Sub-Capacity FAQs

Yes, ILMT (or any approved verified tool) is a mandatory requirement. For more information about approved tools, visit the Sub-capacity ILMT information page.

Flexera One IT Asset Management and IBM's offering, Flexera One with IBM Observability IT Asset Management, may be used in lieu of ILMT. The stated exception can be found on the Sub-capacity ILMT information page. For any environment not supported by Flexera One IT Asset Management, IBM Software customers will need to set up a dedicated ILMT instance connected to the environment, or choose full capacity counting (not leveraging sub capacity savings) for this environment. Please see the Sub-capacity ILMT information page for environments supported by Flexera One IT Asset Management.

Yes. While there are many tools that are able to determine the software inventory and perhaps even the processor core type available to a physical server or partition (physical or virtual), ILMT, IBM BigFix Inventory, Flexera One with IBM Observability IT Asset Management, and Flexera One IT Asset Management are the only tools capable of the on-going monitoring of virtualized server environments to measure the maximum (peak) capacity available to the IBM software – and report those requirements.

For those who made use of reporting exceptions prior to May 1, 2023: the announced exceptions to the ILMT requirement, the manual counting/reporting requirement can be supplemented by alternative tools as long asif they assist in an accurate measure of the peak PVU core capacity by software product. There are several products in the marketplace that can perform simple software inventory scans and even fewer solutions exist that can determine the type of processor core on the hardware server (a requirement to determine the number of entitlements to be licensed) (a requirement to determine the number of PVUs to be licensed). But unlike ILMT, these tools are unable to provide on-going monitoring of changes to the processor core capacity of a virtualized partition, to capture the maximum (peak) capacity available to the IBM core-based software.

Even ILMT can be used in unsupported, yet eligible server virtualization technology environments to assist in capturing the servers' basic hardware processor core and software inventory information -- but if ILMT doesn't support the virtualization technology, it will not generate the correct answer for partitions, LPARs, VMs, domains, etc. That data must be captured manually using whatever means provided by the operating systems, virtualization technologies, change management logs, etc.

No. ILMT is server/agent-based solution designed to provide on-going monitoring of sophisticated server virtualization technologies across complex server configurations. Most customers capable of deploying complex virtualized server technologies such as PowerVM and VMware, will have the capability of deploying ILMT. However, ILMT needs to leverage a customer's IT asset management processes and disciplines. Customers who already have these in place will find that ILMT complements their efforts.

No.  Customers are required to provide ILMT reports only upon IBM’s request. SCRT (Sub-capacity Reporting Tool) is only used in support of System z software. For more information on Sub-capacity licensing for System z software visit IBM Z software pricing, select 'Licensing' and then 'Sub-capacity licensing'.

New Sub-capacity customers are required to implement IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT), IBM BigFix Inventory, Flexera One with IBM Observability IT Asset Management, or Flexera One IT Asset Management within 90 days of their first Eligible Sub-capacity product deployment on an Eligible Virtualization Environment. Existing Sub-capacity customers should promptly upgrade to new versions, releases or modifications when they are made available per the IPAA. Note that IBM intentionally does not prescribe a specific period of time for this term to accommodate various customer sizes. The intent is for customers to imply as soon as possible given their specific IT framework.

No, IBM does not require ILMT to be installed if the alternate tool (BigFix, Flexera One with IBM Observability IT Asset Management or Flexera One IT Asset Management) supports all of the IBM Software customer environments. Please see the Sub-capacity ILMT information page for environments supported by Flexera One IT Asset Management.

Yes, if the customer intends to license WAS for less than the full capacity of the servers where it is deployed.

Coress are licensed based on the processor core capacity that is available to the IBM software. From a licensing perspective, a partition can have any number of "instances" or "packages" (not a legally defined term) of a product running, we do not count those multiple instances of that product -- we only license based on the maximum (peak) processor cores assigned to that partition and available to that product. If the number of instances causes the partition's capacity to be increased, ILMT will capture that "high water mark" so that the customer can ensure compliance with our terms.

After logging in with your IBM ID, in the Product lookup bar input: IBM License Metric Tool, then click on 'Subscribe'. Select your preferences and click Submit. If you do not have an IBM ID, visit My Account Profile.

The Sub-capacity terms reflect quarterly reporting as the maximum amount of time allowed before having to analyze and reconcile ILMT reports. Most customers will probably need to perform this effort on a monthly basis. Some customers, with very dynamic server environments, where partitions are resized/moved frequently and/or with changes in their software inventory, may need to create weekly reports in order to keep up with the volume of change. Only customers with the most stable of virtualized server environments would be able to maintain compliance with IBM licensing terms by doing quarterly reports.

Refer to the ILMT Documentation website for more technical information and resources..

Yes, you should install agents on any backup server where ILMT is also installed on the primary server/partition.

You can then exclude such instances from calculation if a license is not required (typically warm/cold back-ups, but the license requirement can vary by product). For specifics, refer to the product's announcement letter [by searching the Offering Information Web] or the product's License Information Document [by conducting a Software license agreements search].

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