Audit snapshot

Audit snapshot is a record of license usage in your environment over a period of time. The audit snapshot is a compressed .zip package that includes a complete set of audit documents that certify your cumulative license usage.

Audit snapshot for container licensing

Audit snapshot is needed for compliance and audit purposes.

For core license metrics, you are obliged to use License Service and periodically generate an audit snapshots to fulfill container licensing requirements. For more information about core license metrics, see Reported metrics.

You do not need to complete any manual actions to prepare the audit snapshot, you only need to generate it.

At this point, the audit snapshot is required to be generated at least once a quarter, and stored for 2 years in a location from which it could be retrieved and delivered to auditors.

Note: The requirements might change over time. You should always make sure to follow the latest requirements that are posted on Passport Advantage.

For more information, see the following resources:

Best practices

Generating an audit snapshot

You can retrieve an audit snapshot for the cluster with the dedicated License Service API. For more information, see Retrieving an audit snapshot.

Content of the audit snapshot

The audit snapshot is a compressed .zip package that includes a complete set of audit documents that certify your cumulative license usage.

An audit snapshot might consists of the following files:

Table 1. List of audit snapshot files
File name Content
checksum.txt The unique checksums that are a proof that the audit snapshot was not tampered with.
data_condition.txt Audit snapshot metadata that includes the following information:
  • License Service version that was used to generate the snapshot
  • Information about cluster or clusters
  • Metrics that are included in the snapshot
  • Time and date when the report is generated
  • Reporting period: Start Date and End Date
  • Information about optional capabilities, such as, hyperthreading, or any additional Custom Resource definitions that are delivered by the product
data_condition.json Audit snapshot metadata that includes all information that are listed in data_condition.txt and additionally information about custom cluster names and IDs that you defined in .json format. In the future, data_condition.json will replace the data_condition.txt file.
products_<reported_period>_<cluster hostname>.csv The aggregated highest license usage that is registered for each product within the reported period.
products_daily_<reported_period>_<cluster hostname>.csv The aggregated highest license usage that is registered for each product within the reported period per day.
bundled_products_<reported_period>_<cluster hostname>.csv The aggregated highest license usage for each bundled product that is a part of the IBM Cloud Paks.
bundled_products_daily_<reported_period>_<cluster hostname>.csv The aggregated highest license usage that is registered for each bundled product within the reported period per day.
pub_key.pem The public key file that can be used to verify the signature.rsa file against the checksums.txt file.
signature.rsa A digital signature that can be used to verify whether the checksums.txt file was tampered with.
unrecognized-apps-<reported_period>.csv A list of pods from which the license usage data was not collected on a specified date. The pods have incomplete or missing product annotations that provide the product metadata that is needed for measurements. The information is provided for every date within the reported period. The list contains the namespace followed by a pod name.
services_<reported_period>.csv The aggregated highest license usage for each Cloud Pak for Data services that are a part of bundled products.
services_daily_<reported_period>.csv The aggregated highest license usage that is registered for each Cloud Pak for Data services within the reported period per day.

Understanding the audit snapshot

Table 2. List of columns in the audit snapshot .csv files
Column Description
cloudpakId The identification number of the IBM Cloud Pak® to which the program is bundled.
name The name of the product.
cloudpakMetricName The license metric unit that is used by the entire IBM Cloud Pak® to which the bundled product contributes.
cloudpakVersion Version of the IBM Cloud Pak® to which the program is bundled.
clusterId The identification of the cluster for which the highest license usage is calculated.
date The date for which the metricQuantity or metricMeasuredQuantity is calculated.
id The identifier of the product.
metricConversion The ratio that shows how the license usage of the bundled product is counted when compared with the license usage of the IBM Cloud Pak®. It shows how the program's license metrics are recalculated when compared to the IBM Cloud Pak® license metrics.
metricConvertedQuantity The number of license units that the bundled product contributed to the overall license usage of the IBM Cloud Pak®. The value is calculated by comparing metricMeasuredQuantity against metricConversion.
metricMeasuredQuantity The highest number of license units that the bundled product used within the requested period.
metricName The license metric unit that is used by the product.
metricPeakDate The date when the license metric usage of the product was the highest within the requested period.
metricQuantity The highest number of license units that the product used within the requested period.
productName The name of the detected bundled product.
productId The identifier of the bundled product.
serviceName The name of the Cloud Pak for Data service that is a part of the bundled product.
serviceId The identifier of the Cloud Pak for Data service that is a part of the bundled product.
serviceMetricValue The license metric used by the Cloud Pak for Data service that is a part of the bundled product.