IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) and the IBM License Service
If you have been trying to understand IBM licensing, you will no doubt have come across the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) and possibly also the IBM License Service.
As an IBM licensing consultant with extensive experience in IBM license optimisation and management, I have produced the following high-level overview of these tools to highlight why you may need them and outline what they can and can’t do.
First, to ensure we are all on the same page, here is a quick recap on the difference between ‘full-capacity’ licensing and ‘sub-capacity’ licensing.
Sub-capacity & Full-capacity Licensing
· ‘Full-capacity’ means you must license the whole server irrespective of what you use
· ‘Sub-capacity’ means you only have to license the number of cores which are using the software
This is best illustrated in the following example.
Being licensed on a sub-capacity basis works out $140,000 cheaper than if you have to license on a full-capacity basis.
If you factor in that this is just for one server and multiply this up by the number of environments you have, you will quickly see why sub-capacity licensing is such a big deal and how IBM software licensing costs can quickly escalate into the millions of dollars!
So why do I need ILMT and/or the IBM License Service?
In order to benefit from ‘sub-capacity’ licenses, you must have ILMT deployed to track software usage in non-containerized environments and the IBM License Service deployed for containerized environments.
Unfortunately, to make this even more complicated, there are a whole set of rules and regulations which can mean that even if you have ILMT deployed, you may be charged for your IBM software licenses on a ‘full-capacity’ basis — for example, if you do not have the ILMT agent deployed everywhere where IBM software is installed.
‘ILMT Lite’ can also be used to track license usage for non-containerized environments if you have up to 500 target Virtual Machines or LPARs.
You do not always need to have ILMT and/or the IBM License Service deployed, for example, in the following scenarios:
· You do not need ILMT if you have less than 1,000 employees or contractors and if the number of licenses required to license all IBM software running in a virtual environment does not exceed 1,000 PVUs when measured on a ‘full-capacity’ basis.
· There are a couple of other less likely scenarios such as if you intend to license your IBM software on a ‘full-capacity’ basis or if ILMT does not provide support for the virtualisation technology you are using.
So, what do ILMT and the IBM License Service do?
Firstly, let’s highlight one of the things that these tools do NOT do.
The tools do not automatically issue software usage data to IBM. This is done by you, the customer.
It is vital that you fully understand what this data tells IBM before you issue this to them, otherwise you will make a costly rod for your own back!
Back to what ILMT and the IBM License Service do:
· They report the usage of IBM software in your estate. Mainly software licensed by a processor-based licensing metric but beware of the ‘Bundling Definitions’ report.
· They provide an IBM auditor key information to dig further and get you to pay ‘full-capacity’ for your IBM software where you have not adhered to the set of rules and regulations I referred to above.
What ILMT and the IBM License Service do NOT do
You will be surprised to learn that ILMT cannot actually report usage on its own.
ILMT can detect IBM software and report on software usage, but it cannot carry out the necessary bundling and exclusions tasks which ensure the reports the tools produce are accurate reflections of your usage.
To give an example, when ILMT was deployed for a customer, it showed the IBM software costs were $45m higher than after I had carried out the bundling and the exclusion activities!
This key bundling and exclusion activity is often not carried out or at best not completed optimally and will directly impact what you pay for.
Consolidating usage figures
You may ask yourself, if I have usage showing in two systems, how do I consolidate this? IBM has created the IBM License Service Reporter for this which brings together usage from all the clusters where the IBM License Service is deployed and can also report usage from ILMT if the License Sender API is installed.
Issuing reports
If I could give you one piece of advice in relation to ILMT and the IBM License Service, it would be that you fully understand what this data tells IBM before it is issued to them, otherwise you will make a costly rod for your own back!
Without understanding this data fully, you may inadvertently declare to IBM that you are exposed which can easily lead to millions of dollars’ worth of cost or worse still lead to a very pressured audit!
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 at Version 1.
