Just in case you haven’t noticed there was a review of License Statistics done by SPK and Associates a few months ago. The article was written by Bradley Tinder and discusses a number of important License Statistics features as well as several key issues of software license management.
Brad starts off the article by making some good points about license management and some of the problems that often come up. One of the biggest challenges companies are faced with is managing licenses from vendors like Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics, which use floating licensing. With floating licensing there is a license server which manages license checkouts. Sometimes users are denied access to particular applications, when all licenses have been checked out. That is a very undesirable situation, because if a user cannot get his license, he simply cannot do his work. So, the next step would be to approach upper management and make a request to purchase more licenses. But as we all know, some of these licenses can be really expensive, so a simple request is not going to cut it. That is when a solution like License Statistics kicks in. With License Statistics, information can be gathered to answer questions, such as:
- how many licenses are available?
- who has been using licenses and for how long?
- when were licenses returned (if at all!)?
- who has been denied access to a license?
- how many denials were there and for how long?
- how often do denials occur?
With such information, one can now make a solid justification for the need to purchase more licenses. On the other hand, License Statistics can also help discover that there may be more licenses than necessary; that the company is overspending on purchases and software renewals!
The Dashboard
The Dashboard provides critical information, such as, why a particular license cannot be checked out, if a server is out of licenses or if it is down, which licenses are nearing expiration, and so forth.
Data exportation
License Statistics allows you to export data to different formats (PDF, Excel, CSV, SQL), which useful if further data manipulation is necessary. Exported SQL queries can be modified and used for generating different types of reports through the SQL Console.
License Server Status Notification
License Statistics provides the ability to receive emails when a license server has gone down and is not responding. Email notifications can also be configured for other events, including license utilization reaching a specified threshold and license expiration dates.
Easy Configuration
Brad describes License Statitics as true plug and play. In 15 minutes, he was able to configure 8 license servers and start receiving usage data information.
In conclusion, Brad said, “I’ve found that using X-Formation Statistics helps SPK deliver top quality and service with regards to license management. The biggest ROI a company can have when it comes to these licenses is to see that they are being utilized effectively. From graphing and historical data reporting to real-time monitoring of license servers, X-Formation License Statistics provides everything you need to ensure your investment is worth it.”
To read the full article, please follow this link: License Management and Monitoring using X-Formation License Statistics
