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doc/4.0.0/Working With Portal/Using Widgets/Software Metering

1. Software Metering Widget

Contents

  1. Software Metering Widget
    1. Purpose
    2. Creating widget
      1. Step 1
      2. Step 2
        1. Add program - Step 1
        2. Add program - Step 2
        3. Add program - Step 3
        4. Add license
        5. Add program - Step 4
        6. Add binary
    3. Using Widget
      1. Navigation
      2. Details

1.1. Purpose

The purpose of this widget is to give a precise insight of the license compliance of selected programs. It allows to know if one has enough licenses according to the number of desktops having the said program installed; it assesses also if some of the licenses could be spared because the program is actually rarely used (or even not at all).

1.2. Creating widget

1.2.1. Step 1

  1. select if the results should be grouped or not. Note that if results are grouped by a category then licenses could be assigned globally or per group and if results are grouped by hierarchies then licenses should be assigned to a node of the hierarchy. But all licenses should be on same level


    wizard_step1.png

1.2.2. Step 2

  1. enter the time period (in days)
  2. define the programs to measure
  3. optionally enter email addresses as recipients of alerts. If no addresses are specified then there will be no alerts, even if alerts have been enabled in program definition.


    wizard_step2.png

1.2.2.1. Add program - Step 1

  1. enter a name to identify the program. Each name should be unique in the widget
  2. optionally enter an URL to give information on the program
  3. choose how the packages will be selected, using a list or with an investigation


    wizard_addprog_step1.png

1.2.2.2. Add program - Step 2

Depending on the previous step, you will

  1. choose one or more packages in the list. Only packages used at least one time by a source are in the list. You can add or remove multiple packages by using ctrl+click and/or shift+click in the list


    wizard_addprog_step2_list.png

  2. if necessary, edit the version of the package. By default all versions of a package are selected. Depending on publisher, the version could be integrated directly in the name (like in this example with Office), but the name could be generic and the version permits to distinguish different packages. In the example below, the NEXThink Finder package has been selected. Editing the version permits to limit to old 3.2 version. In this case, if the '*' is used then both versions 3.2 and 4.0 will be included


    wizard_edit_packageversion.png

  3. OR enter an investigation which returns packages


    wizard_addprog_step2_inv.png

1.2.2.3. Add program - Step 3

  1. if results are grouped by hierarchy, then all licenses will be set on the same level of the hierarchy and this level should be selected here before adding the licenses
  2. add licenses for the program. It is possible to add multiple licenses for the same program, at least one license should be defined

  3. optionally enable alerts on licenses usage or expiration and enter a threshold which will trigger the alert

    wizard_addprog_step3.png

1.2.2.4. Add license

  1. enter a reference to identify the license
  2. optionally enter the number of licenses for this program. If the field is left blank, then the number is unlimited.
  3. optionally enter a description of the license
  4. set an expiration date. By default there is no expiration

  5. assign the license to a particular group or let it global

Note that:

  • if multiple licenses are defined for the same group (global included) then quantity are summed.
  • it is not possible to mix licenses assigned to global and assigned to groups
  • when results are grouped by hierarchies then a node of the level selected should be defined


  • wizard_addlicense.png

1.2.2.5. Add program - Step 4

  1. optionally, define some significant binaries. These binaries permit to compute statistics about package usage
    • defines a list of binaries, in this case the executable name and its version should be defined
    • use an investigation which gives the list of binaries. This investigation is executed at each computation. It implies that the list could evolve day after day.

Note that the maximum number of binaries is 30. During the compute, if the investigation returns more than 30 binaries then the compute is stopped.

  1. defines the usage threshold. If the sum of usage of all significant binaries is under the threshold then the sources is considered as under using the package. By default 0 is set, it means that only sources don't using at all any of binaries are in the list.


    wizard_addprog_step4.png

1.2.2.6. Add binary

If significant binaries are defined by a list, then each one should be defined.

  1. executable name, it should be the exact name with the .exe extension

  2. version of binary, a start with operation is applied. * is not allowed, at least one number should be used.


    wizard_addbinary.png

1.3. Using Widget

The main view display, for each program, information about number of sources having the program installed, the number of valid license and the number of sources don't using enough the binaries. If results are grouped by hierarchies like in the example below then the view is for a particular node. Since licenses could be defined only for one level then if the node is not on this level then there is no status (gray icon), no information about purchased licenses and no compliancy.


  • view_global.png

The bullet shows the status of license usage:

  • green: under the threshold
  • yellow: between threshold and 100%
  • red: higher than 100%
  • gray: not applicable for this level

If more than one program has been configured and/or results are grouped by a category, then it is possible to navigate through the result to obtain statistics for a particular program or a keyword. If both program an keyword are selected then details are displayed.


  • view_program.png

You can see in this example that if no licenses are defined for a program but this program is regardless installed on some sources, the status is red. If there was no installation then the status will be green since it respect the license (no license but no installation). The compliance permits to see if the number of licenses correspond to the need.

It is also possible to display all programs for a particular node. The drill down could be done using the list in the footer or the arrow next to node if they are displayed.


  • view_node.png

The selected options (program or keyword) appears below the date and could be used to drill up. For hierarchies, the navigation bar could be used to drill up.

1.3.2. Details

Details can be displayed directly by clicking on the "info" button that appears next to the number when the mouse cursor is hovering over the "Installed" value. It display the list of sources having the software installed and gives statistics about usage. To have these statistics, at least on binary should be defined.

There is two modes in details

  • Statistics gives statistics about usage of significant binaries

  • Binary usage indicates if binaries have been used or not


    view_details_statistics.png view_details_binaries.png

In statistics, the average usage per day correspond to the sum of usage of each binary divided by the number of binaries and number of day computed (maximum is the time window specified), the same apply for the number of executions.

For binaries, a yes means that the source has used the binary at least one time in the time window. It permits to see that some of binaries are not used at all.

The "info" button is also available near the sources in underusage column. In this case, it gives the details only for sources in underusage.

last modified 2011-11-16 08:09:00