Value unit exhibits
Each IBM® value unit–priced software product has a specific value unit exhibit that applies to the product. The value unit exhibit is a read-only table that provides information that is used when converting a base unit, such as MSU (millions of service units), to value units.
IPLA capacity for mainframe software is typically measured in MSU but licensed in value units. Conversion is necessary before you can match your existing computer capacity in MSU to value unit–priced software when considering a software purchase or evaluating license audit reports.
Value units and base units
IBM value units are the applicable capacity measures in System z® IPLA (International Program License Agreement) software product licenses. A value unit, also referred to in IBM pricing documents as a processor value unit (PVU), represents the quantity of a specific capacity measurement that IBM has defined for a given IPLA software product. For pricing purposes, each software product has its own designated measurement.
Base units, on the other hand, are the measures to be converted to value units; in this case, MSU (but they can also be messages or engines). Capacity for System z computers is measured in MSU, but license entitlements use value unit measures instead. The number of MSU that a licensed, value unit–priced software product consumes is obtained with data from its IBM-defined value unit exhibit.
Value Unit Converter
A calculator is available from the Maximo IT user interface when you use the View Value Unit Exhibits action in the Licenses application. To use the calculator, the administrator needs to first determine how many MSU are available on the target computer, then figure out which value unit exhibit to use for the software product to be licensed.
Value unit conversion and audit reports
- Enter the license capacity in MSU into the software product's license record before running an audit report, or
- Run the report first and then convert the license capacity to value units after the discovered MSU usage data is returned from IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS.