Question: What are root access privileges? Answer: The usage ‘root access privileges’ is typically used to refer to permissions given to a username or account that has access to all commands and files on a Linux or other Unix-like operating system. This account is also referred to as the root account, root user or superuser. In a Windows environment, an administrator account holds similar superuser privileges. Question: Are there any risks associated with root access privileges? Answer: Yes, there are risks associated with human users being given root access privileges. They may make mistakes (mistype a powerful command or delete important files) or perform actions with malicious intent. When it comes to programs being given root privilege access in an enterprise environment, organizations usually have an IT security approval process to allow a program to have root privileges if it has been certified and needs the privileges for performing it’s intended functions. Question: Does the Flexera’s inventory solution require root access privileges? Answer: The inventory components of the FlexNet Manager Suite (FNMS) can be implemented in a variety of ways depending on the license compliance and optimization use cases an organization wishes to fulfil and the inventory tools they would like to use to cover those use cases. For basic inventory, the FlexNet Beacon can connect to numerous third-party inventory solutions (like Microsoft SCCM, HP Universal Discovery, etc.) to gather hardware and software inventory required for compliance and optimization. It is also possible to build custom adapters to import data from other third-party tools. For certain specific use cases, where these third-party inventory sources do not provide enough licensing information, the FlexNet Inventory Agent is recommended. The Flexera Inventory Agent is capable of gathering specific inventory details around hardware (like BIOS, UUID details on Linux, MAC address in Solaris, etc.) and software usage tracking for IBM Peak Value Utilization (PVU) and Oracle License Management Services (LMS). The FlexNet Inventory Agent comprises inventory and usage tracking services that require root access privileges to perform deeper inventory for the above-mentioned specific use cases. These privileges are restricted only to the system(s) with the deployed agent(s) or system(s) adopted for zero-footprint agent installation. The FlexNet Beacon and Agent are certified by Veracode (SOC 2 Type II) and the server-side components of the FNMS solution have been certified by WhiteHat.  Question: Can the Flexera Inventory Agent be used without direct root access privileges? Answer: The Flexera Inventory Agent can be run as a non-root account, but it limits the effectiveness of the inventory gathering. For example, running the Agent as a non-root user returns inventory data only for that user’s context based on the permissions that that user has. That said, the Flexera Inventory Agent can also be used in an indirect mode which means that it there is an additional level of control that the customer can exercise over the running of the agent program with root access privileges. You can designate a proxy system/user account (with a setuid operation for xnix) for the Flexera Inventory Agent with the permissions that the customer can provide or revoke as needed You can use a command line interface or scheduler (e.g. cron, etc.) to invoke the Inventory Scanner component (with elevated privileges) as needed You can also use the Flexera Beacon with our ‘Zero Touch’ Agent option along with a High Privilege Access (HPA) management tool like CyberArk which lets you configure access for ‘root’ accounts with access logging. The Flexera Beacon has a built-in integration with CyberArk which allows its password store to provide safe access to remotely install the ‘Zero Touch’ agent to perform inventory. Question: What are some best practices around allowing root access privileges? Answer: When it comes to xnix platforms, we recommend using SELinux or similar technologies which have better controls and constraints placed on user permissions. Question: What are the inventory details that cannot be collected if the Flexera Inventory Agent does not have root access privileges? Without proper root access privileges, the following inventory details cannot be collected: All platforms UNIX-like systems ·   InstallAnywhere, InstallShield Multiplatform, or Oracle Universal Installer evidence under paths not accessible by the executing user ·   Oracle Database service discovery via the local listener using lsnrctl ·   Oracle Database inventory which may use impersonation of an Oracle Database administration user when running the sqlplus command ·   Lack of BIOS serial number which makes computer management quite difficult and usually results in duplicates as machines replaced, migrated etc. ·   File evidence from any file system path not accessible by the executing user   Mac OS X systems Solaris systems ·   Mac OS X package bundle paths under /Applications or /System/Library not accessible by the executing user ·   MAC addresses of network adapters ·   SPARC model using OpenPROM interface HP-UX systems ·   SD-UX installation evidence from swlist if access has been locked down with swreg or swacl ·   vPar evidence including VMType, VMName, and vPar capacity (vparstatus requires root) ·   Hard disk drive properties including capacity ... 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We are pleased to announce the 2020 R1 release for FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications (FNMEA). We would like to thank all customers who have provided their valuable feedback to help us focus our efforts on the following features and enhancements: Support for open-source object-relational database PostgreSQL is available for the admin and reporting databases. This will help eliminate the additional cost of obtaining licenses for commercial databases like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle Database. Support for near real-time log rotation with newly introduced intervals of 1 minute and 30 seconds. This will help have more frequent and fine-grained logging of user license activity. Upgraded analytics and reporting to Cognos 11.0.13 Long-term Support (LTS) version. This will help with better supportability as well as additional features in the version like new base samples, improved drill-through capabilities, etc. Updated support for TLS 1.3 protocol which is faster and more secure FlexNet Manager for Engineering Agent 5.7 is now available for the Solaris 11.x SPARC ‘Duplicates’ and ‘Total Used’ columns added to Usage Summary Report For more information on the features and enhancements listed above, please refer to the release notes and the updated documentation supplied with this release and available from Flexera Product Documentation. FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications release 2020 R1 is available for download from the Product and License Center link in the Flexera Community. ... View more

What is Digital Access? A lot of you have been wondering what the SAP’s new ‘Digital Access’ license model is all about. Some of you might be aware of the older and less defined ‘Indirect Access’ licensing construct that ended up costing some companies millions of dollars due to inaccurate license usage reporting from 3 rd party systems like Salesforce. Last year, SAP introduced a new ‘Digital Access’ license model to improve the definition of costs arising out of digital/indirect access. We are happy to announce support for this new ‘Digital Access’ license model as part of the 2020 R1 release for FlexNet Manager Suite. In a nutshell, the new license model metrics are based on nine document types generated from the Digital Core that represent commonly valued business outcomes. In an SAP ecosystem, there will be a cost associated with the initial creation of these types of documents in SAP systems by third-party interfaces. There are no additional costs for reads, updates, deletes or the additional documents automatically generated in the system when the first document is created. Check out the whitepaper and webinar here if you want to learn more about ‘Indirect or Digital Access’ and the changes introduced by SAP to try and better address the costs of accessing the Digital Core  from 3 rd party system interfaces or non-SAP systems. How does Digital/Indirect Access work in FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications? FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications  already monitors your systems by discovering indirect access by third-party interfaces and non-SAP systems using metrics like RFC calls, functions used and number of non-dialog users. As part of 2020 R1 release, we have added the ability to measure your to measure the cost of indirect/digital access based on the new document license metrics announced by SAP and decide if you want to adopt the new license model. Collecting Digital Access Data You can now import digital access data from SAP ECC as well as S/4HANA systems using multiple methods depending on whether you use dependent or independent system configurations. You can use the beacon to specify the collection period if you mostly use independent systems as shown below. Confirm Data Collection and Manage Price Table Once your digital access data is collected, you will be able to confirm the details by checking in the ‘Indirect Access’ section of the product in a new ‘Documents’ tab. FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications. On the same page, you will also have the ability to manage the price table based on your contract with SAP or sample/indicative pricing as shown below.  Calculate Digital Access Costs Once you have ensured that the data is collected and you have set the price table, you just need to run your license position calculation. This takes the metrics gathered from your SAP systems and pricing you have defined to get an idea of the digital access costs you have incurred for the period.   What can I do with Digital Access cost information? With this capability, you will be able to get an idea of your current costs around digital/indirect access and make an informed decision to choose between the options offered by SAP to migrate to the new model.   ... View more