Service providers

Scenario 1: Software that is installed on one virtual machine is used by one customer

1. Configure connection to VM managers that control virtual machines in your environment.
   Tip: If each customer can view information about all VM managers in the infrastructure, use basic VM management (central). If each customer can view information about VM managers that control the virtual machines that he uses, use advanced VM management (distributed).
2. If you grant your customers access to the BigFix® console to allow them to run scans and perform other actions on computers, create a site, a computer group, and an operator that is dedicated to each customer. Then, provide the customer with credentials for the dedicated operator. This way, you ensure that each customer has access only to computers on which the software that he uses is installed.
3. Create computer groups that represent your customers in License Metric Tool. Ensure that each group contains only machines with software that is used by one customer. Avoid creating computer groups that overlap as it might distort the obtained results.
4. Classify software and generate reports per customer:
   • If you give customers access to License Metric Tool or when each customer account is managed by a separate person, create dedicated License Metric Tool users, each with access to one computer group. Then, provide each customer with credentials for the user who is dedicated to their company. Each customer can manage software and generate reports for the software that they use.
     Restriction: To ensure that each user has access to information only about computers that he uses, do not assign the user with the Administrator role. By default, this role has access to the All Computers group. Thus, a user who is assigned this role can view information about all computers in the infrastructure.
   • If you manage customer software, generate a separate audit snapshot for each computer group. Then, provide each customer with their report.

Scenario 2: Some of the software that is installed on a virtual machine is used by the service provider

1. Open the All Metrics report and filter out the product that is not used by the customer.
2. Set the report as the default view for the computer group to which your user is assigned.
3. Generate the audit snapshot. It does not contain software that is not used by the customer.

Scenario 3: Software that is installed on one virtual machine is used by many customers

1. Create a dedicated product for each customer who uses it.
2. Assign component instances that are used by a particular customer to their dedicated product.

Data visibility in scenario 1 and 2

Some of the items in License Metric Tool are visible globally to all users. Other items are visible only for the user who has access to a particular computer group. If you grant your customers access to License Metric Tool, review which items are visible globally and which are visible per computer group.