Summary How to split MLS purchases with various software assurance dates after MLS has been imported Synopsis The purpose of the attached document is to document the best practice of splitting Microsoft License Statement (MLS) purchases (after MLS import) with various maintenance dates (or software assurance) in FlexNet Manager Suite. ... View more

Summary This article outlines the useful information resources of the Software Vulnerability Management Practices Guide that could help SVM customers to learn more about the intended functionality of this product. Synopsis The Software Vulnerability Management Practice Guide is written to be a high-level reference for best practices, industry standards, and optimal management and operation of Flexera's Software Vulnerability solutions. It describes how to apply commonly accepted software vulnerability best practices to the operational use of the products. The best practices guide can be found here: https://learn.flexera.com/series/flexera-practice-guides Discussion Below is the Software Vulnerability Management Practice Guide Table of Contents: Contents Legal Information ...............................................................................................................................6 Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Confidential Information ................................................................................................................. 6 Protection of Confidential Information ........................................................................................... 6 Exclusions ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Equitable Relief ................................................................................................................................ 6 Disclaimer of Warranty........................................................................................................................... 7 Limitation of Liability .............................................................................................................................. 7 Preface ..............................................................................................................................................8 Authors ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Join us .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Feedback................................................................................................................................................. 9 Let?s Keep in Touch ................................................................................................................................. 9 Scope .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Software Vulnerability Manager .......................................................................................................... 12 Planning & Design ............................................................................................................................ 13 Process Planning ................................................................................................................................... 13 Process and Scope ......................................................................................................................... 13 Risk Assessment & Prioritization ................................................................................................... 14 The Patch Management Lifecycle .................................................................................................. 15 The Patch and Vulnerability Equation ........................................................................................... 17 Vulnerability Management Maturity Model .................................................................................. 18 SVM Implementation Planning............................................................................................................. 19 SVM On-Premises (RHEL/VA) ......................................................................................................... 19 SVM Cloud Access Requirements .................................................................................................. 25 Front-End Web User Interface (UI) ................................................................................................ 26 Universal Patching Requirements .................................................................................................. 29 Windows Update Detection ........................................................................................................... 29 Implementation Recommendations..................................................................................................... 30 Readiness Checklist ........................................................................................................................ 31 Options for Product Integration .................................................................................................... 33 Frequently Asked Questions .......................................................................................................... 44 Scanning & Assessment .................................................................................................................... 45 Scan Methods Comparison................................................................................................................... 45 Single Host Agent ........................................................................................................................... 46 Non-persistent Agent (SCCM Scheduled Task) .............................................................................. 50 SCCM Software Inventory Import .................................................................................................. 51 Network Appliance ........................................................................................................................ 51 Quick scan ...................................................................................................................................... 53 Reporting & Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 53 Data Filtering ........................................................................................................................................ 53 Scan Filter Impact .......................................................................................................................... 53 Hide Zombie Files ........................................................................................................................... 53 Blacklisting ..................................................................................................................................... 54 Path Masking.................................................................................................................................. 54 Completed Scans .................................................................................................................................. 55 Smart Groups ........................................................................................................................................ 55 Smart Group Data Compilation ...................................................................................................... 56 Default Smart Groups .................................................................................................................... 57 Custom Smart Groups .................................................................................................................... 58 The Dashboard ..................................................................................................................................... 62 Scheduled PDF Reports ........................................................................................................................ 63 Report Configurations .................................................................................................................... 63 Secure Reporting ............................................................................................................................ 68 CSV Exports ........................................................................................................................................... 68 Scheduled Exports .......................................................................................................................... 68 Database Console .......................................................................................................................... 69 Patching & Remediation ................................................................................................................... 69 Patch and scan frequency .................................................................................................................... 70 Number of hosts ............................................................................................................................ 71 Configuration management ........................................................................................................... 71 Value of assets ............................................................................................................................... 71 Exposure level ................................................................................................................................ 71 Compliancy ..................................................................................................................................... 71 Putting Patch Management into Practice ............................................................................................ 72 The Software Package System (SPS) ..................................................................................................... 72 Product Metadata .......................................................................................................................... 73 Software Patching Policy................................................................................................................ 76 Applicability Requirements ............................................................................................................ 76 Update Package Design (Automatic Updates) ............................................................................... 78 Patch Deployment ................................................................................................................................ 80 Agent Deployment Package ........................................................................................................... 80 WSUS Distribution.......................................................................................................................... 81 System Center Package Distribution .................................................................................................... 84 Other patch deployment systems ........................................................................................................ 86 Third-Party Patch Integration ........................................................................................................ 86 Publish to Third-Party Deployment Tools ...................................................................................... 86 Useful Resources.............................................................................................................................. 88 Customer Community Resources ......................................................................................................... 88 Flexera?s Learning Center ..................................................................................................................... 88 Terms and Abbreviations ........................................................................... ...................................... 89   Workaround The SVM Practice Guide can be accessed after logging in to your personal user account that is issued only to trusted company contacts representing their company. If you are not yet supplied with an active community account login, please send an email to support@flexera.com and request SVM Support team to issue a new user account for you. Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Software Vulnerability Management Practice Guide through the Flexera Learning Center: https://learn.flexera.com/series/flexera-practice-guides If you?re not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com . ... View more

Summary Custom view for SAM objects historical changes. Synopsis FlexNet Manager Suite provides advanced change tracking capabilities that can be accessed in each inventory device, license, contract, purchase order detail in the ?History? tab in the web UI. The view in the attached document below shows a central overview as an example of all changes that have been applied to the licenses, purchase orders and contracts in an environment. ... View more

Author: Nicolas Rousseau Author Email Address: nrousseau@flexera.com Solution Type: Custom Report Flexera Product & Version: FlexNet  Manager 2016-2020R1 Environment: On Premise Only Development Effort (Days): 2 Implementation Effort (Days): 0.1 Disclaimer:   Read Disclaimer Summary Create custom views for virtualization discovery and inventory. Synopsis The two views described in this document aim providing more visibility into virtualized infrastructures, particularly clusters. A first Virtualization Discovery details provides information on Hypervisors (vCenters, HyperV, Oracle VMs hosts, ESX servers) that have been discovered online by the beacons A second view deep dives into vCenter inventory: list of vCenters (not visible in FNMS), Clusters, Hosts and Virtual Machines, including the virtual machines not inventoried by FNMS (that are not visible in FNMS UI). To create the report in a multi tenant environment, use the SetTenantID store procedure before the report creation section, for instance GO EXEC SettenantID @TenantID = 2 DECLARE @ViewName nvarchar(64), @tenant int SET @ViewName = 'Virtualization Overview incl. vCenters (NR)' -- Unique Name you want to display for object SET @tenant = 2                     -- Tenant for which this view applies EXEC ComplianceCustomViewRegister        @TenantID = 2,        @ComplianceSavedSearchSystemID = NULL,        @SearchName = @ViewName,        @SearchNameResourceName = NULL,        @Description = '(v7) This view catches all, particularily VMs inventoried by vCenter but not by an inventory tool (SCCM, FNIM...), with their hosts, clusters and vCenters',        @DescriptionResourceName = NULL,        @SearchGridLayout = NULL,        @SearchXML = NULL,        @SearchSQL = 'EXEC dbo.nr_VirtualInfraInclMissingVMsAndvCentersCustView',        @SearchSQLConnection = 'Live',        @SearchMapping = NULL,        @ComplianceSearchType = 'Custom',        @ComplianceSearchFolderSystemID = -17,        @CanDelete = 1,        @CanChangeMasterObject = 0   ... View more

Summary Microsoft Licenses Consumptions and Optimizations Custom Reports Synopsis The attached documents building a custom view to give details about Microsoft server and desktop consumptions and gives optimization guidance for Windows Server (Processor metric up to Windows Server 2016, then Core metric from Windows Server 2016 on) and SQL Server. For example, the view brings visibility containing the following data: The hierarchical structure of consumption, servers by server, license by license, like displays in the consumption tab of the licenses details for all licenses The list of covered applications (practical when multiple versions or editions are installed) Everything to tell the story: number of cores, processors, core factor, licensable cores (or processors) Optimization recommendations for Windows Server and SQL Server for ESX servers ... View more

Summary Windows and SQL Server Optimization reports and Automation for ESX servers Synopsis With the complex licensing challenges and optimization opportunities around Microsoft Licensing, the attached document details an automation opportunity to your ESX Servers to take advantage of license optimization opportunities. For example: Microsoft Windows Server Standard licensing in virtualized environments can be challenging, as there are different options for licensing ? Either proportionally to the number of VMs hosted on the ESX with Windows Server Standard ? Either the ESX host for all its processors (prior to Windows Server 2016) or Cores (from Windows Server 2016 on) For SQL Server, a similar rule exists: ? Either you license the Host for all its cores for SQL Server Enterprise (which covers an unlimited number of SQL Standard and Enterprise instances) ? Or you license each SQL Standard on each VM separately (with SQL Server Standard) ? Or you can even license each VM separately with SQL Server Standard or Enterprise (at VM level this time) Windows Server DataCenter being 7 times more expensive than Windows Server Standard, there is a threshold when it is optimal to license the ESX server with one or the other license edition. The calculation can be fastidious do do in Excel... the "Microsoft Server License Consumptions and Optimizations" report above computes the best licensing option. The solution below automates the ESX allocations (+ all their active VMs) to the Windows Server Standard or Windows Server DataCenter licenses. This is important to set the right license names at the beginning of the allocation script. The allocation script is scheduled (as an additional step of the daily Inventory Import and license reconciliation). It starts with deleting all previous allocations, then recalculates the optimal allocations and re-allocates all ESX and their active VMs to the Windows Server DataCenter or Windows Standard license. ... View more

Author: Nicolas Rousseau Author Email Address: nrousseau@flexera.com Solution Type: Custom Report Flexera Product & Version: FlexNet  Manager 2016-2020R1 Environment: On Premise Only Development Effort (Days): 4 Implementation Effort (Days): 0.1 Disclaimer: SOLUTIONS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. NEITHER FLEXERA NOR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT. LICENSEE MAY HAVE OTHER STATUTORY RIGHTS. HOWEVER, TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DURATION OF STATUTORILY REQUIRED WARRANTIES, IF ANY, WILL BE LIMITED TO THE SHORTER OF (I) THE STATUTORILY REQUIRED PERIOD OR (II) THIRTY (30) DAYS FROM LICENSEE’S ACCEPTANCE OF THE AGREEMENT.   Summary Create custom views to understand more details on Oracle instances. Particularly, the document embedded gives the code for implementing an automated generation of the Options.csv file every day and import into a reporting tables that will give all the details on DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS or OEM LMS evidences Synopsis Business need and approach Oracle instances details are collected by the FlexNet Inventory agent. The agent runs an LMS verified script that collects a large quantity of information that is made available by FlexNet Manager in multiple places… but that is not available a flat way (across servers, across instances): Options features inventory details that are stored in the very cryptic and huge “ORCL_OPTIONS.csv” file you can download from the Oracle instances details page (OracleLMSEvidence.zip). Note that the Oracle transparency feature from FNMS 2020R1, allows, instance per instance, to give the “why” of a used instance. All Oracle Applications Account (NR).   Oracle Users, that are actually a mix of Oracle DB users and Oracle Enterprise Business Suite users in the details of each Named User Plus or Oracle Application User license Server Inventory Date, Oracle Inventory Date in the database of Inventory Manager, using the “InventoryReport view”. Instance details (exact version, high water mark, creation date, “isUsed” for options instances accessible from the “attribute” column of the Oracle instances This document gives the steps to create   in an on premise FNMS instance   6 views and implement the ORCL_OPTIONS.csv generation and re-import. These views augment the transparency you can get on Oracle data. The six views are the following Oracle Options Features Usage Details (NR).   This view is compatible from   FNMS 2020R1 onward, that gives a flat view of the feature usages you can find instance per instance when clicking on the “Yes” link in the instance option details (Oracle Transparency) Oracle Instances details incl. Exact Version (NR).   This view shows the same columns as the Oracle Instances screen, plus the Database exact version and additional columns (cost center, corporate unit… that you can easily extend with more attributes or links. Oracle Options Features Details (NR).   Oracle features raw usage information (from ORCL_OPTIONS.csv), filtered on DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS and OEM queries. This view can be extended to more queries types. All Oracle Applications Accounts (NR). Instance users (Database and EBS) Oracle Instances Inventory Date From Inventory Manager (NR).   Instance inventory dates details such as last Oracle inventory Date, last Oracle inventory date of the server, last inventory date of the server etc, extracted from the FNM Inventory database Oracle Instances Options Details (NR).   all details of options and instances (installation date, last used date etc.) extracted from the instances attributes tables (that you can access through the attribute table on an instance detail). This report can have a large number of rows. The approach of the views is the following: They create procedures: nr_XXX in the FNMSCompliance database They create the four associated views, in the FNMP.dbo.ComplianceSavedSearch_MT table, that basically launch the stored procedures to display the view. All views filter the data on “authorized devices” for the user The changes can be simply reverted by deleting the stored procedures and the view from FNMP Web. Views preview Oracle Options Features Usage Details (NR) This view is for customers in FNMS 2020R1 and later versions Preview Oracle Instances details incl. Exact Version (NR) Preview Oracle Options Features Details (NR) Oracle features raw usage information (from ORCL_OPTIONS.csv), filtered on DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS and OEM queries. This view can be extended to more queries types. Preview Oracle Instances Inventory Date From Inventory Manager (NR) Instance inventory dates details such as last Oracle inventory Date, last Oracle inventory date of the server, last inventory date of the server etc, extracted from the FNM Inventory database Preview All Oracle Applications Accounts (NR) Instance users (Database and EBS) Preview Oracle Instances Options Details (NR) Oracle instances options details: all details of options and instances (installation date, last used date etc. Preview ... View more

Summary Oracle Inventory Quality Custom Report Synopsis Oracle Licenses in FlexNet Manager Suite represent a high value and this is critical to trust the data that is retrieved by Oracle inventory. There are many reasons why Oracle inventory can be partial: Oracle Flexera user credential may not work on the target database (when a beacon performs the Oracle inventory) The Flexera oracle user account may be locked on the database The database server may not be inventoried for HW (by Flexera Inventory Manager or SCCM for instance) Attached is steps to build a single view that brings maximum visibility on possible holes in the Oracle inventory and remediation, as well as inventory logs being necessary to investigate. ... View more

Summary How to configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server licenses or Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Virtual Datacenters licenses Synopsis Red Hat licenses sold via processors can be configured three ways in FlexNet Manager Suite depending on their licensing use rights. Please see the attached document for some Red Hat Processor licensing scenarios and how they could be configured to get an accurate consumption. For additional information on Processor license types available in FlexNet Manager Suite, please refer to the Online help. Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server License ? Processor Not Limited Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server License ? Processor Limited Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Virtual Datacenters License ... View more

Owner:   Nicolas Rousseau Solution Type:   Implementation Solution / Cloud Adapter Flexera Product & Version:   FNMS Environment:   Cloud Development Effort: 3 days Implementation Days:   1 Day Pre-Requisites: Web Service API Enabled, Staging database Disclaimer:   Read Disclaimer Summary The goal of this solution is to automate the allocation of unallocated devices according to IP address, Domain Name or computer name. Synopsis The goal of this solution is to automate the allocation of unallocated devices according to IP address, Domain Name or computer name. While this solution can apply to an on-premise FNMS instances, it brings a solution that opens a large number of applications for FNMS Cloud implementations (Automations, Advanced Reporting). ... View more

Summary IBM Practice Guide Synopsis How do I configure IBM applications? How do I configure IBM PVU licensing?   Discussion This is a guide to project planning, installation, configuration, and operation of FlexNet Manager® for IBM. The IBM Practice Guide has been created to help answer some of your FlexNet Manger and IBM Software License Optimization questions. This Practice Guide describes strategies for managing IBM licenses while providing IBM licensing knowledge. We've also outlined an iterative approach (using milestones and work streams) to conducting an IBM license reconciliation project. Using this iterative approach, with each milestone and work stream, your IBM licensing position becomes more refined, optimized and mature, delivering faster results. Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Practice Guides through the Flexera Learning Center which is part of our Customer Community.  Flexera Learning Center: Learning Center (make sure you are logged on with your Community logon and search for Guide) If you're not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com   ... View more

Summary SAP Practice Guide Synopsis This is a guide to project planning, installation, configuration, and operation of FlexNet Manager® for SAP Applications. The SAP Practice Guide has been created to help answer some of your FlexNet Manger and SAP Software License Optimization questions. This Practice Guide describes strategies for managing SAP licenses while providing SAP licensing knowledge. We've also outlined an iterative approach (using milestones and work streams) to conducting a SAP license reconciliation project. Using this iterative approach, with each milestone and work stream, your SAP licensing position becomes more refined, optimized and mature, delivering faster results. Discussion Below is the SAP Practice Guide Table of Contents, with all the useful topics covered: Table of Contents . 2 Scope . 4 FlexNet Manager Suite Coverage Summary . 4 Overview of a SAP License Reconciliation . 5 Overview of Milestones: SAP Considerations . 6 SAP Licensing & FNMS . 7 Introduction to SAP Licensing. 7 Named User Licensing. 7 Package Licensing. 9 SAP Contracts. 9 Indirect Access and Usage. 10 Java Based Systems. 10 Business Objects. 10 Planning and Implementation . 11 Discovery & Inventory Normalization . 12 Solution Architecture. 13 FNMS-SAP Components. 13 Dependent SAP Systems. 14 Environments Using CUA.. 14 Defining the System Landscape. 15 Multiple Solutions Managers. 15 System Scope. 15 SAP Pre-requisites. 15 Implementation Workflow and Responsibilities. 16 Collecting User Inventory. 17 Data Collection Using the Staging Database Monitor 17 Collecting data using the SAP Inventory Agent 18 Collecting Package Data. 18 Activity Checks from SAP Admin Module. 19 License Creation & Optimization . 19 Named Users. 20 Current View vs. Optimized View.. 20 Consolidating users. 20 License types and license hierarchy. 20 Special License Types. 20 License Type Ratios. 20 License Assignment rules: Compliance and Optimization. 20 Package Licenses. 22 Self-Declaration Packages vs. Packages with SAP Measurements. 22 Autocreation from PURL. 22 License Optimization. 22 Optimization Lifecycle. 23 FNMS for SAP vs SAP LAW... 23 Releasing Recommendations to SAP. 24 Reviewing and Analysing Indirect Access data. 24 Modelling non-SAP systems and Users. 26 Extracting Indirect Access data. 26 Reviewing Activity Check Outputs. 26 Reporting & Governance . 27 Gap Analysis. 27 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 27 Custom Reports. 27 Other Resources . 28 Feedback 28 Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Practice Guides through the Flexera Learning Center which is part of our Customer Community.  Flexera Learning Center: Learning Center (make sure you are logged on with your Community logon and search for Guide) If you're not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com   ... View more

Summary SLO Practice Guide Synopsis This is a guide to project planning, installation, configuration, and operation of FlexNet Manager. The SLO Practice Guide has been created to help answer some of your FlexNet Manger and software license optimization questions. This Practice Guide describes strategies for managing software licenses while providing some general licensing knowledge. We've also outlined an iterative approach (using milestones and work streams) to conducting a license reconciliation project. Using this iterative approach, with each milestone and work stream, your licensing position becomes more refined, optimized and mature, delivering faster results. Discussion Below is the SLO Practice Guide Table of Contents, with all the useful topics covered: Table of Contents. 2 Scope. 4 FlexNet Manager Suite Coverage Summary. 4 Overview of a License Reconciliation Project 6 Overview of Milestones. 10 Milestone 0: Pre-engagement Planning. 10 Milestone 1: Initial Insight 11 Milestone 2: Initial Position. 13 Milestone 3: Refined Position. 14 Planning and Implementation. 15 Discovery & Inventory Normalization. 19 Discovery. 19 Inventory. 19 Processor vs Core. 21 Unspecified Editions and Unknown Components in the ARL. 21 Virtualization Inventory. 22 Collection of Supplemental Inventory. 23 Collecting Data. 23 License Creation & Optimization. 24 Creating and Importing a Baseline. 27 Establishing a Baseline. 28 Importing the Baseline. 28 Processing Purchases (including Baselines) 29 License Naming Convention. 29 Processing Baseline Purchases into Licenses. 29 Processing Purchases with Recognized SKUs (including for Baselines) 29 Processing Baseline Purchases with Unrecognized or Blank SKUs. 31 Establishing a Summary of Additional Purchases. 33 Processing Additional Software Purchases into Licenses. 33 Processing Upgrades and Maintenance. 33 Set Ongoing Processes for Purchase Processing - Steady State. 34 Optimization. 34 Product Use Rights. 36 Hard vs Soft Cost Savings. 38 License Re-Harvesting and Shelving. 38 User Optimization. 39 Application Portfolio Rationalization (APR) 40 Maintenance Savings. 41 Virtualization Rules. 42 Underuse of ESX Servers. 43 Overlapping Licenses. 44 Bundle Management 44 Limited Use Licenses. 46 Exemptions (DR, Test/Dev) 47 Restrictions. 48 Reporting & Governance. 49 License Position Reports. 50 Gap Analysis. 50 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 51 Tracking Inventory Saturation. 51 Unlicensed Commercial Applications. 51 Hardware Inventory Health. 51 Software Inventory Health. 52 Advanced SQL reports for license consumption analysis and Oracle / Microsoft Optimization. 52 Other Useful Resources. 56 FlexNet Manager Suite Online Help. 56 Knowledge Base Articles. 56 Flexera Software Training. 56 Flexera Internal Resources. 57 Feedback. 58 Contact Information 59 Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Practice Guides through the Flexera Learning Center which is part of our Customer Community.  Flexera Learning Center: Learning Center (make sure you are logged on with your Community logon and search for Guide) If you're not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com     ... View more

Summary Oracle Practice Guide Synopsis This is a guide to project planning, installation, configuration, and operation of FlexNet Manager® for Oracle. The Oracle Practice Guide has been created to help answer some of your FlexNet Manger and Oracle Software License Optimization questions. This Practice Guide describes strategies for managing Oracle licenses while providing Oracle licensing knowledge. We've also outlined an iterative approach (using milestones and work streams) to conducting an Oracle license reconciliation project. Using this iterative approach, with each milestone and work stream, your Oracle licensing position becomes more refined, optimized and mature, delivering faster results. Discussion Below is the Oracle Practice Guide Table of Contents, with all the useful topics covered: Table of Contents. 2 Scope. 4 FlexNet Manager Suite Coverage Summary. 4 Overview of a License Reconciliation Project 6 Overview of Milestones: Oracle Considerations. 10 Oracle Licensing & FNMS. 11 Oracle Licensing Basics. 11 Term vs. Perpetual 11 Metrics. 11 Technology vs. Application Products. 12 Contracts vs. Policies. 12 Oracle License Types and Metrics. 13 Technology Licensing. 15 Application Licensing. 20 Custom Metrics. 21 Oracle Legacy. 22 Oracle License Agreements. 23 Oracle Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) Library and Product Use Rights Library (PURL) Coverage. 24 Oracle License Management Services (LMS) 24 Overview. 24 Being "audit ready" 26 LMS Tools. 26 Complexity. 28 Planning and Implementation. 29 Milestone 0 (Pre-Engagement Planning) 30 Milestones 1-3. 31 Discovery & Inventory Normalization. 31 Oracle Database Discovery. 33 Inventory. 33 Hardware and Software Inventory. 35 Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) support in the Flexera Inventory Agent 36 Oracle Database Unspecified Editions and Unknown Components in the ARL. 36 Oracle Inventory Troubleshooting Matrix. 37 Virtualization Inventory. 38 Flexera Oracle Inventory (also known as "Database Introspection") 38 Oracle Database Instance Inventory using the FlexNet Inventory Agent 39 Oracle Instance Inventory using Remote Inventory Rules. 40 Oracle Inventory Scanner (aka OraTrack) 41 Oracle Database instance inventory using inventory spreadsheet or CSV Import 41 Oracle Database Options and Management Packs. 41 Additional data collection requirements. 43 Tracking Saturation and Troubleshooting for Oracle Database inventory. 43 Inventory of other application attributes not included in Flexera Oracle Inventory. 44 Oracle Editions (other than for Oracle Database) 44 Applications. 45 IATrack Alternative. 46 License Creation & Optimization. 46 License Creation. 48 Processing Purchases and Recommendations. 48 Oracle Bundles. 48 Optimization. 50 Hard vs Soft Cost Savings. 50 Support Cost Savings. 50 License Re-Harvesting and Shelving. 51 Application Portfolio Rationalization (APR) 52 Optimizing Applications: EBS and Siebel example. 52 Engineered Systems. 55 Working with Customer Support Identifiers (CSIs) 55 Partitioning and Virtualization. 56 Managing Processor and NUP licenses in a single environment 58 Restrictions, Limited Use Licenses and Prerequisites. 59 Data Recovery. 60 Development licenses and the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) 61 Standard Editions and socket-based licensing. 61 Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 62 Different NUP minimums on different servers. 63 Oracle's Matching Service Levels Policy. 63 Oracle in the Cloud Computing Environment 63 Reporting & Governance. 64 License Position Reports. 64 Gap Analysis. 64 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 65 Oracle Server Worksheet 65 Oracle License Optimization Report 65 Oracle Instances view. 67 Advanced reports on Oracle Optimization. 67 Other Resources. 67 Oracle Acronyms. 68 Feedback. 69 Contact Information 70   Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Practice Guides through the Flexera Learning Center which is part of our Customer Community.  Flexera Learning Center: Learning Center (make sure you are logged on with your Community logon and search for Guide) If you're not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com     ... View more

Summary Microsoft Practice Guide Synopsis This is a guide to project planning, installation, configuration, and operation of FlexNet Manager® for Microsoft. The Microsoft Practice Guide has been created to help answer some of your FlexNet Manger and Microsoft Software License Optimization questions. This Practice Guide describes strategies for managing Microsoft licenses while providing Microsoft licensing knowledge. We've also outlined an iterative approach (using milestones and work streams) to conducting a Microsoft license reconciliation project. Using this iterative approach, with each milestone and work stream, your Microsoft licensing position becomes more refined, optimized and mature, delivering faster results. Discussion Below is the Microsoft Practice Guide Table of Contents, with all the useful topics covered: Table of Contents . 2 Scope . 4 FlexNet Manager Suite Coverage Summary . 4 Overview of a License Reconciliation Project 7 Overview of Milestones: Microsoft Considerations . 9 Microsoft Licensing & FNMS . 10 Microsoft License Types. 10 Microsoft Contracts . 11 Enterprise Agreement (or Enterprise Subscription Agreement). 11 Microsoft Product and Services Agreement (MPSA) (replaced Select Plus 7/2015). 13 Select Plus Agreement (replaced the Select Agreement 7/2011). 13 Select Agreement. 14 Open Agreements (Open Value, Open Value Subscription, & Open License). 14 Online Subscription Program (MOSP). 14 Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). 15 Microsoft Business & Service Agreement. 15 Product Terms (Formally Known as Product Use Rights). 16 Microsoft Volume Licensing Product Use Rights Examples . 16 Software Assurance (Microsoft's form of Maintenance). 17 FNMS Microsoft Product Use Rights Library (PURL). 17 Complexities . 19 Planning and Implementation . 22 Milestone 0 (Pre-Engagement Planning). 22 Milestones 1-3 . 23 Discovery & Inventory Normalization . 24 Discovery . 24 Hardware & Virtualization Inventory . 25 Virtualization Data Collection (vCenter/vSphere). 26 Hyper V . 26 Application Virtualization: XenApp . 26 Desktop Virtualization: XenDesktop/VDI. 27 AppV . 27 Software & Manual Inventory . 28 Software Inventory . 28 Manual Inventory using inventory spreadsheet or CSV/XLSX Import. 29 License Creation & Optimization . 29 License Creation . 30 Microsoft Contracts . 30 Proof of License for All Microsoft Software . 31 Establishing the Microsoft Baseline . 32 Optimization . 36 Hard vs Soft Cost Savings . 36 SQL Server 2012 & 2014 Core Licensing . 37 Optimizing SQL Server in FNMS . 40 Optimizing Windows Server in FNMS . 48 Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2 Processor Licensing . 49 Windows Server 2016 Core Licensing . 50 Core Infrastructure Server . 53 Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). 54 Virtual Desktops . 56 Office 365 . 58 Client Access Licenses (CALs). 59 Optimizing CALs in FNMS . 60 Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). 61 Reporting & Governance . 61 License Position Reports . 62 Gap Analysis . 62 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 62 Tracking Inventory Saturation . 62 Unlicensed Commercial Applications . 63 Hardware Inventory Health . 63 Software Inventory Health . 64 Advanced SQL reports and Microsoft Optimization . 64 Other . 64 Beyond Milestone 3 . 64 Other Resources . 65 Microsoft Acronyms . 66 Feedback . 66 Contact Information . 67 Additional Information Customers, partners & employees can access the Practice Guides through the Flexera Learning Center which is part of our Customer Community.  Flexera Learning Center: Learning Center (make sure you are logged on with your Community logon and search for Guide) If you're not able to access the guide, please contact learning@flexera.com   ... View more