release notes: snow license manager 9 · assignment. support is currently provided for oracle...

RELEASE NOTESProduct

Version

Release date

Content

Snow License Manager

9.2

2019-04-24

Base technology:• Features and enhancements

Premium options:• Advanced optimization for

Adobe Creative Cloud

• Oracle Management Option

SNOWSOFTWARE.COM

FEATURESThe following features have been implemented in Snow License Manager 9.2:

Licensing based on cost for Windows Server

In this release of Snow License Manager, the compliance engine has been extended to determinewhich edition Windows Server Standard or Datacenter would best fit a given server topology.

To achieve this, the compliance engine calculates a number of data points for each standaloneserver, or server hosting Windows Server Virtual Machines:

▪ Peak potential VMs – the number of Windows Server Virtual Machines that could run on theserver

▪ The highest version and edition of Windows Server that could run on the server

▪ The number of licenses needed using Datacenter Edition and the number of licensesneeded for Standard edition

▪ The number licenses needed per edition multiplied by the application cost entered

Snow License Manager now sets the license requirement to the least expensive edition, which is anew paradigm for the compliance engine.

VMs that are licensed on a cluster/datacenter level do not require a Windows Server license,however, they have a significant impact on the licenses needed for the hosts they run on, or couldrun on. To maintain visibility into such VMs, two new entitlement states have been added to thetracking tab:

▪ Licensed by host – indicates that the host the VM runs on is known and the licensing iscalculated on the host.

▪ Unknown physical host – indicates that the host the VM runs on is unknown, which presents arisk that should be investigated.

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True-up and order support for Windows Server

Estimating the cost of the next true-up or order is a challenging task for Windows Server licensing.Based on license costs input for each version, Windows Server Assessment reports provide a costevaluation for running resources – servers, virtual machines, and datacenters – on differentversions and editions of Windows Server than the current deployment.

Before a true-up, for example, an organization running Windows Server 2012 R2 may want tocompare with 2016 or 2019 to determine the best way to license their estate, down to version andedition (Standard or Database) levels for all resources. To help customers with the true-up, a newcriteria – Already licensed has been added to the Windows Server Assessment reports. This can beused to filter out Windows Server hosts that are already fully licensed, leaving only those that needto be licensed and the cost of licensing them. Saving the relevant assessment report with thiscriteria enables you to create a true-up report tailored to your organization.

Automatic population of DRS and High availability for VMware vSphere

New data collected by the recently updated VMware vSphere connector has made it possible forSnow License Manager to automatically populate DRS enabled, and High availability enabledcolumns – removing the significant amount of manual work required to find this information.Enabling DRS or High availability on a datacenter/cluster has an impact on compliance calculationsfor Windows Server licensing, and automatic population of these data points removes the errorassociated with manual data input. The columns are visible in datacenter reports and theDatacenter and clusters view.

NOTEProduct dependencies

This feature requires Snow Integration Manager version 5.14 or higher and a correctlyconfigured VMware vSphere connector.


Cost optimization for Windows Server

A new report Windows Server risks has been added to Snow License Manager. This reporthighlights common scenarios where licensing cost can be optimized for each host.

Dynamic compliance exclusions

The capability to deliver accurate license positions for key software vendors is an important part ofexposing risk within an organization. Calculating compliance is complex and further complicatedby the many different licensing exceptions and exclusions vendors apply.

For example, many organizations license Microsoft applications for non-production use throughMSDN licensing. In such cases, it may not be necessary to track spend. However, the licenserequirements created by computers and servers covered by non-production use need to beremoved from the rest of Microsoft licensing calculations.

It is now possible to enter compliance exclusions for computers and applications in Snow LicenseManager. Compliance is calculated excluding the computers and applications that do not need to


be tracked, removing the need to manually adjust every time, which can become unmanageableespecially in large organizations.

New reports

Based on feedback from our users, this version of Snow License Manager includes three newreports.

▪ Devices/Computers per user – for every user, this report shows the computers, mobiledevices, remote devices, and connected servers the user has accessed.

▪ Applications per computer and user – for every computer, this report shows all applicationsand users. This report provides the necessary data to determine the software a user hasaccess to and the licensing implications of using an application on a per user or percomputer licensing model.

▪ Files per computer – for every computer, this report shows the files identified by SnowInventory agents during a scan. This report shows the mapping between an executable fileon the user’s computer and an application (where possible/relevant).


ENHANCEMENTSThe following enhancement has been implemented in Snow License Manager 9.2:

Powerful search with filters and save

The search functionality for computers and applications has been enhanced with additionalcapabilities. It is now possible to filter searches for more granular results, save searches so thatfrequently-used searches can be reused without having to re-enter complex search criteria, andprogressive load to improve response times for searches resulting in large datasets.

In addition to refining search results based on organizational unit, further refinement is enabledthrough the application of filters. When searching for computers, for example, search results canbe refined by selecting filters such as BIOS date and serial number, as well as operating systemand manufacturer. For applications, a search can be refined by setting filters for application nameand manufacturer, for example.

Users who frequently use the same search criteria to locate specific information can now savethose searches for reuse later on, and saved searches can be edited.


ADVANCED OPTIMIZATION FOR ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUDWith this release, Snow License Manager provides new features that deliver insights into AdobeCreative Cloud, including capabilities for management and optimization of spend and usage, aswell as risk mitigation.

At a glance, the Adobe Creative Cloud overview shows how licenses are assigned and used acrossyour organization. Snow License Manager 9.2 introduces the concept of insights, which highlightareas of potential savings or risks that may need to be addressed; such as licenses assigned tousers who are not using the applications included in the bundle, or users who only use one of theAdobe Creative Cloud applications, but who are assigned an All-Apps license.

This initial version also includes the capability to identify users who run Adobe Creative Cloudapplications without a managed license. Such scenarios can occur when users acquire licensesoutside of volume purchasing programs, or piggyback a colleague’s installation (which is a violationof current licensing terms and conditions).

NOTEProduct dependencies and license requirements

Advanced optimization for Adobe Creative Cloud requires:

▪ Snow Integration Manager (SIM) 5.15 or higher and a correctly configured AdobeCreative Cloud connector.

▪ Product licenses for Snow for SaaS and Advanced optimization for Adobe Creative Cloud.Users will see the following screen when product licenses have yet to be purchased oractivated.


ORACLE MANAGEMENT OPTION FEATURESThe following features for Oracle Management Option have been implemented in Snow LicenseManager 9.2:

Import Oracle licenses

Until now, importing Oracle licenses has been a time-consuming manual process and a barrier forcustomers with thousands of entitlements. It is possible to import Oracle orders in bulk, includingincomplete orders, from a Microsoft Excel or a CSV file in minutes, not only saving time, butreducing manual-input errors.

Any CSV file that contains the Oracle order data can be used, or you can download the defaulttemplate file from Snow License Manager.The import procedure allows you to specify, for example,whether you want to automatically create organizations if they don't already exist, and map thecontent of your import file to Oracle order fields. This feature supports import of incompleteOracle orders, which can be manually edited in Snow License Manager later on.

The same Oracle products are supported for both file-automated import and manual import ofOracle entitlements.

Improved license assignment


The complexity of Oracle licensing demands enhanced capabilities for license assignment. In thisrelease of Oracle Management Option, it is now possible to assign licenses to virtual machines,physical servers, and datacenters/clusters, and multiple orders can be combined to a single licenseassignment. Support is currently provided for Oracle databases and WebLogic.

Initial support for IBM hard-partitioned environments

The capability to run Oracle components in a hard-partitioned environment can reduce thenumber of licenses required, as you can license based on the processing capabilities of the virtualmachine. However, calculating requirements is complex, as it relies on additional data points fromthe underlying topology, including data about the machine where the component is installed, itshost, cluster, and even the datacenter in some cases.

Previously, it was not possible to calculate the correct processor count for such scenarios in SnowLicense Manager, and so license requirements and compliance required additional treatmentoutside of the Snow environment. In this first step toward improving visibility of the Oracle estatein virtualized environments, Oracle Management Option now captures hard-partition data points,applies the correct rules to calculate the license requirement based on Processor metric or NUPminimum to show compliancy per LPAR.

Based on this information, the Is Satisfied column shows a yes if the Oracle product meets thelicensing requirements on an LPAR basis. Snow is continually developing this feature to coveradditional virtualization scenarios.

Initial support for soft-partitioned environments

The capability to run Oracle components in soft-partitioned environments differs from hard-partitioning as the entire physical infrastructure requires licensing.


Accurate topology data is a prerequisite for calculating license requirements for Oracle products insoft-partitioned environment. Details about management servers, datacenters, clusters, physicalservers, virtual machines and storage are required. This version of Snow License Manager and itsunderlying inventory, data processing, and storage capabilities have been enriched to delivercompliance calculations at the cluster level - based on current core factor tables.

Compliance calculations currently support Oracle products deployed on VMware, Hyper-V, RedHat,and Xen virtualized infrastructures.

Oracle compliance calculation

In this release, a first step has been taken toward full compliance calculations for Oraclecomponents. Compliance calculations are based on the number of Processors metric and NamedUser Plus (NUP) minimums. Compliance is calculated when the Data Update Job runs, so it is not adynamic calculation, similar to the way compliance is calculated for non-Oracle applications.

NOTEProduct dependencies

The Oracle Management Option features require Snow Inventory Server version 6.0.5 orhigher.


ORACLE MANAGEMENT OPTIONENHANCEMENTSThe following enhancements for Oracle Management Option have been implemented in SnowLicense Manager 9.2:

Additional status for Oracle Middleware

In addition to Active and Inactive, the status column for servers running Oracle Middleware nowincludes the Quarantined status. In Snow License Manager, the status of a server is set toquarantined if it hasn't reported inventory data for a period of time controlled by theQUARANTINE_DAYS setting in Snow Management and Configuration Center. For more details,related to quarantine management, see the User Guide: Snow Management and ConfigurationCenter for Snow License Manager 9.

Batched data fetch

Snow License Manager now fetches data about Oracle Middleware from Snow Inventory Server inbatches instead of collecting all the data for the customer site in one go. Customers with largesites should experience performance improvements.

Environment overview of discovered computers

This widget on the Oracle overview page now shows just the computers that have specifically beeninventoried for Oracle instances. The graph no longer includes data about discovered andinventoried computers and instead provides useful insight by highlighting computers where anOracle database might be deployed.

Recommendation and report removed

The Devices that can run Oracle software recommendation has been removed from Oracle Overviewpage as has the report with the same name.

Middleware data deletion

When a computer is deleted, any Oracle Middleware data related to that computer is now alsodeleted.


https://snowprod.service-now.com/support?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0019270

https://snowprod.service-now.com/support?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0019270

ORACLE MANAGEMENT OPTION CORRECTIONSThe following corrections for Oracle Management Option have been implemented in Snow LicenseManager 9.2:

▪ When viewing a favorited Oracle database that has been deleted, the user will see an emptydatabase screen with data fields populated with (n/a) indicating that the information aboutthe database is no longer available.

▪ The Save and Cancel buttons now display correctly on the pop-up window when editingscheduled Oracle reports.

▪ Selecting an Oracle order listed under an Oracle agreement now navigates correctly to theOracle order page.

▪ The counts for servers and databases shown in the Last 4 weeks column in the Oracleproduct view are now correct.

▪ To improve the user experience in terms of information displayed, the Server column hasbeen removed from the data grid of the Databases tab.

▪ Size of the breadcrumb text has been corrected to align with the standard for Snow LicenseManager.


PRODUCT DEPENDENCIESSnow License Manager 9.2 includes the following product dependencies:

▪ Advanced optimization for Adobe Creative Cloud requires Snow Integration Manager (SIM)5.15 or higher and a correctly configured Adobe Creative Cloud connector to extract thenecessary data points from the Adobe Portal.

▪ Automatic population of DRS and High availability for VMware vSphere requires SnowIntegration Manager version 5.14 or higher and a correctly configured VMware vSphereconnector.

▪ Oracle Management Option requires Snow Inventory Server 6.0.5 or higher.


release notes: snow license manager 9 · assignment. support is currently provided for oracle...

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