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This glossary lists terms that are specific to License Statistics and license usage monitoring.

License manager A solution that provides the ability to manage licenses. (See also license server.)

Actions

Request for license

A request made by a user to obtain a particular software license.

Borrow A type of license usage that allows a user to use a network license without being connected to the license server.
Usage

Refers to the use of a license, which means that the license is taken from a pool of available licenses.

A user can use two licenses of the same feature, as shown below.

Users Using License


Denial  The denial of a request for a license.
Monitoring  Gathering realtime information from a particular license server about feature usage details.
Importing Gathering information from a license server log file about feature usage details.

Entities

SoftwareAn application.
Log fileOne or more ASCII text files written by a license server. 
License
License for particular software.
Feature

The definition of a license.

The parts of a feature are:

  1. Name (for example, Windows).
  2. Version (one feature can have multiple versions, such as Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and so on).
  3. Type, which can be:
    1. Floating
    2. Node-locked
    3. Token

As shown in the diagram below, a feature is defined by its name, version and type, licensed for a particular software. There can be multiple versions with the same name, but each version can have only three license types: nodelocked, floating, or token. Although the features may share the same name, each feature with a different version and/or type is an individual, unique feature.

Feature

 

The following diagram shows an example of features with the same name but with different versions and types.


Features Example


A feature on a license server refers to a feature with a particular name, version and type on a particular license server. This means that features with the same name and different versions can be placed on different license servers. 

The example below shows features that are on two License Servers, one in the USA and one in Poland.

To get more accurate statistics about usage, we can look at the versions. We have two versions: one used in both departments and one used only in Poland.

If we want even more accurate statistics, we can look at the specific types of licenses, which show that one type is used in both departments, one is used only in the USA, and one is used only in Poland.

Note: This example is based on the license servers having the same vendor; otherwise, there could be conflicts between name, version, and type.


Features Representation


License manager

A solution that provides the ability to manage licenses.
User An application or person that requests a license.
Host 

The computer on which a user is accessing a license.

A user can use a feature on more than one host, and a host can be used by more than one user, as shown below.

User on Hosts


License server

Software hosting licenses for a single software vendor. A license server can be one of the following:

  • Import license server: A license server from which data was imported.
  • Realtime license server: A license server for which data were gathered through monitoring.
  • Monitored license server : Realtime license server for which license usage data is being gathered. 
  • License server group: Two or more license servers that are treated as one. 
VendorThe manufacturer of a software application using a particular license manager.
Gathering Type The license server type (Realtime or Imported).
Query Interval A value (number of minutes) specified for how often feature usage data is gathered for a monitored license server.
Linux systemRefers to Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Mac OS X and FreeBSD platforms.
Windows systemRefers to Win32 or Win64 platform.

 

 

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