Using Software License Monitoring on a Roll-up Core

Overview

Applies to LANDesk Management Suite 8.8

In enterprise or multi-core environments a Roll-up Core is a useful tool to gather information and report on a large scale.

Some users may find it helpful to gather compliance and manage licenses without being limited to one core at a time.

Note: This document is designed to give a general overview of how Software License Monitoring works on a Roll-up Core. It assumes the user is already familiar with configuring Software License Monitoring on LANDesk Management Suite Cores. It also assumes the rollup database is populated by core data by one or more successful roll-ups.

Obstacles

Products, compliance groups, and licenses are not standardized across the cores, not all data is rolled up.

Examples:

Core 1 has a product definition called Microsoft Office. The files in this definition are Office Standard files. Core 2 also has a product definition called Microsoft Office. The files in Core 2’s product are Office Enterprise files. There would only be a single Microsoft Office product allowed in the Roll-up database because the Product Name must be unique. Because product standardization and uniqueness cannot be guarenteed between child cores, then these product definitions are not rolled up.

Compliance groups are also not standardized as well as the associated licenses, so that data also is not rolled up.

Caveats

Because the product, compliance group, and license configurations are not rolled up, then configuring SLM must be done from the ground up. This is not as difficult as it may seem, however having the correct expectation up front gives better perspective to the project.

Automatically discovered products are also not rolled up. All products must be explicitly configured.

Adding SLM Products in the Roll-up Core Web Console

Open the Web Console on the Roll-up Core.

In the Software Licenses tool create new product(s) under the All products section.

Give the product a name and only check the match all files if a machine must have all files in order to have this product.

Expand the added product under All products, click the files.

Click the Add button above.

Use the filter box to narrow down the files to include in the product.

Left click on the one(s) to be included. Hold CTRL for multiple select.

Click OK at the bottom when finished.

The result is shown below. The product can be refined by adding or deleting more files using the add or delete buttons.

Compliance Groups

Click on Compliance and then click New to create a new Compliance Group.

Give the group a name and click OK.

Expand Compliance and select the newly created Compliance Group.

Click the New button to add products.

Select the appropriate existing product from the dropdown. Click OK when finished.

Managing Licenses

Expand the Product under the compliance menu.

Select License and choose New to add licenses for the product.

Enter the license information and click OK.

Once Added they can be edited as well.

Compliance Report

Click Compliance Report to view the Overall Compliance. This will return data on multiple groups.

Group Compliance

Under the Reports Section, expand Software Licensing. Double Click on Group Compliance. Double Click the desired group. This report will return more detailed information for the selected group.