IBM Passport Advantage Virtualization Capacity (Subcapacity) License Terms
Q: What is IBM License Metric Tool?
A: IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) helps Passport Advantage clients determine their full and virtualization capacity (subcapacity) for processor value unit (PVU) licensing requirements. For more information, see the product page:
Q: Where do I get IBM License Metric Tool?
A: Go to the License Metric Tool product page. The License Metric Tool product will show up with an IBM prices of 0.00. Select “Add to cart”, and proceed to download the code.
Q: How do I get started with IBM License Metric Tool?
A: Read the “Getting Started with IBM License Metric Tool” presentation.
Q: Does IBM License Metric Tool track licenses for non-IBM software?
A: No, but IBM does have software solution called Tivoli Asset Management for IT that can track licenses for IBM and non-IBM software.
Q: Why should IBM customers be interested in virtualization (subcapacity) licensing?
A: Virtualization capacity (subcapacity) software licensing enables customers to license (AND PAY) for less than the full capacity of a server or group of servers when using a supported virtualization technology.
Q: Is ILMT required for virtualization (subcapacity) license pricing?
A: Yes, IBM Passport Advantage PVU-based offerings license terms require ILMT reports be created, verified, adjusted, signed, and saved.
Q: How much does ILMT cost?
A: ILMT is a no-charge offering for IBM Passport Advantage customers.
Part #: D561HLL ILMT Subcapacity PVU License with S&S for 12 Months
Part #: E027NLL ILMT Subcapacity PVU S&S Annual Renewal
Q: For which IBM products does ILMT provide inventory reports?
A: ILMT provides inventory information regarding PVUs for IBM Passport Advantage PVU based software. A list of Passport Advantage software available for licensing on a subcapacity basis is available at:
Q: Does ILMT send reports to IBM?
A: No. However, Passport Advantage subcapacity licensing terms require audit reports to be created, verified, adjusted, and signed at customer sites. These reports need to be stored for at least two years, with a maximum of a fiscal quarter interval between signed reports, and be available for a possible audit.
Q: Can I modify the ILMT reports before saving them?
A: Yes. The user has the ability to mark any product that should not to be taken into account in computing the total PVU license allocation for a product.
* IT environment
- Backup, disaster recovery if not actively doing work (warm/cold)
- Product instance not compatible with the system (used in case of shared file systems)
* Software license entitlement
- Evaluation, trial, or similar, under terms of the ILAEP or similar IBM terms
- Early Support Program (ESP), Beta/Alpha, or similar IBM program
- Component of bundle, restricted-use license as part of a larger bundled offering
- Not licensed based on PVUs (that is, user-based, development/non-production use or similar)
* Other
(Additional free-text comment is required when selecting this option)
Q: Is ILMT required for full capacity license terms?
A: No. However, IBM customers can use ILMT to optionally monitor/track full capacity servers, including x86 servers with ILMT V7.1 FP1. ILMT is usually required on virtualized servers where IBM Passport Advantage (PPA) PVU software is licensed to less than the total physical processor core capacity of the server (also known as virtualization capacity or subcapacity).
Q: Does IBM allow subcapacity pricing with a non-ILMT product supplying the auditing data?
A: Either ILMT or Tivoli License Compliance Manager (TLCM) is required to support the subcapacity pricing licensing terms. No other tool, including Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) is accepted by IBM as a subcapacity validation tool.
Q: Will the ILMT automatically ship with PPA products that have a PPA subcapacity part number?
A: No. ILMT must be ordered separately through the normal Passport Advantage process. ILMT is available for no-charge to any active Passport Advantage (PA) or Passport Advantage Express (PAE) customer. Place a no-charge order via PA or PAE for ILMT to establish your license entitlement record using part number D561HLL. Once the order is fulfilled, download ILMT using the standard processes. Passport Advantage web site:
ILMT's product code of 5724-D33 ties to the following orderable part numbers:
* D561HLL - ILMT License & S&S
* E027NLL - ILMT S&S Renewal
* D561ILL - ILMT S&S Reinstatement
(Note: These same part numbers were used for ITLCM for IBM software which was replaced by ILMT in July, 2008.)
Q: What is the price for the Quick Start Implementation Service?
A: Cost will vary by length of engagement. For accurate and current pricing please contact the Service Manager in your appropriate region cited below.
For more information in North America: Mike Sarna (msarna@us.ibm.com)
For more information in Europe: Vipul Shah (vipul.shah@uk.ibm.com)
Q: Is there a web page that has more information about ILMT?
A: Take a look at the product web page or information center that provides instructions for installing and using License Metric Tool.
Q: What is the ILMT architecture?
A: Take a look at the following diagram:
Q: Where can I get the latest information on ILMT?
A: The latest information is available at the "product web page"
Q: Where can I get the latest information on ILMT supported environments?
A: For more details about the supported platforms and partitioning technologies, see the following web site:
Q: What is the requirement for license management use for AIX?
A: Clients running AIX Express Edition on a medium or high tier server (Power 560 and above) are required to download, install, and use the IBM License Metric Tool within 180 days of deployment.
Q: I'm using ILMT 7.1 or 7.2.1 and the entries for AIX Express show PVUs. Is AIX price changing to PVUs?
A: No, this is a temporary solution for tracking and reporting. Next version, ILMT 7.2.2, supports the new AIX Express Edition pricing model in 4Q2010.
Q: What about POWER support for ILMT?
A: ILMT has full support from Power Systems (POWER3, POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, & POWER7).
For additional information on eligible processor technology, visit:
Q: Are all ILMT supported environments supported by IBM’s virtualization capacity (subcapacity) license offering?
A: Yes, but you should always check the virtualization capacity supported environments at:
Q: Where can I find ILMT implementation documentation?
A: Follow the link below and choose the version of your ILMT to view its documentation:
Q: At a high level what are the ILMT installations steps?
A: Install DB2, install EWAS/ILMT, set authentication security, apply fix packs, import current software catalog and PVU table, determine agent installation process, install agents and create users.
Q: Is DB2 and/or WAS required?
A: DB2 and EWAS are bundled with ILMT and do not require separate licensing.
Q: How big is the agent?
A: The size of the agent is approx 8mb. It typically consumes a negligible amount of CPU capacity when running a scheduled scan.
Q: Where do the agents reside?
A: One agent per virtualized partition.
Q: Do the ILMT agents run continuously? What happens if I increase a virtual machine in the morning and I decrease it in the evening?
A: The ILMT agent checks the server/partition every 30 minutes for processor core capacity changes. The number of PVU licenses required are calculated based on the maximum value within a day. An ILMT report must be created at least once per quarter, but depending on the amount of change in a your server environment, you may need to run the ILMT reports monthly, perhaps even weekly in order to demonstrate compliance. ILMT captures the high water mark for any time period for each server or partition.
Q: Has IBM considered making ILMT agent-less, especially given the customer expense to deploy/manage an agent to every client within the data center?
A: An agent-less architecture has been discussed but is not a near-term requirement. Given that ILMT supports several methods of agent installation leveraging a customers’ software distribution solution, customer expense should be minimal. For details on installing and setting up ILMT, see the “Installing agents” section in the information center for your product version:
Q: Do most customers have a dedicated central server? Or is it shared with something else?
A: The ILMT administration server is not supported on a non-dedicated server. It may be possible; however, it's not been tested and therefore not supported.
Q: In an environment where there are multiple federated departments, each sensitive to the use of agents and a potential security impact, can multiple reporting departments be aggregated so that their reports are consolidated?
A: The ILMT server reports on the agents that are connected to it. It does not have a consolidation facility for data from other ILMT servers. If this function is required, the customer should consider using IBM License Compliance Manager (ITLCM) instead of ILMT.
Q: Does ILMT support VMware or HyperV?
A: The IBM License Metric Tool supports the following virtualization technologies.
-VMware vSphere
-WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance
-Microsoft Hyper-V
Q: What should I do if ILMT does not support an OS or virtualization environment that is supported in the virtualization (subcapacity) licensing offering?
A: When ILMT does not support an OS or virtualization environment, the manual tracking method should be used. With manual tracking, you can and should use whatever tools, including Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) that assists in that process/effort. To be clear, we have to-date not approved any tools as alternatives to the ILMT requirement other than the commercial product Tivoli License Compliance Manager.
Q: Is there a simple clean upgrade to go from ILMT to Tivoli License Compliance Manager (TLCM)?
A: ILMT and TLCM agents and server code are different. In addition to software inventory data, TLCM agents collect software use actively (invocations). TLCM also includes a runtime server to enable the collection of data from a much larger number of nodes (~8k for ILMT vs ~45k for TLCM).
