ILMT reporting BigFix with both Sub and Full capacity

Usage and Config BFI
1

Hi All,

I have ILMT pulling in the IBM data and I have been mapping the metrics to products. One odd thing I have happening is that the “IBM BigFix Patch” product has two entries, one for “RVU Managed Activated Processor Cores Full Capacity” and the other is “RVU Managed Activated Processor Cores Subcapacity”. Now I sort of expected this since we have both physical and virtual servers, but what I am seeing is that the systems are showing up in both reports, so it seems like I have double (ish) the number of RVUs used.

Has anyone seen this? Any hints on how to solve this?

Thanks

Martin

2

Martin,

This is due to IBM products having multiple names and SKUs. Your IBM sales rep should be able to help you “bundle” like/similar products so that subcapacity and other IBM reporting displays more usable “bundled” software details.

It would be nice if BFI could interface with the IBM Passport site via API and automatically bundle software packages to streamline this process.

Another excellent resource for bundling in BFI (aka ILMT) William (aka Bay) VanHorne from Clean Slate is a former IBM ILMT guru and knows more about bundling than anyone else I’ve spoken with.

Hope that helps.

-Casey

3

Oh man, a direct connection to Passport Advantage would be great!

I will look into this bundling thing and see if that fixes this.

Thanks for the feedback.

Martin

4

While it isn’t automatic, you can import your part numbers from Passport Advantage into BFI/ILMT, which will then incorporate them into the automatic bundling process. See here: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SS8JFY_9.2.0/com.ibm.lmt.doc/Inventory/softinv/t_preparing_part_numbers_file.html

For metrics PVU and RVU Managed Activated Processor Cores there will always be both a Full Capacity and Subcapacity calculation, since these are metrics which can priced either way. Which scenario is appropriate depends on which approach is more advantageous to you cost-wise. Usually, it is Subcapacity pricing, which is the primary reason ILMT exists, to capture the infrastructure capacity measurements needed to do the calculations.

5

Ok, so what you are saying is that we should expect to see both and then we work with IBM to license based on the lower metric quantity?

For example on BigFix, this is what I see:

image.png1030×134 6.28 KB

Based on this image, we are using the 2257 subcapacity, and this is what we want to license. Correct?

Thanks

Martin

6

That makes sense to me, unless your environment is expected to grow, and you’re confident in your assignment of BigFix Patch product to servers in ILMT.

7

Confident?? LOL

I keep working on it. I was given 2 days to install it and get reports generated. Lots of time :wink:

Thanks for the feedback.

Martin

8

Martin,

Are you in or expecting an audit from IBM? If so, they will likely perform the bundling for you as part of the audit process.

-Casey

9

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition” :wink:

I got it from high up to get it done, so I am assuming that someone thinks so or maybe they listened to my advise that we need to get it done (been saying it for a while).

Either way, it is in, I can get reports, people seem happy.

1 Like
10

Martin,

First - congratulations on getting the product installed.

ILMT will discover most all IBM software (except for User based licensed installs). For the PVU and RVU subcapacity based licenses, both the full capacity and subcapacity numbers will be calculated. Further more, you can tailor the report to include PartNumbers & entitlement thresholds if you so desire - that will make it easier for the end consumer.

Now the likely bad news. The work is not yet done. Your report shows the chargeable product of BigFix Patch because of the presence of the BigFix endpoints. I suspect however, you are not running BF Patch and thus are reporting a chargeable licensed product incorrectly in ILMT. There is a screen - SOFTWARE CLASSIFICATIONS - that likely needs attention. On the ILMT health screen there is widget on the 2nd row of the same name with a count of UNCONFIRMED INSTANCEs. These are the number of discoveries that could impact your license counts incorrectly.

If you desire to talk a bit further, let me know. wbvanhorne@cleanslatetg.com or 727 642 4645.
William (Bay) Van Horne