Simulation Differences

The license calculations performed during a simulation are likely to match closely to the actual license calculations resulting from a full license reconciliation of your entire enterprise. However, there are several factors that may lead to differences between these counts.

IBM PVU Sub-Capacity Calculations

IBM accepts sub-capacity calculations by its own tools (like ILMT), or by IT Asset Management suitably configured for higher frequency hardware scans (for details, see IBM High-Frequency Scanning). However, the ILMT data is imported as a set of fixed results, which limits ability to simulate changes.

Therefore the calculations made during a simulation for IBM PVU licenses operate as follows:

• Only IT Asset Management calculations are used

• Simulation takes into account the setting in the License calculation uses host capacity field on the Use rights & rules tab of the license properties. That is, if this is field is checked, full capacity licensing is used. Otherwise, sub- capacity licensing is used.

• Simulation does not take into account the setting in the Allow sub-capacity licensing for sources other than ... field on the Use rights & rules tab of the license properties.

The results for simulations of IBM PVU license consumption are likely to match sub-capacity calculations taken from ILMT under matching circumstances.

Scoping Is Respected

Compliance calculations in the IT Asset Management console cover the entire enterprise. When you create a simulation, the data restrictions applying to your access rights are honored. This may mean that your simulation results are incomplete in these two dimensions:

• Hardware —If computers (as assets) are assigned to particular enterprise groups, and you do not have rights to see data for those groups, those computers are excluded from your simulation. You can simulate changes only to that subset of all hardware that you are entitled to see.

• Licenses —Similarly, if licenses are assigned to particular enterprise groups, and you do not have rights to see data for those groups, those licenses are excluded from your simulation. Your simulation can only include applications linked to licenses that you are entitled to see.

With these restrictions, simulations are valid for your authorized context, but the numbers may differ from compliance calculations that cover the entire enterprise.

Simulated License Choices Are Fixed

In real compliance calculations, an application that is linked to more than one license consumes from one or the other based on complex circumstances (for example, license priorities, whether one license is already fully consumed, upgrade/downgrade rights, and so on). From one compliance calculation to the next, changed circumstances may mean that a given installation consumes from a different license.

In a simulation, licenses are linked to software installations in one of these ways:

• If the software installation and its associated license were part of the original snapshot that started the simulation, the link was created in the prior compliance calculation and captured in the snapshot.

• If you create a new simulated software installation, you nominate its linked license at the time you create it.

In both these cases, the link between software and license never changes in a simulation (in contrast to real compliance calculations). You may move the software around, and its linked license moves with it, recalculating points consumption for each new environment.

If it happens that you want to simulate allocation of a different license to a software installation on a particular computer, you can delete the first software installation, and create another copy of the same software on the same computer, but linked at creation time with the alternative license.

h1: Cloud Migration Simulations

If you are considering migrating from on-premises VM infrastructure to cloud providers (for example, AWS, Azure, Google, and IBM SoftLayer), the Cloud Migration Simulations page can help you to simulate the licensing impact of these potential migrations and identify which VMs have the highest impact in cloud migration. Nothing you do in a simulation has any effect in your real-world license management. This is a place for safely trying out “what if” scenarios.

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To use this simulation function, you must be using the NextGen License Reconcile algorithm for license reconciliation. For information about how to enable this algorithm, contact Flexera support.

How to use Cloud Migration Simulations

1. Ensure that your logged-in account is in a role that has the Create license simulation scenarios access right (by default, the Operator role provides this right). To check:
2. Go to the IT Asset Accounts page.
3. Use the All Accounts tab to locate your current account and identify the role to which it is assigned.
4. Switch to the Roles tab, and for the applicable role, select the edit (pencil) icon on the right end of the row.
5. Scroll down, select the Licenses heading to expand that group, and scroll to the Create license simulation scenarios towards the right.

   • Only accounts that show an Allow setting for this right can access Cloud Migration Simulations.

6. Go to Licenses > License Management > Cloud Migration Simulations . The All Simulations page displays.
7. From this page, you can:
   • Create a new simulation (see h2: Creating a New Cloud Migration Simulation)
   • View and assess simulation results (see h2: Viewing and Assessing Cloud Migration Simulation Results)
   • Edit an existing simulation (see h2: Editing a Cloud Migration Simulation)
   • Delete an existing simulation (see h2: Deleting a Cloud Migration Simulation).

h2: Creating a New Cloud Migration Simulation

To create a new simulation:

1. Go to Licenses > License Management > Cloud Migration Simulations .
2. Select Create A Simulation .
3. The Simulation Properties page displays.
4. On the General tab, enter a name for the simulation and select the Type of the cloud provider. Optionally, you can also enter some comments related to the simulation.
5. On the Virtual Machines tab, search and select the virtual machines that you want to run the simulation on, and then select Add Selected VMs . Repeat this step if there are more virtual machines to be added.
6. Select Create .

Right after you create a new simulation, the Results tab will display no results in the License Consumption Impact list. New results will display after the next license reconciliation is completed.

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A simulation is eligible to be calculated or recalculated if it is newly created or has been updated since its last run. There is a limitation of 5 simulations to be calculated or recalculated at a time. If there are more than 5 eligible simulations existing, the top 5 with the oldest Last Modified Date will be calculated.

h2: Viewing and Assessing Cloud Migration Simulation Results

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For a simulation that has just been created or updated, the simulation results won't display until the next license reconciliation is completed.

To view and assess the results of an existing simulation:

1. Go to Licenses > License Management > Cloud Migration Simulations .
2. Select Create A Simulation .
3. The Simulation Properties page displays.
4. On the General tab, enter a name for the simulation and select the Type of the cloud provider. Optionally, you can also enter some comments related to the simulation.
5. On the Virtual Machines tab, search and select the virtual machines that you want to run the simulation on, and then select Add Selected VMs . Repeat this step if there are more virtual machines to be added.
6. Select Create .

The following fields are available in the Licenses Consumption Impact list that displays the impact of your simulation.

Property	Description
Change to liability	The difference between Projected liability and Original liability . This value may go negative if you have reduced, but not removed, over-consumption on this license. A positive change means you have increased liability (that is, your simulation is making your over-consumption worse). This value will be blank if both its source fields are blank.
Compliance change	The change in the compliance status of the license. Possible values are: Now at risk : The compliance status will change from compliant to not compliant after the migration. Now compliant : The compliance status will change from not compliant to compliant after the migration. Still at risk : The compliance status is not compliant either before or after the migration. Still compliant : The compliance status is compliant both before and after the migration.
License name	The individual license for which impacts are displayed.
New points	License consumption (measured in points for most supported licenses, or as entitlements) after your simulated changes have been taken into account.
New unlicensed installs	The number of the installations that will change from licensed to unlicensed after the migration. As the Cloud Migration Simulation function assumes that you will need to acquire new licenses for the applications that are migrated to the cloud infrastructure, all these installations that used to be licensed in the on-premises infrastructure are flagged as unlicensed in the simulation. This information is important and requires your close attention so that you can avoid potential unlicensed installations caused by the cloud migration.
Original liability	The liability is your exposure, the financial amount that your enterprise is liable to pay to bring the selected licenses into compliance. The original liability is the exposure before your simulation: the value of any current consumption recorded against this license in the last reconciliation ( Original points x Price per right ).
Original points	License consumption recorded against this license in the last reconciliation performed before you started this simulation. For most supported licenses, the consumed entitlements are measured as points.
Original unlicensed installs	The actual number of unlicensed installations before migration.
Price per right	The unit cost of one entitlement (or point, depending on the license type). This cost is taken from the first available of the following data points, from highest to lowest priority: The Amount field on the Financial tab of the license properties. The <span class="UI_Element">Override unit price</span> on the <span class="UI_Element">Purchases</span> tab of the license properties. The <span class="UI_Element">Quantity amount at unit price</span> field on the <span class="UI_Element">Financial</span> tab of the properties of the purchase most recently linked to the license. Zero.
Projected liability	The value of any consumption recorded against this license in the current state of your simulation ( New points x Price per right ).
Purchased	The available points (or license entitlements) that can be consumed in your simulation before a license is over-utilized. This is the sum of entitlements purchased in all purchase order lines (that you have access rights to see) linked to this license, plus any value in the Extra licenses property of that license.

h2: Editing a Cloud Migration Simulation

To edit an existing simulation:

1. Go to Licenses > License Management > Cloud Migration Simulations . The All Simulations page displays. All simulations are listed together with their last run date and status.
2. Select the simulation that you want to edit. The Simulation Properties page displays.
3. On the General tab, the following fields can be edited:
   • Name : A descriptive name of the simulation.
   • Type : The projected cloud provider.
   • Comments : Any notes related to the simulation.
4. On the Virtual Machines tab, you can add or delete virtual machines for the simulation.
5. After you complete the editing, select Save .

Right after you edit a simulation, the Results tab will still display the old results, if there are any, in the License Consumption Impact list. New results will display after the next license reconciliation is completed.

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A simulation is eligible to be calculated or recalculated if it is newly created or has been updated since its last run. There is a limitation of 5 simulations to be calculated or recalculated at a time. If there are more than 5 eligible simulations existing, the top 5 with the oldest Last Modified Date will be calculated.

h2: Deleting a Cloud Migration Simulation

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A deleted simulation cannot be restored.

To delete an existing simulation:

1. Go to Licenses > License Management > Cloud Migration Simulations . The All Simulations page displays. All simulations are listed together with their last run date and status.
2. Select the checkbox next to the simulation that you want to delete.
3. Select Delete simulation .