License Statistics v6.19 - New features and enhancements

License Statistics v6.19 brings you increased performance and versatility

August 25, 2023| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

With License Statistics version 6.19, we’ve introduced many new features and enhancements that are aimed at making License Statistics more versatile, as well helping you maximize its performance. Let’s take a look at some of the major improvements we’re bringing to you with License Statistics v6.19.

Dynamic date ranges

In previous versions of License Statistics, reports that were filtered using date ranges (for example, “Last Week” or “Current Quarter”) were static, so always showed results relative to the date the report was generated. With v6.19, we’ve greatly improved this capability by enabling dynamic date ranges, which are always relative to the current date.

With this new handling of date ranges, when you add a report to the Dashboard, you’ll always see the appropriate report for the current week, last week, current month, last quarter, etc., relative to today’s date.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to replace any existing reports you’ve added to the Dashboard with a newly generated report using v6.19 or newer in order to see dynamic date ranges in the Dashboard.

New Suspend License Harvesting method

This release adds a new Suspend harvesting method to the License Harvesting modes, giving you more flexibility in the way that you enforce the release of idle licenses.

The Suspend method “freezes” the application so it can be released to the license pool. Although the application cannot be used while suspended, it remains visible to the end user, and no unsaved data is lost. The end user can resume using the application by responding to an alert issued when the application first becomes suspended, or they can resume use of the application at any time using the License Harvesting tray icon.

To use the new Suspend method, you must have License Statistic Agent v6.19 and install the free Optional Harvesting Tools, which is easily done during installation or upgrade of License Statistics v6.19 (or newer).

Ability to adjust Agent connection interval

License Statistics v6.19 adds the ability to adjust the connection interval for License Statistics Agent, which can provide significant performance benefits.

In previous releases, this interval was set to 30 seconds (still the default) and could not be adjusted. Now, you can increase the interval to up to 600 seconds (10 minutes). When there are a large number of End User Agents, increasing the connection interval setting will reduce the occurrence of redundant connections, thereby improving performance, with no impact on functionality or difference in the data that’s gathered.

While increasing the interval can benefit performance, keep in mind that with a higher connection interval, configuration changes will be applied to Agents less often.

Manual session closing

License Statistics administrators will enjoy the added convenience of being able to close sessions on the license server directly from Features Realtime Sessions and Users Realtime Sessions reports.

Administrators can manually force the session to release on the corresponding license server and return the license to the available pool. (Available for LM-X and FlexNet license managers only.)

Additional new features and enhancements

In addition to the changes detailed above, this release brings you a number of other new features and enhancements, most notably:

We hope that the new features and enhancements we’ve incorporated into License Statistics will be valuable for meeting your license management needs. As always, we appreciate your feedback, so please let us know what you think of the new features and enhancements we’ve delivered with License Statistics v6.19, and don’t hesitate to contact support@x-formation.com with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

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License Statistics v6.18

License Statistics v6.18 is chock-full of major improvements and new features

June 23, 2023| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

With License Statistics version 6.18, we’ve introduced a combination of over 40 new features and enhancements that are sure to make License Statistics even more easy and efficient to use. Let’s take a look at some of the major improvements we’re bringing to you with License Statistics 6.18.

Auto-detection of license servers on the host with Server Agent

License Management auto-detection using Server Agent detects the services available for the license servers on the host where the selected agent is installed, and the detected services can be used to manage the server remotely (start/stop/restart).

License storage and management changes

One of the most significant changes in this version involves storage and management of the License Statistics license.

As of this version, the License Statistics license is no longer kept as a file, but as an entry in the database. In previous versions, License Statistics used to scan the entire directory to find the best license file, since the file could be kept either in the default directory or in a user-specified location. By storing the file in the database, license management has been made more efficient and secure. To configure the license, you can now use either the License Statistics Manager or the new CLI, giving you options that fit your needs.

Rather than using the License Statistics Manager, management of the license can now be done directly from the UI, using a new Management tab available on the Administration > Licensing page. As part of this change to the UI, the Licensing page is now split into three tabs: Usage, History, and Management.

With this new approach, License Statistics Administrators will find managing the license much more straightforward. The new Management tab lets you easily view the current Activation Key, reactivate the key, or activate a new key.

In addition, you can use the Licensing page’s Management tab to upload a license file (for example, if there’s no internet connection on the License Statistics host, the license was activated on a different machine, the license was downloaded from the LAC end-user portal, or other cases where you already have a file to upload.

The Management tab even gives you a license preview, so you can see the current license contents and when the license was last uploaded.

Introduction of new CLI tool

This version also introduces a new CLI (Command Line Interface) tool, which replaces the use of scripts. The CLI can alternatively be used for license management as well as other administrative operations such as backing up the database and resetting the default admin user/password.

Ability to view API resources

Along with numerous improvements to data made available in reports, License Statistics reports now include the ability to view API resources.

For most reports (other than Administration reports, which do not support a public API), you can see a preview of the API resources for that report by clicking a “Show API resource” icon at the upper right corner of the report.
After clicking this icon, an API Resource window opens, with details of the API request used to generate the report, including the headers, endpoint and used parameters. You can use this information to facilitate integration with other tools, such as PowerBI, Excel or any other application that you want to allow to access the License Statistics data.

Additional enhancements

In addition to the changes detailed above, this release contains nearly 40 enhancements, among them:

  • MySQL has been upgraded to v8.0
  • The Enable Harvesting area of the Harvesting tab has been redesigned, making it easier to set up triggers for harvesting
  • Anonymization of hosts now includes the IP address in addition to the host name
  • The main feature for Autodesk is now included in reports when using Feature Collections
  • New columns have been added to reports, including a License Server multicolumn for several reports and Expiration Date subcolumns for grids that contain a Feature multicolumn
  • You can now import FlexNet logs with multiple vendor daemons by setting the Vendor Daemon Name (this setting has been moved from the Remote Monitoring tab to the General tab under the License Servers page)
  • Autodesk features can now have human-readable display names
  • Restarting the service using License Statistics Agent has been improved by displaying a Restart confirmation message only when the service is up, and allowing you to restart directly from the confirmation message or at any time by using a new Restart tray option

We hope that these significant new features and enhancements will help to make License Statistics easier for you to use and manage. As always, we appreciate your feedback, so please let us know what you think of the new features and enhancements we’ve delivered with License Statistics v6.18, and don’t hesitate to contact support@x-formation.com with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

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License Statistics v6.17

License Statistics v6.17 saves you time with new license server management capabilities

January 20, 2023| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

With License Statistics version 6.17, we’re excited to announce new License Server Management capabilities (currently for LM-X and FlexNet license servers only).

In prior versions of License Statistics, in order to restart a license server (e.g., to force unused licenses to be released, restart a server that became unstable, etc.), the License Statistics administrator had to go outside of the License Statistics UI, connect to the proper license server host using SSH or a remote desktop, find the service/administration tool, and restart the server.

Now, starting, stopping and restarting a license server can be done directly from the License Statistics UI. This new feature adds convenience and can save considerable time, especially when managing many servers on different hosts and/or there are numerous requests from users to free up licenses that have become unavailable, for example, due to an application closing ungracefully and taking a long time to release licenses back to the pool.

In addition, v6.17 has added Server mode for License Statistics Agent. Initially, Server Agents will facilitate license server management, with additional features planned for future releases.

This release also introduces new Linux installers:

  • RPM (RedHat Enterprise Linux distributions)
  • DEB (Ubuntu and Debian distributions)
  • Generic, which allows for customization and/or installation on distributions other than RPM or DEB

The RPM and DEB installations will provide for automatic upgrades from v6.17 on. Upgrading older License Statistics versions to v6.17 and newer still requires a one-time manual upgrade, as done for all previous releases. However, after upgrading to v6.17, you’ll be able to upgrade License Statistics on Linux to v6.17 and newer without uninstalling.

Along with these new features, we’ve made several enhancements and fixes to existing functionality; most notably:

  • Added information about unlimited hosts on the Licensing page for HPC
  • Added support for RedHat Enterprise Linux 9.

We’re working hard to bring features to License Statistics that make your job easier, and we always appreciate your feedback. Let us know what you think of the new features and enhancements we’ve delivered with License Statistics v6.17, and don’t hesitate to contact support@x-formation.com with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

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License Statistics v6.16

License Statistics v6.16 adds new features and improves user experience

November 9, 2022| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

With License Statistics version 6.16, we are excited to announce the addition of support for another new license manager, Altium Infrastructure Server (AIS/PLS) license manager (remote monitoring and import), as well as adding remote support for Green Hills Software (GHS) license manager (which we added in License Statistics 6.15 with import support only).

We also expanded our email notifications by adding a new alert for outdated License Statistics Agents. By enabling this alert, when an unsupported Agent version attempts a connection to License Statistics, you’ll receive email notifications for the first occurrence per user, daily if there are outdated agents, after a License Statistics update if there are outdated agents.

We take pride in truly listening to our customers, and we’ve made several enhancements in response to your feedback and requests, improving overall user experience. Some highlights of this release’s enhancements include:

  • The User column in reports now includes additional columns for all User properties (including LDAP data) that can be toggled to be shown or hidden in the report details
  • Improvements to Connection settings on the Remote Monitoring tab restrict the Hostname field entry to only the hostname or domain. In addition, a new “Secured” checkbox can be used to force an HTTPS connection.
  • It’s now quick and easy to reset your administrator password to the default password with the click of a button using License Statistics Manager
  • You can control the detail level of License Statistics events included in the log file, with options to include all events, just warnings and errors, or limit the log to include only error reporting
  • Improved import validation accounts for errors that occur when
    • importing denials, and real-time denials are supported and enabled
    • importing usage, and real-time usage monitoring is enabled
  • Improved consistency of labels and content in report grids, report exports to external formats, General Information panels, and LDAP Schema Settings help make the UI more intuitive
  • The ability to resize the SQL Query field in the SQL Console makes it easier to enter, edit and view your queries

Please also note that we’ve updated system requirements for this release, with dropped support for Debian 9.

We’re always striving to improve License Statistics to be easy to use and incorporate the feedback you give us. Let us know what you think of the new features and enhancements we’ve delivered with License Statistics v6.16, and please don’t hesitate to contact support@x-formation.com with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

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License Statistics v6.15

License Statistics v6.15 improves usability and expands support

July 5, 2022| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

With License Statistics version 6.15, we are excited to announce support for yet another license manager, Green Hills Software (GHS) (currently import only), bringing our number of supported license managers to over 30. In addition, we’ve expanded our support for Dassault license manager to allow for monitoring authorization items.

We’ve also updated system requirements with this release, and expanded support to include the latest platforms:

  • Windows 11
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Debian 11
  • Ubuntu 22.04

Always dedicated to providing you with new features and enhanced usability, we’ve paid special attention to making License Statistics reports even more robust and easy to use with this release. Most notably:

  • Added a count for available licenses in the general information area, graphs and charts for Features Realtime Usage and History Usage reports
  • The Administration – License Servers – Usage grid now shows features, users, and hosts in a separate panel instead of using tooltips as in previous versions, and allows for exporting the grid data.*
  • The Administration – License Details grid now shows users and hosts in separate grids instead of using tooltips as in previous versions, and allows for exporting the grid data.
  • The Administration – Support – Event Log grid ow has improved sorting and filtering capabilities and you can now delete all grid contents at once.
  • The Users Realtime Usage grid now includes details for the number of borrowed and total licenses, as well as utilization percentage.
  • The User Usage History grid now includes details for minimum, maximum, average and total number of licenses used; minimum number of borrowed licenses, and number of denials.
  • Tooltips for time-oriented charts now include duration of license usage, and all chart tooltips have been redesigned to use a labeled list format that is easier to read.

In addition to these new and enhanced features for reports, we’ve made a number of enhancements related to License Statistics Agent, including:

  • Backward compatibility for License Statistics Agent versions up to five minor versions older than the License Statistics version.*
  • The Agents grid now includes the Agent ID, and allows for disconnecting all agents at one time.

For License Statistics administrators, we’ve added the ability to invalidate (clear) report cache; customize LDAP Users Import interval; and receive warnings when host resources below minimum requirements.

Our goal is to continuously improve License Statistics in ways that are beneficial for you and directly address the feedback you give us. We’d love to hear how you like our improved reports and the rest of the new features and enhancements we’ve delivered with License Statistics v6.15! As always, please feel free to contact support@x-formation.com with any questions. We’ll be delighted to serve you.

*Available only with the 2019 licensing model.

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A Year of License Statistics in Review

A Year of License Statistics in Review

July 8, 2021| | in category License Statistics No comments yet

The past 12 months have seen major upgrades and enhancements in License Statistics, including powerful new features and redesigned monitoring tools for increased control and usability. Here’s why you should be using the latest version of License Statistics.

Over the last year, we’ve delivered important updates and enhancements to License Statistics to help you get even better control over your software license budget. The latest version of License Statistics includes:

  • License Harvesting with automatic license release.
  • The License Statistics Agent, enabling new features such as Autodesk named user license tracking.
  • Feature and User Reservations.
  • API enhancements.
  • New and enhanced reporting tools.

Here’s what you need to know about the key features released in the past year.

License Harvesting with Automatic License Release

License Harvesting helps you eliminate the extra costs associated with purchasing spare licenses by monitoring users’ machines to see when licenses are unused (e.g. due to meetings, coffee breaks, etc.). Every company has peak days when the highest number of licenses are used. License Harvesting helps you monitor and respond to such peaks by reducing idle license consumption and automatically return those licenses to the available pool.

Automatic remote license release for LM-X and Flexnet license servers was introduced in License Statistics v6.10. This gets idle licenses back into the available license pool just after the Agent has closed the end-user application. No more waiting or manual intervention required – simply set it and forget it.

See the License Harvesting documentation for more information.

The License Statistics Agent

License Statistics Agent is a License Statistics add-on tool that enables client usage monitoring for software using locally running applications that must be tracked on the clients themselves. License Statistics Agent communicates between these applications and License Statistics, running as a service in the background.

License Statistics Agent currently supports monitoring for Autodesk license usage and Autodesk named user licenses, and is currently available for Windows installations.

See the License Statistics Agent documentation for more information.

User and Feature Reservations

Customer enhancement requests are one of our top priorities. Several customers had requested a way to view User and Feature reservations to further simplify software license asset management tasks. The User and Feature Reservations pages were the result.

The User Reservations page provides an overview of all reservations across all features and license servers for a selected user or group. You’ll find the User Reservations page under the Users section in the left navigation pane. (See the documentation for User Reservations for details.)

The Feature Reservations page provides an overview of all reservations for a selected license server and feature. You’ll find it under the Features section in the left navigation page. (See the documentation for Feature Reservations for more details.),

API Enhancements

Not only did we release a significant update to the License Statistics API with API v2, but we released the first version of API v3.

With API v2 came enhancements making it much cleaner and easier to use. New endpoints were implemented to make it even more extensive. The API v3 release lays the groundwork for future API enhancements and releases. It includes extended reports that allow extended selection of all license servers and features.

See the API documentation and interactive API tool documentation for more information.

New and Enhanced Reporting Tools

We were also quite busy this past year building new reporting tools and enhancing / extending current ones.

User Usage History report now gives you the ability to view license usage history by a selected user or group (available only with the new licensing model). The report makes it easy to select the user/user group for which you want to view usage history and specify time intervals to include in the results.

We are devoted to simplifying your license administration tasks through detailed reporting and complete automation of routine tasks – including recapture of idle licenses that would otherwise cost you hundreds of lost productivity hours every month.

As always, please contact support@x-formation.com with your questions. We’ll be delighted to serve you.

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