The information on this page refers to License Statistics versions prior to 6.1, which changed the name of the "Error Log" grid to "Event Log." If you are running a previous version of License Statistics, see documentation for previous versions.

How does License Statistics run?

License Statistics runs as a service on Windows and as a daemon on Linux.

For more information, see Running License Statistics.

What is the difference between License Statistics realtime usage and imported usage reporting?

Imported usage reporting lets you import and review log files from a number of license servers, whereas realtime usage reporting allows you to collect realtime data from the license server at configurable time intervals.

Since imported usage reporting doesn't require a connection to the license server, it can be used for:

  • Billing purposes, where the license servers are at the customer's site and License Statistics software is at the vendor's site, making this feature especially helpful for companies that do back-billing or pay-per-use billing.
  • Analyzing data from remote license servers in departments that run on separate networks.

For more information, see License Statistics Overview.

How much does License Statistics cost?

License Statistics pricing is based on the number of unique users and license servers you wish to monitor. License Statistics starts at 1500 EUR for monitoring up to 100 users and 10 license servers.

See Determining license usage for more usage-specific information.

For full pricing details, please contact X-Formation.

Is License Statistics license usage data reliable?

With License Statistics, you can import existing data from a number of supported log files, including FlexNet (encrypted) report logs. The imported data is 100% accurate and can be used for reliable billing.

License Statistics in real-time mode uses data sampling to gather statistics, which will have small inaccuracies. However, over time, you can easily see a trend, and for most real applications (where users use the application for hours), the results average out. So, while License Statistics' data sampling method is not strictly speaking 100% accurate, it provides real-time reporting and flexibility, and can be run on virtually any license manager.

Can I install the License Statistics on a Linux machine and view results on a Windows machine?

You can access all License Statistics data for all monitored applications from an online, easy-to-use UI.

What do I do if I see that the status of my license server is "Down", "Unknown" or "Internal Error"?

The license server status that appears as "Down", "Unknown" or "Internal Error" indicates that the monitored license server is unable to gather proper usage data (see License Servers for more status-specific information).

Therefore, when the status of your license server is other than "Up", you should review the information stored in the License Statistics Event Log (to access the Event Log, select the Support page under the Administration section in the left navigation menu). The error log reports connectivity or password-related issues and other problems that may affect functioning of your license server. When, after reading the messages and trying to investigate the problem on your own you're still having trouble with your license server, please contact X-Formation support for further assistance.

Note: License Statistics allows you to subscribe to email alerts for servers that are unable to collect proper usage data, so you may want to receive such notifications to avoid similar problems in the future.

Running an SQL query on the License Statistics database

You can obtain custom reports of license usage information by running a SQL query on the License Statistics database, using either the License Statistics UI or a command line.

For more information, see Generating custom SQL reports.

Extending License Statistics reports with LDAP information

This tutorial takes you through the process of enhancing your existing reports with helpful information from other data sources. This is useful when you want to generate more descriptive, user-friendly reports. To do that, you need to be familiar with Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc.

The following steps are designed to extend the Usage Per User report with LDAP information.

  1. Log into License Statistics.
  2. Select the Usage Per User tab from the Reports page.
  3. Prepare sample data to be used in your report and make settings (for example, filters). Note that the data needs to be sorted alphabetically.
  4. Download your report in the CSV format using the Save As button.

  5. Export information about users by clicking the SQL Console tab in the Administration page.
  6. Paste and run the following query:
    SELECT U.Name, CONCAT_WS(" ", FirstName, LastName) as Fullname FROM UserDetails UD INNER JOIN User U ON UD.UserId = U.Id ORDER BY U.Name
  7. Output the result to the CSV format.
  8. Paste these two reports in two separate Excel spreadsheets in one Excel file. To do this, you can simply open the exported Usage Per User report and copy LDAP information to another spreadsheet.

  9. Move back to the first sheet, add a new header named "User Details" and paste a VLOOKUP function to every field in this column.
    (Note that the syntax of the function may vary depending on whether you're using Excel or LibreOffice Calc.). For example, for Excel 2013 you may use the following syntax:

    =VLOOKUP($B2;Sheet2!$A$1:$B$7;2)

    where:

    • VLOOKUP is a function that performs a vertical lookup by searching for specific information located in a sorted table.

    • Column B from Sheet1 contains username and number 2 indicates the number of the current row.

    • Range of data indicates data that will be used by VLOOKUP, using cells from column B.

    • Number 2 indicates the column from Sheet2 for which the matching value must be returned (in this case user's first name and last names).

  10. If everything goes well you will see a final result similar to the following:

    If you think that this situation can be a common occurrence, don't hesitate to inform us.

What should I do if my maximum user count is exceeded?

Contact us to upgrade your License Statistics license if you need to monitor more users.

Why does the Min Used column on the Usage Per Feature report show value greater than 0 although the Hours Used column does not show 24 hours?

The Min Used column describes the minimum number of used licenses for the feature used in a particular time period.

The value shown by this column depends on the usage data gathered from the license server; therefore, it can be 0 even though the value shown in the Hours Used column is equal or greater than 24 hours. This column can also show a value other than 0 which indicates that the license server was not able to gather proper usage data over 24 hours without interruption; for example, the server was unreachable, disabled, or there were problems with gathering data.

This situation can be illustrated by the following examples:

  1. The license server was gathering proper usage data over 24 hours, during which time the user was using 2 licenses on different hosts for 6 hours, and no license was used for the rest of the day, i.e. for 12 hours. In this situation the Min Used value is 0 although the Used Time is calculated as follows: 2 * 12 hours = 24 hours.
  2. The user started the license server at 9 pm and he was using 1 license for 3 hours that remained till the end of the day. The Used Hours value is 3 hours and the Min Used value is 1.

Note that the Min Used column appears in the Feature Usage History and Usage Per Feature reports.

Does License Statistics require an internet connection to run?

License Statistics does not require an internet connection to run. However, it is important to note that an internet connection is required to activate a License Statistics license. You can activate a License Statistics license on a machine other than the machine where License Statistics is installed. Also note that a stable network connection is required between the client machine, on which License Statistics runs, and the license server, which delivers the license usage data to the client.

For more information, see Introduction.

Does the "Maintenance expires" message mean that my software will expire?

The following informational message appears when the maintenance agreement for License Statistics is close to expiration:

"Maintenance expires in (x) days! Please contact your reseller for renewal today!"

Why you should renew your software maintenance

There are many important benefits to keeping your X-Formation software maintenance up to date. 

All perpetual licenses include 1 year of updates and support (any licenses purchased after the original purchase are added to your current maintenance plan). After the first year, maintenance is available for just 25% of the current, regular (non-discounted) price. This is a significant savings over allowing maintenance to lapse and then repurchasing the software at a later date.

Renewing your software maintenance gives you continued access to the best product support in the industry, which includes:

Most importantly, you’ll continue to have uninterrupted access to new versions of the software as they’re released. We’re constantly improving our products, based directly on feedback from customers like you, so you won’t want to miss out on our upcoming releases. (Note that your maintenance must be up to date to purchase any add-on software product.)

Why can't I use port 80 for the License Statistics server under Linux?

For Linux, you can use port 80 for the License Statistics server only if you have root privileges.

See HTTP Server configuration for more information.

How does License Statistics report usage for multiple time zones?

While monitoring license servers in varying time zones, License Statistics uses the local time zone of the license server for all the statistics it collects.

See Timezone troubleshooting page for more information.

Does License Statistics decrypt FLEXlm/FlexNet report log files to generate statistics?

License Statistics decrypts FLEXlm/FlexNet log files. However, there are limitations for importing data using the trial version of License Statistics.

For more information, see FLEXlm and FlexNet.

Can I monitor applications on more than one server?

You can monitor applications running on any number of servers. However, License Statistics can be installed on only one server, unless you purchase additional licensing to install License Statistics on multiple servers.

What type of license usage information does License Statistics offer?

Apart from reports based on specified criteria, License Statistics UI offers standard set of information:

  • current and historical license usage,
  • current license usage for each feature for the given vendor, including used licenses, borrowed licenses, total number of licenses, and the percentage of license us,
  • license usage throughout the month, including minimum, average, and maximum users and utilization for used and borrowed licenses; percentage of use for each license for the given month; and how many hours each license was in use,
  • monthly comparisons of each feature, including hours of usage based on the number of licenses.

See Viewing feature details and Viewing usage reports for more information.

How do I renew my software?

There is no need to contact us regarding your software renewal. When your X-Formation software product is nearing expiration, we'll send you an automatically generated email with a Proforma invoice for license renewal.

  • For 60-day payment terms, the renewal invoice will be sent to you 90 days prior to the software expiration date.
  • For 30-day payment terms, the renewal invoice will be sent to you 60 days prior to the software expiration date.

If you require your Purchase Order number to be included in the invoice, you can add it using the form at http://www.x-formation.com/sa/set-po-number.html. You will need your activation key and quote/Proforma number to complete this form. For your convenience, your emailed quote includes a personalized link that automatically fills in your activation key and quote/Proforma number on this form.

Please note that X-Formation's invoicing system is completely automated; therefore, if you require a different method of invoicing other than the automatic Proforma invoice or require a printed invoice, a fee of 55 EUR will be charged for administrating the invoice.