Software requirements (BigFix scenario)

Ensure that all prerequisite software is installed on the computers in your infrastructure.

Important: The icon with a number next to the version of the software (for example: 9.2.19

) indicates in which application update of License Metric Tool support for the particular software was introduced.

Server requirements

For information about operating systems on which BigFix®, DB2® and MS SQL Server are supported, see: Supported operating systems.

Table 1. Requirements for the License Metric Tool server
	Version	Description
BigFix	9.5.x 10.0.x 11.0.x	Requirements For information about the requirements, see the following links. BigFix 9.5 product documentation BigFix 10.0 product documentation BigFix 11.0 product documentation
DB2	DB2 11.1 with Fix Pack 1 or higher DB2 11.5	Availability DB2 is delivered with License Metric Tool free of charge. However, according to the license agreement, it can be used only by License Metric Tool and by BigFix on condition that BigFix is not shared with other applications. Operating system requirements To use DB2 as a database, License Metric Tool must be installed on Linux®. DB2 that is used for License Metric Tool must also be installed on Linux. Installation on a Windows computer is not supported. DB2 version Important: DB2 11.1 If you want to install the License Metric Tool server with DB2 11.1, the BigFix server must use a separate database. BigFix does not support DB2 11.1 and does not plan to support it in the future. Thus, it is recommended to use DB2 11.5. For the list of databases supported by the BigFix platform, see the following links: BigFix 9.5 BigFix 10.0 BigFix 11.0 DB2 Fix Packs For the list of available Fix Packs, see the following links. DB2 11.1 Fix Packs DB2 11.5 Fix Packs DB2 requirements For information about the database requirements, see the following links. DB2 11.1 product documentation DB2 11.5 product documentation DB2 edition Any of the supported DB2 editions is sufficient to work with License Metric Tool regardless of the number of endpoints. However, some editions (for example, Advanced Server Edition) give you access to advanced features of DB2. If you plan to share the database between the License Metric Tool server and the BigFix server, ensure that the edition that you choose is supported by both servers. For the list of DB2 editions supported by License Metric Tool, see: IBM License Metric Tool 9.2 - supported operating systems. DB2 settings Use a DB2 instance with default settings. Other required database settings are configured by License Metric Tool installer. Make sure that the file system where the DB2 instance directory resides is not mounted as `NOSUID` or `NOEXEC` (or both). Restriction: If you specify non-default DB2 settings, License Metric Tool might not work properly. Download DB2 software For more information, see: Downloading and installing DB2. ksh for DB2 ksh is not installed by default in new distributions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Ensure that you install the package and that the /bin/ksh directory is available on the computer where you plan to install DB2 before you start the installation of License Metric Tool.
MS SQL Server	2014 2014 Express® 2016 2016 Express SP2 or higher 2017 with CU15 or higher 2017 Express with CU15 or higher 2019 2019 Express 2022 2022 Express	Availability MS SQL Server is not delivered as part of License Metric Tool. Operating system requirements To use MS SQL Server as a database, License Metric Tool must be installed on Windows. MS SQL Server that is used for License Metric Tool must also be installed on Windows. Installation on a Linux computer is not supported. MS SQL Server version The following considerations apply to specific versions of MS SQL Server. MS SQL Server 2016 Starting from application update 9.2.13, you can use MS SQL Server 2016 as the database. If you used MS SQL Server 2016 with earlier versions of License Metric Tool, your environment was non-compliant from IBM® perspective because data that was stored in the database might have been corrupted. Problems with historical data cannot be fixed. However, data collected after the upgrade to License Metric Tool 9.2.13 is valid and compliant from IBM perspective. MS SQL Server 2022 and 2022 Express Starting from application update 9.2.32, you can use MS SQL Server 2022 and 2022 Express as a database for License Metric Tool. If you share the database between License Metric Tool and BigFix, verify that your version of BigFix supports MS SQL Server 2022 or 2022 Express. At the time of publishing this documentation, only version 11.0 of BigFix supports these databases. MS SQL Server Express edition To use MS SQL Server Express Edition, ensure that the following conditions are met: The database is dedicated to License Metric Tool. It cannot be shared between License Metric Tool and BigFix. The environment consists of up to 500 endpoints. BigFix is dedicated to License Metric Tool and contains only the License Metric Tool fixlet site. Other applications and their fixlet sites would increase the required disk space resulting in problems with the database. Additional configuration is required to use MS SQL Server Express. For more information, see: Installing MS SQL Server for License Metric Tool on Windows (BigFix scenario). The requirements are caused by the fact the Express Edition limits the disk space available to each database instance. Restriction: The BigFix installer allows for the installation of an evaluation version of MS SQL Server. However, such version expires after 180 days and should not be used in a production environment. MS SQL Server settings Ensure that snapshot isolation is enabled in the MS SQL Server. For information about the requirements, see the MS SQL Server documentation. The support for AlwaysOn solution has not been tested. The `AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS` feature is by default enabled on the MS SQL Server database. If you disable this feature, performance of the import might be considerably degraded. Permissions and roles Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the following permissions for the BigFix database (BFEnterprise): `CREATE FUNCTION`, `CREATE SCHEMA`, `CREATE TABLE`, `CREATE VIEW`, `EXECUTE`, `SELECT`. These permissions apply only if the database was installed with default settings and all customizations and hardening configurations were consulted with IBM support. Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the appropriate role to create the License Metric Tool database. If you create a new database during initial configuration in License Metric Tool, the user must have the `sysadmin` role in MS SQL Server. If you create an MS SQL Server database manually before the configuration, make sure that the database is empty and use the `SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS` collation. The user for such database must have the `db_owner` role in MS SQL Server. Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the default database schema set to `dbo`. Ensure that the MS SQL Server user has the default language set to "English" (not a variety of English).
X server	X11R7.x	The X server is required if you want to install or uninstall the License Metric Tool server in interactive mode on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is also required if you want to complete the server configuration by using a browser that is available on the computer where the License Metric Tool server is installed. Restriction: XMing X Server for Windows is not supported.

Other software requirements

Table 2. Other software requirements for License Metric Tool
Required software	Required versions	Comments
BigFix client	Ensure that the version of the BigFix client that you install in your environment is supported by the BigFix platform.
Web Reports		A component of the BigFix platform that is required by License Metric Tool to configure VM managers. Web Reports can be installed during the installation of BigFix, and must reside on the same server.

Browser requirements

Table 3. Browser requirements
Browser	Browser-specific information	General information
Chrome 35 or higher	You can experience problems with checking the detailed information about the metric quantity on the Metric Quantity History and Maximal Trend Value History graphs on License Metrics reports. Once you hover over the graph, the information about metric quantity might not be properly displayed, or might not appear at all.
Firefox 17 Extended Support Release (ESR) or higher ESR editions	To use TLS 1.2, check whether your version of the browser supports it and whether it is enabled. Otherwise, use TLS 1.0 for secure communication with SSL.	Requirements JavaScript must be enabled in the browser. Minimal supported screen resolution is 1360x768 pixels. Recommended screen resolution is 1920x1080 pixels. Proxies Proxies are supported and depend on the server configuration. With the default configuration, use SSL proxies. If you disabled SSL on the server, then use HTTP proxies. In big environments, the connections might time out with time-consuming operations (downloading extensive reports). In such a case, increase the timeout limit for communication between the proxy and License Metric Tool.
Microsoft Edge	In reports where IP Address column is enabled, the IP address is a link that is activated by an external plug-in, such as Skype. To remove the link, disable the plug-in. You can experience problems with checking the detailed information about the metric quantity on the Metric Quantity History and Maximal Trend Value History graphs on License Metrics reports. Once you hover over the graph, the information about metric quantity might not be properly displayed, or might not appear at all.

Red Hat packages

The following packages are required if you install the components on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Table 4. Red Hat packages that are required for the installation
Component	Required packages
All-in-One installation	All packages required for BigFix (listed below) All packages required for DB2 (listed below) glibc.x86_64 in version 2.7 or higher
BigFix	cyrus-sasl-lib.x86_64 fontconfig.x86_64 (Web Reports only) krb5-libs.x86_64 libpng12.x86_64 libstdc++.x86_64 and all dependencies libXext.x86_64 (Web Reports only) libXrender.x86_64 (Web Reports only) net-tools.x86_64 openssl.x86_64 pam.x86_64 and all dependencies unixODBC.x86_64 unzip.x86_64 wget.x86_64 (online installation only) zlib.x86_64 (Web Reports only)
DB2	ksh libaio.x86_64 libstdc++.i686 numactl.x86_64 pam.i686 and all dependencies psmisc.x86_64 Red Hat binutils