Licenses and entitlements

IBM Cloud Pak® for Business Automation can be licensed in different ways. The type of license and the deployment license parameters that you set in the custom resource can determine and alter your entitlements.

Note: Use the following information to help you install Cloud Pak for Business Automation within your purchased entitlement. Your license agreement, such as the IBM International Program License Agreement (IPLA) or equivalent, and its transaction documents, including the license information for Cloud Pak for Business Automation, is the sole and complete agreement between you and IBM regarding the use of Cloud Pak for Business Automation.

If you are not familiar with the concepts of how licensing works for IBM software, see the Licensing Basics, Essential Elements, and Licensing & Compliance pages. The Cloud Paks Licensing guide is another resource that gives you a better understanding of concepts that are related to all IBM Cloud Paks.

The licensing information for Cloud Pak for Business Automation is divided into the following sections.

License types

Cloud Pak for Business Automation has the following license types:
IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation full license

For more information about the full license, see IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation (L-GTXR-M5Q3GW).

The full license includes Red Hat Software Subscription entitlements. The Red Hat entitlements are applicable and valid only when the Red Hat products are used in support of Cloud Pak for Business Automation.

IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation reserved license

For more information about the reserved license, see IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation (L-ANSP-6F8T5J).

Reserved licenses do not include Red Hat Software Subscription entitlement. The reserved license is intended for organizations that already have an existing Red Hat OpenShift entitlement, or commit to using public cloud environments with managed OpenShift. Prior IBM approval is required.

What do you get with your purchase

Cloud Pak for Business Automation offers a unified platform for automating your business with a choice of capabilities. The offering is built into the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to enable deployment by using Kubernetes features.

Cloud Pak for Business Automation contains the following capabilities.

  • IBM Automation Decision Services
  • IBM Business Automation Application Engine
  • IBM Business Automation Insights
  • IBM FileNet Content Manager
  • IBM Business Automation Workflow Enterprise
  • IBM Automation Workstream Services
  • IBM Operational Decision Manager Server
  • IBM Automation Document Processing
  • IBM Datacap
  • IBM Enterprise Records
  • IBM Content Collector for Email, Files & Sharepoint
  • IBM Content Collector for SAP
  • IBM Robotic Process Automation Platform
  • IBM Process Mining Platform

All these capabilities, except IBM Datacap and IBM Content Collector for Email, Files & Sharepoint, can be run in containers as a part of Cloud Pak for Business Automation running on Red Hat OpenShift. Some, but not all, of these capabilities can also be installed as stand-alone deployments outside of OpenShift, on physical machines or on virtual machines. IBM Automation Decision Services, IBM Business Automation Insights, IBM Automation Document Processing, IBM Business Automation Application, and IBM Automation Workstream Services can be installed only on OpenShift.

If capabilities are installed in a non-container deployment, then they are subject to the same license entitlements and restrictions, but deployments do need to be tracked and reported separately. Licensing for Cloud Pak for Business Automation is by the VPC metric, which can be perpetual, monthly, or subscription. For more information about IBM perpetual, monthly, and subscription licenses, see Passport Advantage Licensing Overview.

When you install multiple capabilities under the Cloud Pak for Business Automation license, you are not allowed to exceed the maximum entitlement at any time. Deployments can include a mix of different installed capabilities, either as a stand-alone deployment, in containerized deployments, or a combination of both. You can change the mix of deployments at any time, on condition that they never exceed the maximum entitlement as measured by IBM License Service or IBM License Management Tool.

Note: The chargeable components of each capability are listed in the Pods that are licensed for production/non-production columns of the System Requirements tables. A single Yes indicates that the pods are licensed for both production and non-production. A single No indicates that the pods are not licensed for either production or non-production. A deployment can be installed in three different profile sizes (sc_deployment_profile_size): small, medium, and large. The default profile is small, but you can set the profile during installation, in an update, and during an upgrade.
Some of the capabilities do not require entitlement and you can install them without a license. You can find a list of these programs from the following places:
  • The Components Not Used for Established Required Entitlements section of the license.
  • The System Requirements section.
  • The Use Limitation in the license.

The following sections provide information about the bundled and supporting programs of Cloud Pak for Business Automation.

Note: IBM Integration Designer is not included in the Cloud Pak for Business Automation license. Therefore, if you want to create a process from Integration Designer as an Advanced Integration service for use by IBM Process Designer you must acquire a separate license.

Integration Designer is a development environment for end-to-end integration of your service-oriented application. It is an Eclipse-based tool for building SOA-based business process management (BPM) and integration solutions. For more information, see Installing IBM Integration Designer.

Differences in license terms

The license terms for Cloud Pak for Business Automation supersede the license terms of the bundled programs. However, this policy applies only when terms are in conflict with each other. The terms of the bundled programs still apply if the license terms of Cloud Pak for Business Automation do not supersede them.

Supporting programs

Cloud Pak for Business Automation also includes Supporting Programs, which are a set of programs that enable the capabilities to run in containers or in stand-alone deployments. These programs include:

  • IBM Cloud Pak foundational services entitlement

    Cloud Pak foundational services, such as the Platform UI (Zen), can be installed without needing to count more VPCs for the deployment. When Db2 Enterprise, for example, is installed as a supporting program for FileNet Content Manager, the program is not charged. It can be configured for no charge within the limits that are defined in the License Information.

  • IBM Db2 Standard Edition entitlement

    You can use a maximum of 16 processor cores and 128 GB of memory on each physical or virtual server. However, if the program is used on a cluster of servers that are configured to work together by using database partitioning or other clustering technology, you are limited to a maximum of 16 processor cores and 128 GB of memory across all virtual or physical servers in that cluster.

  • IBM WebSphere Liberty entitlement

    IBM WebSphere Liberty is dynamic, lightweight, and optimized for containerized deployments. For more information, see IBM WebSphere Liberty. It cannot be used to run other software that is not part of Cloud Pak for Business Automation. If you want to run other programs on WebSphere Liberty that are not part of Cloud Pak for Business Automation, then you need a separate WebSphere Liberty license to run that software.

  • IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment entitlement

    The Supporting Programs entitlement for WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (WAS ND), is used, for example, to run stand-alone FileNet Content Manager. It cannot be used to run other software that is not part of FileNet Content Manager. If you need to run other software outside of FileNet Content Manager, then you need a separate WAS ND license to run that software. For a complete list of programs that can use the WAS ND entitlement, refer to the "Permitted Components" section of the Cloud Pak for Business Automation license.

  • Restricted IBM Storage Fusion Essentials entitlement

    Previous releases of Cloud Pak for Business Automation had access to time-limited offers for IBM Storage Suite for Cloud Paks or IBM Spectrum Fusion. Cloud Pak for Business Automation deployments now have entitlement to 12 Terabytes (TB) of usable storage per cluster from IBM Storage Fusion Essentials, with no time limit associated with the entitlement.

    Use of IBM Storage Fusion Essentials includes support for Block, File, and Object storage. The Storage Fusion Essentials entitlement includes the following features:
    • Fusion Data Foundation internal deployment mode, up to 12 Terabytes (TB) per cluster. This mode includes compression, cluster-wide encryption, and cross-availability zones.
    • No usage time limit.
    • Fully supported by IBM.

    You must purchase IBM Storage Fusion Advanced for extra features, like external mode deployment, disaster recovery and backup, Data Catalog, and advanced encryption with external key management.

  • Restricted Red Hat program entitlement

    Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform (RHOCP) is included as a Restricted entitlement in Cloud Pak for Business Automation. A Restricted entitlement means that the platform can be used only to support the running of Cloud Pak for Business Automation, and its Supported Programs.

    When you purchase Cloud Pak licenses from IBM, Red Hat is informed about the purchase so that it can allocate the necessary number of entitlement subscriptions for OpenShift. Acquire extra licenses to use OpenShift for any other use. It is possible to mix entitlements of both restricted and unrestricted RHOCP within the same cluster.

    Important: Workloads that you run on separately purchased OpenShift do not need to be deployed separately from Cloud Pak workloads that run on Cloud Pak-procured OpenShift cores. However, the number of separately purchased OpenShift cores must be equal to or greater than the number of cores of non-Cloud Pak workloads to get support for all your non-Cloud Pak workloads.

    Agents that are used to monitor your workloads are one example of a non-Cloud Pak deployment. Agents that send data to a separate monitoring server component can run alongside the Cloud Pak components, in the same nodes and namespaces on the OpenShift cores of a Cloud Pak for Business Automation entitlement. For all non-Cloud Pak workloads, not just monitoring agents, make sure that you have sufficient, separately procured software subscriptions and support entitlements. For more information about deploying workload in mixed clusters of OpenShift entitlements, see Restricted OpenShift entitlement for IBM Cloud Paks.

    When you install Cloud Pak for Business Automation on managed OpenShift environments in public clouds, such as AWS ROSA, IBM ROKS, or Azure ARO you might get discounts on the cost of OpenShift based on the OpenShift entitlements that are included in Cloud Pak for Business Automation. Contact your public cloud service provider to find out whether a discount is available.

    Like the Cloud Pak for Business Automation licensed capabilities, each Red Hat product has a license ratio that is associated with it. Cloud Pak for Business Automation provides RHOCP entitlements on a 1:3 ratio for chargeable capabilities. Capabilities that are not chargeable do require extra RHOCP licenses if they are not covered by chargeable component licenses. The license ratios for non-chargeable programs on Red Hat are the same as the ratios described in the license agreement.

    The number of licenses granted to the Red Hat product is fixed, regardless of the number of Cloud Pak for Business Automation licenses you purchase. Entitlements of Cloud Pak for Business Automation that are used in these ratios can be reused in other ratios at any time, on condition that the total entitlement is not exceeded. You are limited by the number of times that entitlement can be used in different combinations.

    The number of VPCs of OpenShift that are included in your Cloud Pak for Business Automation entitlement do not vary by the ratio of the programs that are deployed under the Cloud Pak entitlement. Therefore, the number of cores that are required for deployment of Cloud Pak for Business Automation capabilities can, in some scenarios, exceed the number of OpenShift cores available as part of your entitlement. In such scenarios, you must acquire an extra entitlement for OpenShift to make sure that all the software is licensed. Only OpenShift cores that are deployed as worker nodes count against the OpenShift entitlement.

License ratios

Virtual processor core (VPC) is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the licensing cost of IBM products. When you license a virtual machine (VM), VPC is based on the number of virtual cores that are assigned to the VM. One VPC license is required for every core that is available to the IBM program. A ratio defines the factor that is used to move from the VPCs running a program to the VPC licenses consumed. A ratio of 2:1 for example, specifies that 2 VPCs consume 1 VPC license. A ratio of 1:2 specifies that 1 VPC consumes 2 VPC licenses.

Tip: You can use IBM's entitlement conversion calculator to convert your Cloud Pak for Business Automation entitlements into individual product entitlements. Go to Conversion calculators (you might be prompted to set up an account). Click the Cloud Pak for Business Automation tile, then enter your values for VPCs and capabilities based on the information in the following tables.

Installed instances of Cloud Pak for Business Automation are charged at different rates based on the capabilities that are included in the deployments and their VPC license ratios. An example license ratio from Table 1 is that 3 VPC licenses of Cloud Pak for Business Automation are required for 1 VPC of IBM Content Collector for SAP.

Table 1. VPC license ratios for CP4BA capabilities
Capability Production ratios Non-production ratios
IBM Automation Decision Services 1 VPC : 4 VPC 1 VPC : 2 VPC
IBM Business Automation Application Engine 1 VPC : 1 VPC
IBM Business Automation Insights 1 VPC : 1 VPC

IBM FileNet Content Manager

 

1 VPC : 5 VPC

 

2 VPC : 5 VPC

IBM Business Automation Workflow Enterprise

 

1 VPC : 5 VPC

 

2 VPC : 5 VPC

IBM Automation Workstream Services 1 VPC : 5 VPC
IBM Operational Decision Manager Server 1 VPC : 5 VPC 2 VPC : 5VPC
IBM Automation Document Processing 1 VPC : 1 VPC 2 VPC : 1 VPC
IBM Datacap 1 VPC : 2 VPC 1 VPC : 1 VPC

IBM Content Collector for Email, Files & Sharepoint

 

1 VPC : 3 VPC

 

2 VPC : 3 VPC

IBM Content Collector for SAP

 

1 VPC : 3 VPC

 

2 VPC : 3 VPC

IBM Robotic Process Automation Platform Conversion Entitlement Ratio: 1 installation / 2 VPCs.

You can convert 2 VPCs of the Program to use 1 installation of the listed program. Regardless of the number of entitlements that are obtained to the Program, you are limited to a one-time conversion for a maximum of 1 installation of the listed program.

With each installation of the listed program, you are entitled to use 2 RPA environments, 2 Attended Bot Agents, 1 Unattended Bot Agent, and unlimited Robotic Process Automation Studio.

  • IBM Robotic Process Automation Environment add-on

    1 Virtual Server : 1 VPC

  • IBM Robotic Process Automation Unattended Bot Agent add-on

    1 Concurrent Connection : 1 VPC

  • IBM Robotic Process Automation Attended Bot Agent add-on

    5 Concurrent Connection : 1 VPC

IBM Process Mining Platform Conversion Entitlement Ratio: 1 installation / 4 VPCs.

You can convert 4 VPCs of the Program to use 1 installation of the listed program. Regardless of the number of entitlements that are obtained to the Program, you are limited to a one-time conversion for a maximum of 1 installation of the listed program.

With each installation of the listed program, you are entitled to use 3 Process Mining Processes, 20 Million Events, 1 Analyst User, 3 Business Users, and 2 Task Mining Agents.

  • IBM Process Mining Process add-on

    3 Processes : 1 VPC

  • IBM Process Mining Process add-on

    10 Million Events : 1 VPC

  • IBM Process Mining Analyst User add-on

    4 Authorized User : 1 VPC

  • IBM Process Mining Business User add-on

    17 Authorized User : 1 VPC

  • IBM Task Mining Agent add-on

    17 Concurrent Connection : 1 VPC

  • IBM Workflow Process Service

    1 VPC : 1 VPC

License reporting

Some capabilities of Cloud Pak for Business Automation can continue to be installed on the same hardware, and in the same VMs as previously measured and reported with the IBM processor value unit (PVU) licensing. For more information, see Traditional license entitlements.

The IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) tracks which software programs are installed on particular physical hardware. ILMT provides reports that can be presented to IBM when compliance around entitlement capacity is requested. The tool can also be used to track the software that is installed in VMs and entitled under VPCs. For more information, see Viewing usage metrics with ILMT.

For Cloud Pak for Business Automation containers, the IBM License Service (Cloud Pak foundational services) can be configured to report the deployments of each offering in each container. A License Service report provides the container size and how that relates to your entitlements by using the VPC-to-license ratio. For more information, see License Service usage metering and reporting.

The following table shows the recommended metering tool based on whether the capability is containerized or not. Measure and document the usage of each capability and convert the necessary entitlements for Cloud Pak for Business Automation manually or with the Conversion calculator.

Note: If a capability is configured to measure other available metrics, for example authorized users or concurrent users, then refer to the Conversion calculator or a selected Methodology for your license metric on the Software Licensing & Compliance pages.
Table 2. Recommended metering for container and non-container CP4BA deployments
CP4BA capability Container deployment metering Non-container deployment metering
IBM Automation Decision Services IBM License Service N/A
IBM Business Automation Application Engine IBM License Service N/A
IBM Business Automation Insights IBM License Service N/A
IBM FileNet Content Manager IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Business Automation Workflow Enterprise IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Automation Workstream Services IBM License Service N/A
IBM Operational Decision Manager Server IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Automation Document Processing IBM License Service N/A
IBM Datacap N/A ILMT
IBM Enterprise Records IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Content Collector for Email, Files & Sharepoint N/A ILMT
IBM Content Collector for SAP IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Robotic Process Automation Platform IBM License Service ILMT
IBM Process Mining Platform IBM License Service ILMT

It is your responsibility to install and configure the Cloud Pak for Business Automation capabilities in accordance with the license entitlement.

  • It is your responsibility to make sure that the container deployments report correctly to the IBM License Service.
  • If you install into virtual machines, it is your responsibility to make sure that ILMT is correctly configured to track your installations.
Tip: If you do not renew your Subscription and Support and you have a perpetual license entitlement to pull the container images from the IBM entitled registry (cp.icr.io), then your access to download the images is lost after your support key expires. To continue to use the Cloud Pak for Business Automation container images, mirror the images from the IBM entitled registry to a private registry before your access expires. You can then configure your system to pull the images from your offline private registry.

Licensing for Disaster Recovery or Backup

In situations where your production or non-production deployments go offline and business workloads are transferred to an offline configuration, your Disaster Recovery (DR) site must continue to be licensed. For more information about qualifying for licensing as DR, see the Backup and Disaster Recovery Licensing Guide.

IBM license and deployment license parameters

All Cloud Pak for Business Automation deployments must accept the terms set out in the license agreement before installation. The agreement is marked as valid when the ibm_license custom resource parameter is set to "accept". The custom resource file must include the following YAML:

spec:
  ibm_license: "accept"
A deployment of Cloud Pak for Business Automation (CP4BA) has two license values that you can set in the sc_deployment_license parameter of the custom resource file.
  • production

    Any type of use that involves production workload.

  • non-production

    Any type of use that involves non-production workload. Examples of non-production workloads are development, testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), and staging environments. For more information, see Licensing IBM Programs in Non-Production Environments.

When the sc_deployment_license is set to production, the pods on the OpenShift cluster are licensed for a production license type.

shared_configuration:
  sc_deployment_license: "production"

When the sc_deployment_license is set to non-production, the pods on the OpenShift cluster are licensed for a non-production license type.

shared_configuration:
  sc_deployment_license: "non-production"
If a deployment includes FileNet® Content Manager or Business Automation Workflow, the custom resource can also specify two other license parameters:
  • A parameter to use a FileNet Content Manager on-premises or stand-alone license for a Cloud Pak for Business Automation deployment (sc_deployment_fncm_license).
  • A parameter to use a Business Automation Workflow on-premises or stand-alone license for a Cloud Pak for Business Automation deployment (sc_deployment_baw_license).
The sc_deployment_fncm_license and sc_deployment_baw_license parameters have three possible values.
  • production
  • non-production
  • user

When the program license parameters are set to production, the relevant pods on the OpenShift cluster are licensed for a production license type.

shared_configuration:
  sc_deployment_fncm_license: "production"
  sc_deployment_baw_license: "production"

The FileNet Content Manager capability has extra license-related parameters in the custom resource template to use Cloud Pak for Business Automation with a purchased license. The license annotations are based on the value of the license_model parameters for the Content Platform Engine and GraphQL components. The PVUNonProd value refers to the IBM processor value unit (PVU) licensing with a non-production ratio.

cpe:
  cpe_production_setting:
    license_model: FNCM.PVUNonProd
graphql:
  graphql_production_setting:
    license_model: FNCM.PVUNonProd