IBM licensing overview part 2
IBM software usage
Enterprise software licensing and its associated terms and policies can create confusion and complexity, often resulting in considerable financial waste and/or significant unbudgeted fines for non-compliance.
If you are new to IBM licensing or have a complex IBM software license estate, understanding where to start to reduce the complexity or cost may cause a delay in resolving the concern, potentially compounding upon the financial outcome.
As an IBM license consultant and expert in IBM cost and risk optimisation, my blog series provides an overview of the following introductory topics;
· Software entitlements and subscriptions
· Software usage
· IBM license baselines, remedial actions and audits
Part I covered software entitlement and subscriptions and this post will focus on software usage.
Before I delve into this topic, I need to explain a bit about licensing metrics.
Licensing metrics
IBM has one of the largest number of licensing metrics in the software industry — nevertheless, the licensing metrics can be broken down into two broad categories.
1. Processor-based metrics
2. Other common metrics
Processor-based metrics
The first thing to understand about processor-based metrics is the concept of ‘full-capacity’ and ‘sub-capacity.’
· ‘Full-capacity’ means you must license the whole server irrespective of what you actually use.
· ‘Sub-capacity’ means you only have to license the number of cores which are using the software.
To benefit from ‘sub-capacity’, you must have the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) and/or the IBM License Service deployed wherever you have IBM software installed.
The following table shows how ‘sub-capacity’ and ‘full-capacity’ compare cost-wise using a real-life example.
To summarise the above example; to avoid a potential cost of $160,000 for one server, it is essential to have ILMT and/or the IBM License Service deployed.
During an audit, any issues with the ILMT and/or the IBM License Service, such as it being out of date or not having sufficient coverage, can be used to reclaim monies owed to IBM for non-compliance in their licensing and these can very quickly escalate into the millions!
Processor-based metrics
Going back to Processor-based metrics, there are three processor-based metrics.
- Processor Value Units (PVUs)
- Resource Value Units — Managed Activated Processor Cores (RVU-MAPCs)
- Virtual Processor Cores (VPC)
At a high level, the PVU is the number of cores multiplied by a factor for the type of processor used.
RVU-MAPCs are the same but without the factor for the type of processor used.
VPCs are the number of Processor Cores in an unpartitioned Physical Server, or a virtual core assigned to a Virtual Server.
Other common metrics
IBM has one of the largest portfolios of software of any of the software vendors in existence today. It also has the largest range of licensing metrics to accompany this.
For the purposes of this article, let us just consider the following metrics which are commonly encountered across the most popular IBM products:
- User-based metrics such as Authorized User Value Units (AUVUs).
- Install-based metrics are where the software usage is measured based on the number of devices where it is installed.
- Resource Value Unit-based metrics such as the number of data records relating to individuals.
Measuring usage
Hopefully, the high-level summary of licensing metrics above has given you sufficient insight into each key IBM software licensing metric.
Next comes the challenge of how you measure your software usage. As you will no doubt expect by now, this is not always straightforward as each product and each metric tends to have its own ‘gotchas’.
What do I have the rights to use?
We covered entitlements and subscriptions at a high level in my earlier blog but the translation of entitlement into what this means you have rights to use is frequently a challenging area.
Vast amounts of information are held on IBM’s Licensing Information website, such as this licensing document on IBM’s Master Data Management product.
This example shows for this version of the Master Data Management product which specific versions of products can be bundled with it and the ratios to be employed when the RVU metric is applied.
How will I measure it?
It is important to step back and figure out how you will measure and record your software usage for each product and each metric as every permutation will have its own challenges.
Below, I have given some good examples of how you can measure usage for each metric:
· For a User based metric you may be able to draw some data from a console stating how many users there are of a system.
· For an Install based metric you may be able to draw on a number of data sources to evidence where this specific software item is installed but you should note that ILMT will also likely detect this software.
· Resource Value Unit-based metrics can be tricky to measure as they are so varied. For example, Content Collector for SAP is actually measured based on data drawn from the SAP system. It is very difficult to give generic advice on how to ascertain usage for products measured by this metric as it is a catch-all metric.
· Finally, but by no means least, processor-based metrics are tracked in ILMT or the IBM License Service. I have written a blog on this specifically so suggest it is worth reading that separately.
Other considerations
Even once you have measured your usage, there are a number of other considerations to be made with regards to usage such as applying the policies relating to Disaster Recovery (DR) Cold and Warm Standby, and Dual Run Waivers. These are both weighty topics that can make a significant impact on your bottom line, so if you have any questions related to these topics, please contact me directly.
Summary
Once you have established what your IBM software usage is, you can then look at your overall IBM licensing baseline — my last post in this series will cover this topic in more detail.
For more information
As IBM license experts, we are deeply familiar with a wide range of license considerations and are happy to help with any license queries you may have.
We are offering a complimentary licensing advisory session to understand any license concerns or projects that may impact your compliance position to advise on the best way forward.
Alternatively, we can take a look at your ILMT Audit Snapshot and provide a recommendation as to how you might carry out exclusions or classifications and an indication of how much this might save you in financial terms.
To arrange one of these sessions, please go to our website or contact us.
Please follow the link to read more on our IBM License Optimisation services.
About the Author:
Kevin Barnes is an IBM SAM Consultant here at Version 1.
