When to deallocate a device vs exempting a device from license consumption

[reevejw]

When would you deallocate a device from consuming from a license versus exempting a device from consuming from a license?  They both seem to accomplish the same result, so not sure what the pros and cons of each are.

[ChrisG · Accepted solution]

Deallocating (i.e. not having an allocation for) a device from a license is quite different from exempting a device from consuming a license:

• Not having an allocation generally means that a license is required, and it is up to FlexNet Manager Suite to choose which license should be applied
• Having an exemption configured generally means a license is not required.

To elaborate a little more:

An device allocation to a license is commonly used to explicitly identify which license a particular device should consume against (if it needs to consume a license). If you are happy to allow FlexNet Manager Suite to automatically choose a license to be consumed (where there are multiple choices of license available, and or sufficient data available for FlexNet Manager Suite to make that choice), then you can remove the allocation.

An exemption is effectively a statement that a particular application on a particular device does not require a license.