Licence Usage - Licence Overview

The LICENSE USAGE section in the LICENSE INFORMATION page, helps administrators evaluate whether eG license usage is optimal or is excessive, and accordingly decide on future license requirements.

• Server-based
• User-based

Customers can pick one of the license types listed above, depending upon the nature of their environment and their monitoring needs. A mix of server-based and user-based licenses can also be used – e.g., all the key server applications like Active Directory, SQL server, Java applications can be monitored with agent/agentless monitor licenses and thin-client servers can be monitored with named user licenses.

The attributes of the LICENSE USAGE section will be discussed in the forthcoming sections while the types of the licenses are discussed in detail:

1. Server-based eG Monitoring License

   By default, the eG monitoring license is server-based. For each server, a unique nick name is assigned and an eG monitor license is required. The number of eG monitors that can be deployed in the target infrastructure is controlled by the eG monitoring license.

   eG Enterprise supports agent-based and agentless monitoring. The eG monitors can be inter-changeably used and the IT manager has complete flexibility in deciding which servers to monitor with agents and which ones to monitor without agents. Any combination of agent and agentless monitoring can be used and eG Enterprise still provides a consistent view of metrics across these different monitor types.

   Since the license is deployed on the eG manager, there is no need to deploy any licenses on the agents. Furthermore, the eG license only controls the number of monitors that are deployed. It does not control which servers are monitored. Hence, the IT manager can decide to monitor one set of servers this week and over the next week, can choose to deploy the monitoring on a completely different set of servers. As long as the total number of monitors being deployed is within the limit indicated in the license, your eG Enterprise system will function correctly.

   Server-based licensing is ideal for environments where a large number of users access a few servers – e.g., in server-based environments (e.g., Citrix XenApp) hosted on physical servers having 100-200 users per server. In this case, the cost of the monitoring license is amortized across the users, thus making server-based licensing a cost-effective choice.

   Different types of monitors are supported by the eG server-based license. Each of these types have been elaborately discussed in the sub-sections below.

   • The OS Monitor

     To monitor a server operating system, you need an OS monitor, which is referred to in the eG license as a basic monitor. Using a basic monitor license, you can monitor Windows, AIX, Solaris, Linux, HPUX, Netware, AS400, OpenVMS and other servers. This license can also be used for Microsoft File and Print servers. The OS monitor tracks system uptime, utilization of key OS resources such as CPU, memory, and disk, network traffic to and from the server, the performance of the TCP/IP stack, etc. It can also monitor application log files for exceptions, Windows and Unix system logs, and it can monitor the status and resource usage of key processes/services running on the system. Typically, the OS monitor is used to any staging/development systems that do not require in-depth monitoring of applications.

     The eG licensing is not based on the hardware capabilities of the server being managed or on the specific operating system being monitored. This provides unparalleled flexibility to an IT manager. Therefore, she/he can be managing a Unix server on one day and a Windows servers on another, with the same eG monitoring license.

   • The Virtualization Monitor

     To monitor a virtualization platform such as VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, Solaris LDoms AIX LPARs, etc., you need a virtualization monitor. In the eG license, this is referred to as a premium monitor. The number of licenses required is equal to the number of virtualized servers to be monitored. This implies that the licensing is not based on the number of CPU cores or sockets on the servers, its memory configuration, or the number of virtual machines (VMs) that are hosted on the server. With a single virtualization monitor, an administrator can monitor the hypervisor as well as the VMs. For the VMs, eG Enterprise provides its patent-pending In-N-Out monitoring view that allows the administrator to see the portion of physical resources that a VM is using as well as the portion of virtual resources that each application running inside the VM is consuming.

   • The Application Monitor

     To monitor applications such as Oracle databases, Microsoft SQL server, web servers like Apache and IIS, Java application servers like Tomcat, JBoss, WebLogic and WebSphere, Citrix XenApp and Terminal servers, or any of the other 150+ applications that eG Enterprise supports, you will need an application monitor for each server to be monitored. In the eG license, this is referred to as a premium monitor. One premium monitor is required for each server operating system being monitored (assuming one IP address per operating system). This means that eG’s licensing is not for individual applications. If multiple applications run on the same system (e.g., IIS, SQL server and Tomcat all run on the same system), a single premium monitor license will suffice. Likewise, eG's licensing model allows IT managers great flexibility in deploying the monitoring. The eG Enterprise suite does not use the concept of knowledge modules or smart plugins for each application to be monitored. This means an IT manager can use an eG license to monitor an Oracle database on one day and reuse the same license to monitor a Citrix XenApp server on another day. Note that an application monitor includes the capabilities of an OS monitor, so a separate OS monitor license is not required if a server already has an application monitor license.

   • The eG External Monitor

     To monitor network devices using SNMP, to track network connectivity to different servers and network devices, and to monitor applications from an external perspective, an eG external monitor is required. In the eG license, this maps to a premium monitor license. One external monitor license is required for every 50 targets being monitored from an external perspective.

2. User-based eG Monitoring License

   The server-based licensing model is appropriate for applications that are licensed per server - e.g., web servers, databases, J2EE, infrastructure servers, etc. Applications that handle user accesses like Citrix XenApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services are often licensed per user/users, rather than per server. To align the monitoring solution's licensing with the application's licensing, eG Enterprise supports the following user-based licensing modes:

   • Named user licensing
   • Concurrent user licensing

   Each of these user-based licensing modes are discussed in the sub-sections that follow.

   • Named User Licensing

     By default, the eG monitoring license is server-based. For each server (with a unique nick name), an eG monitor license is required. This licensing model is appropriate for applications that are licensed per server - e.g., web servers, databases, J2EE, infrastructure servers, etc. Applications that handle user accesses like Citrix XenApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services are often licensed per user, rather than per server. To align the monitoring solution's licensing with the application’s licensing, eG Enterprise supports a named user licensing option. This licensing option is applicable to Thin Client and VDI environments only. If this option is enabled, you can monitor any number of Citrix XenApp servers, Microsoft Terminal servers, 2X Terminal servers, and/or VDI servers in your environment without any monitor licenses, provided the total number of unique users who accessed all these servers over the last 90 days is within a licensed limit. If the Named User license is violated, the eG agents will stop monitoring all managed Thin Client or VDI components, and will no longer allow administrators to add/manage more components of such types, until additional Named User licenses are purchased. A mix of server-based and user-based licenses can also be used - e.g., all the key server applications like Active Directory, SQL server, Java applications can be monitored with agent/agentless monitor licenses and thin-client servers can be monitored with named user licenses.

     Note:

     • Named User licensing governs only the following component-types: Citrix XenApp, Citrix MF XP, Microsoft Terminal server, 2x Terminal server, VMware vSphere VDI, Citrix XenServer – VDI, Microsoft Hyper-V – VDI, RHEV Hypervisor– VDI, and Oracle VirtualBox. For monitoring all other component types, Basic and/or Premium Monitor licenses are mandatory! For instance, a typical Citrix environment may comprise of many Citrix XenApp servers, an Active Directory for user authentication, Profile servers, Licensing servers, Web Interface servers, and more. In this case, you can use Named User licensing for monitoring the Citrix XenApp servers alone – i.e., you can add any number of XenApp servers for monitoring without any premium monitor licenses! For monitoring the Active Directory, Profile, Licensing, and Web Interface servers, you have to have a license per server.
     • Once the Named User licensing patch is applied, you will not be able to make any changes to the component types mentioned above, using eG's Integration Console plugin. In other words, you can no longer use the Integration Console interface to build new monitoring capabilities or modify the existing models/monitoring capabilities for the following component types - Citrix XenApp, Citrix MF XP, Microsoft Terminal server, 2x Terminal server, VMware vSphere VDI, Citrix XenServer – VDI, Microsoft Hyper-V – VDI, RHEV Hypervisor– VDI, and Oracle VirtualBox.
     • If the Named User license capability is enabled, then the report by user flag that is available for some of the tests associated with the VMware vSphere VDI, Citrix XenServer – VDI, Microsoft Hyper-v – VDI, RHEV Hypervisor – VDI, and Oracle VirtualBox component-types, will be disabled. In other words, you cannot override the default status of this flag (which is Yes) during test configuration. In this case therefore, all such tests will always report the name of the user who is currently logged into each virtual desktop as the descriptor. Likewise, the aggregate user sessions flag that is available for a few other tests mapped to the above-mentioned component-types will also be disabled if the Named User licensing mode is activated. Since this flag is set to No by default, these tests will always report a set of metrics for every username on guestname; the default status of this flag too cannot be altered using the test configuration web page in the eG administrative interface. In the same manner, the REPORTBYCLIENTNAME flag that is available for the Citrix Users test and the Citrix Applications test mapped to the Citrix XenApp server will also be disabled if Named User licensing is applied. This means that the detailed diagnosis of these tests will not include the clientname column, which displays the host name of the client machine from which users accessed applications on the XenApp server.

     Tracking the Usage of Named User Licenses

     To enable users to track the usage of their Named User licenses, this page displays the following against the head, Named Users:

     • Allowed: The total number of Named Users who are permitted by the eG license to access the managed Thin Client and VDI components in the environment;
     • Used: The total number of unique users who actually accessed the managed Thin Client and VDI components during the last 90 days. This section additionally indicates the number of user licenses currently being utilized per user type ; this way, you can figure out who is using the maximum number of licenses – is it the VDI users? Citrix users? or Terminal users?

       Note that the user types displayed here depend upon the types of components that are managed in your environment – for instance, if you do not see the number of ‘Citrix Users’ then it indicates that no Citrix components have been managed in your environment.

     • Available: The number of Named User licenses that are currently unused (i.e., Available); this is the difference between the number of named users who are Allowed to access the managed components and the number of Used named user licenses; a value close to 0 indicates that your eG installation is about to violate the Named User license, and that you may have to obtain additional Named User licenses to avoid such an eventuality.
     • Usage (%): The percentage of Allowed named user licenses that are currently Used; this is a good indicator of how effectively the Named User licenses are being utilized by your environment and whether more of these licenses need to be obtained in the immediate future. Against the VDI Users, Terminal Users, and Citrix Users sub-sections, you can view the percentage of total Allowed licenses that are currently been utilized by Citrix, Terminal, and VDI users; in the event of repeated violations of the Named User license, you can use this break-up to figure out where the user density is high – in Citrix environments? VDI environments? or Microsoft Terminal environments? Here again, the user types displayed depend upon the types of components that are managed in your environment.

     To track how the named user licenses are utilized per day, click on the icon against Named Users in this page. The TOTAL NAMED USERS REPORT pop up window will then appear, which graphically depicts the number of users who accessed the managed thin client and VDI components every day during the last 2 weeks (by default). If the eG manager reports a license violation, you can use this graph to quickly figure out how many times in the last 2 weeks the violation has occurred and on which days.

     You can change the timeline of this graph by picking a different Duration, and you can change the dimension of this graph by selecting a different option from the Graph drop-down.

     Clicking on the icon near Named Users will reveal the Named Users Report.

     To know more on how the eG Enterprise detects and deals with a Named User License Violation, refer to the Administering eG Enterprise manual.

   • Concurrent User Licensing

     The concurrent user licensing model is ideal for environments where a large number of users access the servers every day, but only a small subset of this user population accesses the servers concurrently – i.e., at the same time. For example, in a university, you could have thousands of students coming in every day; but, every time a class is in session, you will have a few students accessing their desktops simultaneously to attend the class. If you opt for the named user licensing model here, you will have to obtain licenses for all the users who log into their desktops each day; this may prove to be expensive. The concurrent user licensing model on the other hand, will be more cost-effective in such environments, as you will have to obtain a license for only those users who access their desktops concurrently. Like named user licensing, Concurrent user licensing too is applicable to Thin Client and VDI environments only. If this option is enabled, you can monitor any number of Citrix XenApp servers, Microsoft RDS servers, 2X Terminal servers, and/or VDI servers in your environment without any monitor licenses, provided the maximum number of users who access these servers every day during the last 10 days is within a stipulated limit. At configured intervals (default: 30 minutes), the eG manager automatically computes the total number of users who accessed all the managed Thin Client and VDI components in the environment during the last 30 minutes (by default), and stores this user count in the eG backend. The user count records so collected during the course of the day are compared at the end of the day to identify the maximum number of concurrent users for that day. This maximum number is compared with the licensed number of concurrent users to capture violations (if any). If this license is violated in 7 out of the last 10 days, the eG agents will stop monitoring all managed Thin Client or VDI components, and will no longer allow administrators to add/manage more components of such types, until additional concurrent user licenses are purchased.