Software License Management – X-Formation

We’re happy to announce the release of License Statistics v4.0!

This major release implements a number of new features that make the software more scalable and enterprise-ready:

1. 64-bit MySQL server (for 64-bit Windows or Linux versions only). We’ve embedded a 64-bit MySQL server with License Statistics, which improves speed for larger environments. This can consume up to 12GB of memory, but allows for faster queries that speed up the entire web-based UI. Furthermore, we’ve updated the embedded MySQL database from 5.1 to 5.5, which is up to 300% faster in some cases (according to MySQL documentation and our own testing).
2. Added HTTPS support. We now support HTTP over SSL using Apache.
3. Added support for Felics license manager (import only).
4. Dropped all support for SQLite and the related command-line tools, xfeditdb and xfcustomreport.
5. Introduced a new command-line report tool, licstatreport, which lets you download existing reports from a command line. Using this tool, System Administrators can automate downloads of existing data from the database and schedule reporting on demand.

In addition to these new features, we’ve made many smaller parser changes to improve error message consistency and clarity.

Furthermore, this release completely removes the concurrent user licensing that has been used for all prior versions of License Statistics. Customers with older licenses won’t be able to use this new version until you update your license, as explained in the notification we sent to our affected customers in December.

For complete release notes for License Statistics v4.0, please see:
http://kb.x-formation.com/questions/310/License+Statistics+v4.0+Release+Notes

As always, the improvements we’ve made in this release were done in response to customer input. What can we do better for you? Please be sure to contribute your thoughts and suggestions to help us continue improving License Statistics in ways that make a difference for you. We are always eager to get your feedback, so get in touch at +1 406 322 2614  or support@X-Formation.com.

Due to an electrical maintenance in our office building that will be conducted over the weekend, many of our services such as online documentation or support portal will not be available. The services will be down as of Friday (January 20) approx. 7:00 pm GMT+1 until Monday (January 23) morning, approx. 9:00 am GMT+1. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at +1 406 322 2614  or support@X-Formation.com. Thank you.

The LM-X License Server GUI is a relatively new development that came out in September with LM-X v4.0, but has already improved by leaps and bounds. Through our constant cooperation with customers we’ve implemented a number of new features that provide software end users with more power and flexibility.

Until now the web-based UI allowed end users to:

• View information and statistics about the LM-X license server
• Restart or shut down the license server
• View the LM-X server’s HostIDs, such as Ethernet, Hostname, IP Address, etc
• View license usage statistics for the current license server, as well as for borrow, grace and trial licenses
• View and edit the configuration file
• View and search for entries in the log file

With the recent development, however, users can now also:

• Activate licenses and upload license files
• Enable and configure High Availability Licensing (HAL)
• Enable and configure Pay Per Use
• Enable and configure license server logging
• Configure settings for TCP, remote access and user removal

For each of these new administrative functions we created sub-tabs with a user interface for easy access and modification of settings.

License Management tab

In the License Management tab users can can activate and download licenses from License Activation Center (LAC). Users can also upload license files, for example, licenses that a vendor has provided via email or a license that was previously activated and needs to be uploaded to the server.

High Availability Licensing (HAL) tab

Through the High Availability Licensing tab, High Availability Licensing can be enabled, which allows users to configure backup (redundant) license servers that will continue to serve licenses should the master server go down.

Pay Per Use tab

In the Pay Per Use tab, users can enable and configure pay per use, which, as an example, would allow them to use an unrestricted usage license that would be paid for based on actual usage.

Logging tab

Under the Logging tab, users can enable and configure logging to produce a log file that contains detailed activity such as client connections or disconnections, license checkout/checkin, and other server activity. Users can specify the name for the log file, the format of the file (Normal or Extended), the rotation interval (None, Daily, Weekly or Monthly), and any LM-X messages to exclude from logging.

Miscellaneous tab

In the Miscellaneous tab users can specify the TCP port number the license server will listen on, set a remote administration password (used when remotely stopping and restarting the license server and removing users from it), and also specify the minimum time that must elapse before a user can be removed.

We look forward to your feedback as to make further enhancements in the LM-X License Server GUI to better meet your license management needs, so give us a call.

Download a free evaluation of LM-X License Manager.

We’re just a few days away from New Year’s, and so we’d like to thank both our customers and partners for another successful and exciting past year of cooperation!

Throughout 2011, we’ve kept very busy developing and improving our products to deliver solutions and services that our customers expect. We completed 7 software releases for LM-X License Manager and 9 releases for License Statistics. LM-X License Manager also took a huge leap forward when it was given a new face. The LM-X License Manager GUI was completed in July, and has proven to be an extremely valuable and useful tool in managing license servers. We can’t also forget to mention that at the beginning of the year we launched a completely new product, License Activation Center (LAC), that was built from the ground up to provide a back office system for customer relation, product management and license activation. All this could not have been possible without the participation and feedback of our customers, for which we are thankful and encourage more customers to work more closely with us in the coming year.

2011 has also been another successful year of growth for us both as a company and in terms of our customers. We’ve grown to a size of 17 people, and because our teams consist of some of the most talented and skilled professionals available on the market, we’ve been able to consistently deliver the highest level of product quality to all our customers, while our support capacity has allowed us to address various issues immediately and cut response times to just a few hours. This mix of quality and responsiveness, together with our willingness to listen, has been the driving force behind our continued customer growth, which has exceeded last year’s figures.

Looking back, a lot has happened in 2011, but we’re also very much looking ahead in anticipation of bringing our customers even better products and service in the new year. We wish our customers and partners all the very best in 2012 and look forward to another great year of partnership!

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

License Statistics’ growing popularity among many different companies from various industries has led us to examine our customer base more in detail. We’ve taken a closer look at our clients to find out which industries particular companies belong to and where License Statistics is depended on most.

License Statistics has gained the most interest from companies in the manufacturing industries. It should come as no surprise since this industry accounts for roughly one-third of all IT spend, but beyond that these companies seek license management solutions that allow for fast implementation, are capable of monitoring a wide range of license managers, from FlexNet / FLEXlm, IBM LUM, and Sentinel to Reprise License Manager (RLM), Beta_LM, Smartplant, and now even the Dassualt Systemes License Server (DSLS), provide accessibility and ease of information sharing, offer flexible reporting functionality and an overall out of the box experience. And that is exactly what License Statistics delivers. See also our article, What sets License Statistics apart from the competition?

“After evaluating other monitoring tools, I found that License Statistics has the best cost/performance ratio. Other commercial products are expensive to use when you need to monitor many vendors, and they cannot monitor various different license servers. On the other end of the spectrum, free tools have no maintenance or enhancements. In contrast, License Statistics took less than a half hour to install, lets me monitor a variety of license servers, and has excellent support.” – Dietmar Eberth, Koenig und Bauer AG

“I have to tell you how satisfied I am with License Statistics. It works very well and is so very easy to administrate.” – Joakim Brosten, HPC System Specialist, ABB AB – Corporate Research Sweden

Over recent years License Statistics has also been gaining strong interest in the Oil & Gas industry, which is characterized by stiff competition and an ongoing need for staying ahead in terms of adopting the latest in IT. With IT spending steadily increasing, there is also a need for improving management of technology investments as well as optimizing operational efficiencies. As a result, more and more companies from this sector are turning to License Statistics, which allows them to get the most out of the software they already have, ensure their employees have access to the applications they need, and enable them to pay only for the software they use. Some familiar names from this industry can be seen below.

“We at AMEC have been extremely pleased with the valuable data made available to us through License Statistics. Used for over 500 users and at several locations, License Statistics provides us with a reliable means of keeping track of our software utilization over a period of time as well as giving us real-time usage reporting.” – Steve Blackwell, AMEC

“License Statistics has been working out extremely well for us. We use the software to actively minimize the license usage of our highly expensive software and appreciate that the software shows us license utilization so we can track the actual usage. Last year alone, it saved SBM Offshore over $10,000 USD by preventing unnecessary expenditures. We recommended it to all our partners so they can share in our success story.” – Charles S. Bell, IT Manager, IT Services, SBM Atlantia

“We have been using License Statistics since November 2006 and it has been working excellently. We keep track of license usage for several applications from different vendors, and License Statistics provides us with all the information we need to decide how many licenses we require for our applications. We have been able to reduce the number of licenses and save money for several applications, and in a few other cases, License Statistics made it clear that we needed additional licenses.” – Ivar Westerholt, Senior System Engineer, SBM Schiedam

Many industries have been hit hard by the economic downturn and we’ve witnessed one of the biggest recessions in decades. However, technology research companies are forecasting that IT spend in all major industries is returning to growth. That’s certainly good news, but companies should also make sure that part of their expenses is put into Software Asset Management (SAM), particularly into software usage metering. It not only saves companies money in both the short and long term, but also increases productivity and efficiency of the organization. As an example, an organization spending $5 million in software and maintenance annually, could save an estimated $2.75 million over a 5-year period by effectively managing their licenses with a solution like License Statistics.

We’d also like to add that while License Statistics is most popular in the Manufacturing and Oil & Gas sectors, tracking license usage is crucial to any business that licenses software, regardless of the industry they are in. So, get in touch with us to find out how License Statistics can help you.

See our online License Statistics demo or download a free evaluation.