Specops Inventory License Manager

The Specops License Manager is a component of Specops Inventory that can be used to help you with your license compliance needs. To get started with the License Manager, you must be a member of the Administrators group, or a Specops Inventory Report Admin on the SQL Server used by Specops Reporting.

When the license manager is launched for the first time, you will need provide the name of the database server before you are taken to the main user interface.

The tree view in the left pane of the user interface is divided into sections that are part of your license management process. The content below will walk you through most of the sections.

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Categories


You can organize your licenses in the License Manager by using the Container tree. The container tree is a tree structure, with multiple levels, with child nodes that can contain software, license information, and/or other contracts associated with your software. A container can also be a folder that contains subfolders that contain your software, license information, etc.

Container tree structure

It is recommended to create a category tree based on the different vendors the software is purchased from. Additionally, it is common to have a freeware container, or similar, which can contain any additional software that is not required to be managed actively.

Categorize your software

To see the list of software that has been collected, click the Uncategorized Software node. Drag and drop one, or multiple, rows of software to the appropriate container.

NOTE
If you have software file that fit into a container, but are not required to be counted, it is recommended to place them in a sub-container.

License and Maintenance Information


Once you have categorized your software files, you will need to add information about the existing licenses, and contracts for the software. Click New on the container screen and a generic dialog containing information about a license agreement will appear. You can fill in the following fields:

  • Licenses : If you are adding a license agreement where the licenses need, add the number of licenses in this field. All rows with a number in this field will be accumulated. If you are adding a Maintenance contract which applies for all the software licenses independent of how many installed, you should not fill in a number in this field since that will make the accumulated licenses number inaccurate.
  • Owner : Fill in the name of the person in your organization responsible for the content in this container.
  • Purchase Date
  • Expiration Date
  • License key
  • Link to document : Use this field to add a link to for example the actual EULA or MAINTENANCE contract.
  • Notes : We recommend using this field to describe the contract you are adding, such as EULA, Support-contract, Maintenance-contract, etc. This makes it easier for you to see what kind of contract you have added when looking in the container view.

License Reports


You can use the following license reports to see an overview of the entered license information:

  • License Compliance Report : Displays software installation against the number of license purchased.
  • License Expiration Report : Shows expired, or expiring (within 2 weeks) contracts.

Subscriptions


You can subscribe to License Compliance Reports and License Expiration Reports by E-mail by connecting any License Container to an e-mail address. Reports are e-mailed to the specified e-mail address automatically.

Setting up a subscription

  1. Click on the License Report subscriptions node in the tree view.
  2. Click on the Click here to create a new License Report Subscription link. A new subscription screen will appear.
  3. You will be required to complete the following fields:
    • Enter a name for the subscription.
    • Select when you want the subscription to be emailed.
    • Add the recipient/recipients that shall receive the reports.
    • If you dont want all containers to be in the reports, press the Edit button under the “Containers to filter the subscription by” header and select only the containers you want.
    • Add the SMTP server you want to use. This server must allow the Specops Reporting server to relay SMTP mail. Configuring the SMTP server is is a one time task and can be done from the Options node in the main License Manager Window.
  4. Click Save . You can view how the e-mail content will appear to the subscriber by clicking Preview .