A couple of basic SAM questions

Wanted to ask you a couple of questions on topics that intrigue me
(Sorry if some of them seem somewhat trivial or inaccurate, I am still new to SAM)

  1. How do you know that something is a part of a different product when classifying software? For example, the organization uses DB2 for the software X. The Software X has its own license that covers DB2 in it. In such case you must classify this DB2 as part of the Software X’s license, and you don’t need an extra license for DB2. How do you manage such situations? Who can you reach out to for help?

Another scenario – let’s take Microsoft 365. How do you know if, for example, its subscription covers desktop windows, or you need to have a separate, extra license for desktop windows.

  1. As per my knowledge, software on disaster recovery servers is sometimes either free or it’s cheaper, how do you manage licensing in such cases?

  2. Certain software, for example, Microsoft SQL Server, can be licensed through virtual and physical cores. How do you manage this scenario? Do you try to optimize it or just set everything on the same ‘option’. If you optimize it, what does it encompass?

  3. Do you classify software by yourselves, or you delegate it to end users?

  4. How do you manage diffult licensing scenarios like Microsoft CALs or Oracle Named User plus

  5. How do you create contracts? Is it based on the inventory, is it a common practice to do a detailed check of the whole environment? Or you start with physical documents?

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Hi @AGARSTKA - welcome to the ITAM Forum

Here are some answers to your questions:

  1. How do you know that something is a part of a different product when classifying software? For example, the organization uses DB2 for the software X. The Software X has its own license that covers DB2 in it. In such case you must classify this DB2 as part of the Software X’s license, and you don’t need an extra license for DB2. How do you manage such situations? Who can you reach out to for help? - you would have to look the the product user rights (PUR) for that particular license. Most PUR will list how the license can be used, what environment, etc.

Another scenario – let’s take Microsoft 365. How do you know if, for example, its subscription covers desktop windows, or you need to have a separate, extra license for desktop windows. - Again, Microsoft publishes a product use right document for each of their products which lists where and how the license is used and applied.

  1. As per my knowledge, software on disaster recovery servers is sometimes either free or it’s cheaper, how do you manage licensing in such cases? For DR, again, you will have to look at the software license contract under disaster recovery. It’s different for every software publisher but it’s in the contract.

  2. Certain software, for example, Microsoft SQL Server, can be licensed through virtual and physical cores. How do you manage this scenario? Do you try to optimize it or just set everything on the same ‘option’. If you optimize it, what does it encompass? This will be dependent on the needs of your organization and workload of the servers. Meaning your server team will have to assess what is needed to determine what licensing is required to support the org.

  3. Do you classify software by yourselves, or you delegate it to end users? - Use a tool to help classify software. Again depends on how much software you are talking about for your organization

  4. How do you manage difficult licensing scenarios like Microsoft CALs or Oracle Named User plus - use a good software discovery tool for Oracle/SAP. CALs are not discoverable but can be measured based on number of users with certain access to environments and different hardware types

  5. How do you create contracts? Is it based on the inventory, is it a common practice to do a detailed check of the whole environment? Or you start with physical documents? Are you asking about creating entitlements? ALWAYS start with the contract that was agreed to between your org and the software publisher.

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Thanks a lot for your comment James!

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