Complying with licensing requirements

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To comply with requirements of IBM subcapacity licensing, you need to install License Metric Tool and upgrade it periodically, scan all computers on which IBM software is installed, correctly classify the discovered software, generate audit snapshots quarterly and store them for two years for auditing purposes.

General licensing information

This page provides a high-level overview of steps related to using License Metric Tool to comply with requirements of IBM subcapacity licensing. For general information about IBM licensing requirements, see the following links:

Deploying License Metric Tool to comply with IBM subcapacity licensing

To use License Metric Tool to comply with requirements of IBM subcapacity licensing, perform the following steps:

Install License Metric Tool within 90 days from deploying the first IBM product that is eligible for subcapacity licensing.
You can install License Metric Tool with disconnected scanners (Ansible or Lite) or with BigFix®. For more information, see: Installing.
Ensure that the scanner is installed on every computer on which you have IBM software installed and that software and capacity scans are running with the required frequency.
Depending on the deployment option that you chose, see the following links:
- Installing and configuring the scanner (disconnected scenario)
- Setting up data collection (BigFix scenario)
To verify whether there are any problems with software or capacity scans, check the following widgets on the Overview panel:
- Software Scan Health widget
- Capacity Scan Health widget
Review the initial classification of the discovered software and adjust it where needed to ensure that the classification reflects your license agreements. For more information, see: Software classification.
Review the All Metrics report. If it is correct, generate the audit snapshot. Generate the snapshot quarterly and store it for auditing purposes for at least two years. For more information, see: Creating snapshots of license metric utilization for auditing purposes.
Ensure that you have license entitlements to cover the reported license usage.
Upgrade License Metric Tool according to the upgrading policy.