AamerSharif
Summary
I understand that IBM Products and Cloud Paks can be installed in both production and non-production environments. However, the software identification and discovery signature remain the same, regardless of the environment in which the product is deployed.
It is worth noting that software licensing costs are much cheaper when deployed in non-production environments.
To address this, Flexera ITAM has been extended to provide automatic identification of IBM products and Cloud Paks installations in traditional non-production environments, thereby offering visibility and licensing for both production and non-production environments.
Indeed! The extension of Flexera ITAM to identify IBM Products and Cloud Paks in non-production environments will make license management significantly simpler. This will provide greater visibility into licenses deployed in both production and non-production environments, enabling organizations to manage and optimize their software licensing costs more effectively.
What do I need to do
There are two key components to automatically recognize the IBM product non-production installation using this new feature within Flexera ITAM.
- Inventory Device Roles (Mapping of existing roles as production or non-production)
- Extension to Application Recognition Library to Identify non-production installations
Flexera ITAM has extended two key components to automatically recognize IBM product non-production installations part of the new feature. The first component is the "Inventory Device Roles" which allows users to manage inventory device role mapping as production or non-production environment. This means that a role other than production can be set for non-production installations. Users can set which device roles will be used for non-production product identification on the "Inventory Device Role" page. By default, the inventory device "Production" role will be treated as a production installation.
The second component is an extension to the Application Recognition Library (ARL) to identify non-production installations. With the latest ARL version 2771 and PURL version 528 updates, Flexera ITAM can automatically identify IBM product installations in non-production environments using non-production software titles. This means that if a user has mapped the inventory device role for non-production installations and has the latest ARL and PURL updates, the IBM product non-production installations will be recognized automatically.
This upgrade not only simplifies the process but also significantly reduces the time-to-value. With the latest extensions to Flexera ITAM, users can now drive maximum value with minimal effort. I have included two screenshots below to give you a better idea of the new functionalities.
Inventory Device Role Mapping to Production and Non-Production Environment
The following page shows, that now users can map the inventory device role mapping as production or non-production.
Application Recognition Libraries (ARL) Extended for Automated Non-Production Installation Identification
Flexera Application Recognition Rules has been extended for Non-Production installation of IBM products/Cloud Paks. The following example show IBM API Connect Enterprise for Non-Production deployments.
Note: This feature will also be available to FlexNet Manager Suite / ITAM On-Prem as part of the 2023 R2 release.
