Flexera
Turbonomic integrates its management of workloads with Flexera Software License Asset Management. To do this, Turbonomic discovers the licenses and entitlements that you have configured in your Flexera environment. Turbonomic then creates groups and policies to represent these licenses and entitlements so that Turbonomic can optimize license usage and deliver continuous compliance.
For each license, Turbonomic creates a dynamic group.
These groups contain the entities that are affected by a Flexera license. For example, Turbonomic might create one group of all the VMs affected by a license, and another group of all the host machines affected by that license.
These groups are dynamic. If you allocate or remove entities (workloads, hosts, and so on) under a given license, Turbonomic adds or removes those entities in the given group. Even if you have a license with no entities allocated to it, Turbonomic creates an empty group for that license.
The name of each group begins with
Flexera
. The group name then includes the name of the license, plus the entity type. For example, you might see the groups,Flexera: Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard VMs
andFlexera: Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Hosts
.For supported licenses, Turbonomic creates Placement and Automation policies.
A Flexera license can include placement constraints, or resource utilization constraints. Turbonomic can create policies to comply with those constraints:
Placement Policies
When calculating workload placement, Turbonomic uses placement policies to comply with constraints such as keeping workloads on licensed hosts, or clearing unlicensed workloads off of licensed hosts when necessary.
For more information, see Placement Policies.
Automation Policies
Among other settings, these policies can specify operational, utilization, and scaling constraints to match the constraints in your Flexera license policies.
For more information, see Automation Policies.
The name for each policy begins with the name
Flexera
. The policy name then includes the name of the license and constraint. For example, you might see a policy namedFlexera: Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard restrict to hosts
.Turbonomic then applies these policies to the groups that correspond to the entity type and license name.
Prerequisites
For Flexera One:
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Flexera One SaaS address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and Organization ID
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OAuth API refresh token created in Flexera One for Turbonomic use
For FlexNet Manager:
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FlexNet Manager Suite 2023 R2 or above
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Address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of FlexNet Manager Suite instance
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Local Windows Server username and password of an account Turbonomic can use
Turbonomic policies for Flexera licenses
Turbonomic generates policies to comply with the following types of Flexera licenses, where Usage Rights lists the configurations Turbonomic considers when creating policies:
License Types | Example Product | Usage Rights | Summary of auto-created policy | Effect of policy |
---|---|---|---|---|
Microsoft Server Processor | Microsoft Windows Server 2012
RedHat Enterprise Linux |
Datacenter Edition
|
Placement policy that limits move actions for Microsoft Server Processor Datacenter licensed VM to licensed hosts | The hosts are licensed based on their number of processors and all licensed VMs should run on the licensed hosts. |
Standard Edition
|
Automation policy to disable move actions for Microsoft Server Processor Standard licensed VMs that have a coverage count set | The number of VMs and the number host processors determine the license consumption. | ||
Microsoft Server/Management Core | Windows Server 2016 and later | Datacenter Edition
|
Placement policy that limits on-prem VM moves to the licensed host. | The hosts are licensed based on their number of cores and all licensed VMs should run on the licensed hosts. |
Standard Edition
|
Automation policy that disables VM move actions. | The number of VMs and the number host cores determine the license consumption. | ||
Microsoft Server Core | Microsoft SQL Server 2016 |
|
Turbonomic analysis assumes licensing is based on the host.
If the licenseType is Microsoft Server Core and If |
If licensing is by host, the hosst are licensed based on a combination of processors/cores and
all VMs that are running on those hosts are covered.
If licensed by individual VMs, the VMs are licensed based on the number of cores. A minimum number of cores for each VM are assumed in the calculation. |
Oracle Processor | Oracle Database Enterprise |
|
If licenseType is Oracle Processor and coverage.count is not
set,a placement policy is created that limits VM move actions on the licensed hosts.
Otherwise, the policy is not created. |
The number of VMs and the number host processors determine the license consumption. |
Flexera permissions
The account that Turbonomic uses to connect with a Flexera target must be a Read-Only account with the following roles:
-
View IT assets
-
call APIs
Adding Flexera targets
This topic describes features that are available in the new design of the user interface. This new design is enabled by default. If you switched to the legacy design, click in the navigation bar of the user interface and then turn on the toggle to re-enable the new design. For more information, see New Design for the User Interface.
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Click Settings > Target Configuration.
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On the Target configuration page, click Add Target.
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On the Select target page, click FlexNet Manager or FlexeraONE.
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In the side panel, review the connection requirements and then click Connect Target.
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Configure the following settings:
For Flexera One:
-
Display name
Specify a name that uniquely identifies this connection.
This name is for display purposes only and does not need to match any name in Flexera One.
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Address
Specify the fully qualified domain name or IP address of the Flexera One platform.
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Organization ID
Specify the unique identifier that defines your organization within Flexera One.
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Refresh token
Specify the API refresh token that Turbonomic uses to generate access tokens for OAuth authentication. Learn more
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Connect using HTTPS
If you select this option, Turbonomic connects to the target servers using HTTPS. Make sure that the required certificate is configured for use on the host.
HTTPS is enabled by default and cannot be modified.
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Proxy configuration
Specify proxy information only if you connect through a proxy.
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Proxy hostname or IP address
Specify the address of the proxy used for this target.
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Proxy port
Specify the port to use with the proxy used for this target. By default, the port is 8080.
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Proxy username
Specify the username to use with the proxy.
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Proxy password
Specify the password to use with the proxy.
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Connect using HTTPS
Select this option if Turbonomic will connect to the proxy through HTTPS.
-
For FlexNet Manager:
-
Display name
Specify a name that uniquely identifies this connection.
This name is for display purposes only and does not need to match any name in FlexNet Manager.
-
Address
Specify the fully qualified domain name or IP address of the FlexNet Manager Suite platform.
-
Username
Specify the local Windows Server username. For example,
domain\user.name
. -
Password
Specify the password of the account Turbonomic uses to connect to the target.
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Connect using HTTPS
If you select this option, Turbonomic connects to the target servers using HTTPS. Make sure that the required certificate is configured for use on the host.
This option is selected by default.
-
Validate server certificates
If you select this option, Turbonomic verifies the target certificate and proxy, if in use.
This option is selected by default.
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Actions
Turbonomic does not generate unique actions for entities it discovers through a Flexera target. Instead, it uses the license specifications it discovers in Flexera to prevent actions that do not comply with license restrictions. It can also modify or generate actions to ensure license compliance.
When Turbonomic generates an action, the action details include a list of
policies that constrain the action recommendation. In this list, policy names that begin with
Flexera:
indicate policies that implement the license constraints Turbonomic has discovered for Flexera. You can click to navigate to the policy
definition. Note that you can see the policy definition, and you can only enable and disable it. The
status remains the same across target and policy rediscoveries, and disabled policies do not affect
actions.
The policies that Turbonomic generates affect Turbonomic actions in the following ways:
Entity | Policy Impact on Actions |
---|---|
Virtual Machine |
|
Host |
|