Software License Management Guide¶
Introduction¶
This document describes how to use the Inuvika Software License Management functionality provided as part of Inuvika OVD Enterprise.
Overview¶
The Software License Management component within the Inuvika OVD Enterprise provides the following capabilities:
- Asset Management: It tracks data related to the software licenses for an application
- License Allocation: OVD Enterprise automatically allocates a license to a user who is authorized to access the application as defined by application publications
- Application and License Usage: OVD Enterprise collects and stores application usage data
- Notifications: It provides the ability to send alert emails when certain conditions exist such as license expiry
- License Reporting: OVD Enterprise provides a number of reports on software license allocation and application usage
The Software License Management component can be used to monitor application usage so that actual software license needs can be assessed.
Important
OVD Enterprise does not enforce license compliance for an application. Users can therefore run an application that has been published for them even if insufficient licenses are available within OVD.
The sections below explain how to manage software licenses within an OVD Enterprise, how OVD allocates licenses and how to monitor use of applications and licenses.
Managing Software Licenses¶
Licenses¶
The OVD Administration Console in OVD Enterprise provides a user interface to add, modify and delete licenses for regular and static applications. The main page is reached via "Applications / Software Licenses".
The following details can be set for a license:
- Application
- Vendor (optional)
- Cost (optional)
- License Type
- Start Date
- Expiry Date
- Number of Licenses
- Key/License File (optional)
In the Administration Console, the administrator can filter the display of licenses by Application Name, License Type, and Days Left. The Days Left filter refers to the maximum number of days left before a license expires. The Administration Console also provides the ability to export all the data matching the current filter to a CSV file.
Multiple licenses can be created for a single application reflecting different validity dates. In this case, each license must be of the same license type.
License Types¶
A License type must be assigned to a software license. Internally, OVD Enterprise does not differentiate between license types in terms of any associated behaviour. The license type is used for asset management purposes only. In addition to a default set of license types provided, the administrator can define additional custom license types.
OVD has seven default license types:
- Concurrent User License
- Installed User License
- Named User License
- Pay Per Use
- Open Source License
- Demo License
- Processor License
Key Files¶
A key file/value can be stored alongside the license. A key file/value can be uploaded/set when creating a license or later when modifying a license. Key files can also be downloaded using the Administration Console interface.
Note
A license can have either a key or a key file, not both.
API Example¶
You can retrieve the components (file_name and file_data) using the
keyfile_info API operation and create the license key file as follows:
$keyfile = $SESSION['service']->keyfile_info($id);
$filename = $keyfile['file_name'];
$data = base64_decode($keyfile['file_data']);
header("Content-type: text/csv");
header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache");
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
$file = fopen('php://output', 'w');
fputs($file, $data);
fclose($file);License Allocation¶
OVD Enterprise allocates software licenses automatically to users that have access to licensed applications as defined by the set of application publications.
Changes that affect license allocation include:
- Create, modify or delete a license
- Create or delete a user
- Create or delete a publication
- Add or remove a user to/from a user group
- Add or remove an application to/from an application group
Internal Database VS LDAP¶
If users and user groups are managed using the Internal OVD Database, then the allocation or de-allocation of a license to a user occurs whenever a change is made that will affect the allocation of license. If users are being managed in an LDAP or Active Directory data store, then the allocation algorithm will run in the background at periodic intervals (hourly) and retrieve data from the directory to analyze any changes that might have been made.
Allocation Details¶
Details of license status and allocation can be monitored on the "Software Licenses" page in the Administration Console.
More specific allocation details (on a per-user, per-application basis) can be retrieved using the Licenses Report (see Reports).
Expired Licenses¶
Licenses are automatically de-allocated from users when they expire. Affected users are then allocated available licenses for the same application. You can also choose to be notified if there are not enough available licenses (see Application Usage).
Application Usage¶
OVD tracks application usage for all users and all applications (whether they are licensed or not). This data is available in the "Application Usage Report" and "Application Usage by User Group Report" (see the Reports section).
The usage tracking is performed on each Application Server in the OVD farm and sent to the OVD Session Manager every 30 seconds.
Note
In a specific case where an application is run for less than 30 seconds during which no log data are sent from Application server, OVD Session manager will log 31 seconds.
Limitations¶
It is recommended that a user does not have access to an application through multiple channels (for example, the user belongs to two user groups that both have the same application published, or the same application belongs to two application groups that are both published to the same user group).
OVD Enterprise will store only one user group associated with the user when tracking data about application usage.
License Notifications¶
The "Notifications" section within the Administration Console provides the ability to configure OVD to send emails when certain alert conditions are met as described below. Note that all alerts are also saved to the main log whether email notifications are configured or not.
Set Up¶
- OVD must be configured to use an SMTP service. Go to "System Settings" on the "System" page and fill in the details for Email Settings (see the Administration Guide for details).
- Go to "Notifications" on the "System" page and add the email addresses of those administrators who should receive alerts via email.
Alerts¶
License Breach¶
A License Breach alert is sent if there are not enough licenses for all users that have an access to an application.
License Expiry¶
A License Expiry alert is sent twice:
- When a license has expired.
- When a license is going to expire in "Days to License Expiry" or less. The "Days to License Expiry" is a setting in "System Settings", that is set to 10 days by default. This warning alert is only sent once per license (unless the license's expiry date is modified).
License Threshold Reached¶
A License Threshold Reached alert is sent when license threshold for an application is reached.
The threshold refers to the number of unallocated licenses. This value can be set for each application on "Application details" page in the Administration Console.
Reports¶
Licenses Currently Consumed¶
To view Licenses Currently Consumed Report, go to "Application Licensing" on the "Status and Reports" page.
For each allocated license, following details are available:
- User
- Application
- Date of Allocation
- Expiry Date
The output can be filtered by an Application, User, and Date interval. The date interval specifies the time period within which the allocation date must lie. The Administration Console allows the full set of result data to be exported as a CSV report for further analysis.
Application Usage Report¶
The Application Usage report provides detailed information about each application that was executed on the OVD farm.
To view Application Usage Report, go to "Application Usage History By User" on the "Status and Reports" page.
For each instance of an application run by specific user, following details are available:
- User
- User Group
- Application
- License Type (set to 'No Licenses' if the application is not licensed for that user)
- Start Time
- End Time
- Duration
- Server
The output can be filtered by an Application, User, User Group, License Type, and Date interval. The date interval specifies the time period within which the Start Time must lie. The Administration Console allows the full set of result data to be exported as a CSV report for further analysis.
Note
Usage is tracked for all regular and static applications, whether they have licenses or not.
Application Usage by User Group Report¶
The Application Usage by User Group report provides aggregate usage information for each application used on a user group basis.
To view Application Usage Report, go to "Application Usage History By User Group" on the "Status and Reports" page.
For each instance of an application run by a specific user group, following details are available:
- User Group
- Application Name
- Duration
- Server
The output can be filtered by an Application, User Group, and Date interval. The date interval specifies the time period within which the Start Time must lie. The Administration Console allows the full set of the result data to be exported as a CSV report for further analysis.
API¶
APIs are available for all the functionality described above except for downloading a set of data as a CSV file.
For full details please refer to the Administration API Guide document.