability already exists in the loud edition.

ServiceNow integration

The integration with ServiceNow has been updated and is certified with the London, Madrid, New York and Orlando releases. The integration name in the ServiceNow store has changed to “Flexera Integration”, as the same integration is now used by both FlexNet Manager Suite and Flexera’s Data Platform product.

Over the next few days, we will be posting additional blogs, with more detailed descriptions and demos of key improvements in this release, so please remember to check for the updates.

Recording of the release webinar is available here: FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R1 release webinar

And please keep your feedback coming!

Flexera Product Management team

dgalecki · ‎Jun 15, 2020

Added link to the release webinar, in case you are interested in reviewing it.

chirag_sharma2 · ‎Jun 16, 2020

Could you please share more details about oracle extension pack capabilities improved with this version?
I saw it in Webinar but it is not mentioned in release notes or anywhere on community

mrichardson · ‎Jun 16, 2020

Hi @chirag_sharma2 I am assuming you mean the update to the agent which allows it to now capture Oracle VirtualBox Extension Pack installs.

In summary, VirtualBox is normally free to use however if you install the Extension Pack then this becomes licensable under Oracle's rules and so we updated the agent to identify what machines you have the VirtualBox extension pack installed on so now you can confirm which machines require a VirtualBox license.

This does require you to upgrade the agent however the rest of it comes from content updates which were published in Q1 so once the new agent is in place, you should be able to identify the extension pack applications from Installed Applications.

Does this help?

chirag_sharma2 · ‎Jun 16, 2020

hi @mrichardson

Thanks for your quick response! 🙂
What are the new features you guys have introduced in 2020 R1 particularly for VirtualBox Extension pack ?

I realized that you guys have introduced the same in 2019 R2.2 so what's the difference and what all capabilities you guys are bringing to the table?

Next, Why is it not mentioned on Features by Release ?

Can I get in detailed pdf document of this release to understand the functionalities ?

mrichardson · ‎Jun 16, 2020

@chirag_sharma2 for cloud there is nothing new around the VirtualBox extension packs, the mention of that is for On-Premises customers who will get the updated agent in 2020 R1 however for Cloud customers this has been available since 2.2

As such, it was mentioned in the Agent change log as part of the 2.2 release for cloud customers which is why it's not in Features by Release for cloud customers in 2020 however for On-Premises customers it will be part of the agent changes as this is when it's introduced.

Does that make more sense?

For more detail on what was introduced in March release, have a look at the PerformVirtualBoxInventory setting in the Preferences chapter of the Gathering FlexNet Inventory guide.

Please let me know if you need further information.

chirag_sharma2 · ‎Jun 16, 2020

Thanks for explaining and sharing such details!

It was confusing when I saw it in Webinar and a slide was showing both Icon of cloud + premises so I thought another version released.

I appreciate your quick response!
Thanks!

dswann · ‎Jun 19, 2020

The supporting documentation for the FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R1 on-premises edition is now available from the Product Documentation site: https://docs.flexera.com/?product=FlexNet%20Manager%20Suite%20On%20Premises&version=2020%20R1

winvarma · ‎Jun 22, 2020

Hi ,

is there a document for the 2020 R1 MT version and is there a release for MSP as well planned with normal setup release? If yes could you please share the link for the same if uploaded in the Partner portal.

dswann · ‎Jun 22, 2020

Hi winvarma,

The Installing FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R1 for a Managed Service is now available for Partners in the FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R1 on-premises folder in the Partner portal. The MSP installation uses the same installation media with the on-premises release.

winvarma · ‎Jun 23, 2020

Hi @dswann ,

Thanks for the quick response and uploading the document for MSP in the partner portal.

dgalecki · ‎Jun 24, 2020

We have just updated the link to the release webinar - hopefully this link resolves the audio issues.

chriscarreon · ‎Jun 24, 2020

Hi,

Could you please provide any additional document - How To's/User guide, on the new Mgmt Dashboard especially on customization of the report and the underlying data from Mgmt Views Index or Reports Index, etc..

New FlexNet Manager Suite Management Dashboard

dgalecki · ‎Jun 25, 2020

@chriscarreon , we will be adding blogs and instructions related to the configurable Management Dashboard in the next few days.
This is not directly related to the embedded views or reports - so, a question - do you have a desire to support Mgmt View or Reports to be available in the Mgmt. Dashboard?

There is a lot of flexibility in the Management Dashboard and this is still work-in-progress, so please keep the feedback coming via Community.

chriscarreon · ‎Jun 26, 2020

@dgalecki, thanks for your response.
yes, we have plans and we're currently exploring both this new feature and also using Cognos Analytics.

Btw, is there a separate thread or link where I could get more information (similar, how to guide, etc) on your Flexera Cognos Analytics Report? We currently have FNMS Cloud and need to know/understand how to create my own calculations or join from the different sources as I don't have visibility to them at all i.e. I want a distinct count on Installed Publisher, instead of Installed application count (from Flexera Relational Model) or why in Inventory folder (also in Flexera Data Models), it doesn only have Duplice Device Name instead of all the device name, device count, OS ,etc..

thanks,
Chris