AUTOMATED LICENSE RECONCILIATION FOR DEPLOYED APPLICATIONS

• US 20100250730A1
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hedberg, Erik, Soneji, Bhavini, Menzies, Steve, Badwe, Ashutosh
• Application Number:
  US12/414,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20100250730A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are described that perform automated license reconciliation for deployed applications. The applications may be deployed among a plurality of computers. Agents are deployed on respective computers to determine the deployed applications. The agents further determine licensable software product identifiers corresponding to the respective instances of the applications. A license data source module provides entitlements corresponding to respective license agreement(s). A reconciliation module matches the entitlements to the instances of the applications to determine whether the instances of the applications are in compliance with the license agreement(s).

Claims

1. An automated method performed by an automated software agent comprising:

determining applications deployed on a client computer;

determining a licensable software product identifier for each instance of a deployed application indicative of the application and license information associated with the application; and

associating each licensable software product identifier with the client computer to enable a determination of whether the instances of the deployed applications are in compliance with one or more license agreements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the applications comprises:

reading a configuration file, group policy setting, or registry setting associated with the client computer to determine the deployed applications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the licensable software product identifier for each deployed application comprises:

reading metadata associated with the respective deployed applications to determine locations at which the respective licensable software product identifiers for the respective instances of the deployed applications are stored.

4. An automated method comprising:

receiving entitlements that are based on one or more license agreement identifiers corresponding to respective one or more license agreements of a customer;

matching the entitlements to respective licensable software product identifiers corresponding to respective instances of applications deployed on respective client computers of the customer; and

generating a report that indicates whether the instances of the applications comply with the one or more license agreements based on whether at least one of the licensable software product identifiers is not matched to a respective entitlement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the report comprises:

responsive to a number of the licensable software product identifiers exceeding a number of the entitlements, generating the report to indicate that at least one instance of the deployed applications is not in compliance with the one or more license agreements.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein matching the entitlements to the respective licensable software product identifiers is performed in accordance with a down-level rights determination technique.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

matching the licensable software product identifiers to respective standard software identifiers;

wherein matching the entitlements includes matching the entitlements to the respective standard software identifiers.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein matching the entitlements to the respective standard software identifiers comprises:

reviewing a plurality of alternative spellings of at least one of the entitlements to match the at least one of the entitlements to a respective at least one of the standard software identifiers.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor-based system to perform automated license reconciliation with respect to deployed applications, comprising:

a first program logic module for enabling the processor-based system to match entitlements that are based on one or more license agreement identifiers corresponding to respective one or more license agreements of a customer to respective licensable software product identifiers corresponding to respective instances of applications deployed on respective client computers of the customer; and

a second program logic module for enabling the processor-based system to generate a report that indicates whether the instances of the applications comply with the one or more license agreements based on whether at least one of the licensable software product identifiers is not matched to a respective entitlement.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the second program logic module includes instructions for enabling the processor-based system to generate the report to indicate that at least one instance of the deployed applications is not in compliance with the one or more license agreements in response to a number of the licensable software product identifiers exceeding a number of the entitlements.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the first program logic module includes instructions for enabling the processor-based system to perform a down-level rights determination operation to match the entitlements to the respective licensable software product identifiers.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

a third program logic module for enabling the processor-based system to match the licensable software product identifiers to respective standard software identifiers;

wherein the first program logic module includes instructions for enabling the processor-based system to match the entitlements to the respective standard software identifiers.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions for enabling the processor-based system to match the entitlements to the respective standard software identifiers comprise:

instructions for enabling the processor-based system to review a plurality of alternative spellings of at least one of the entitlements to match the at least one of the entitlements to a respective at least one of the standard software identifiers.

14. A system comprising:

a first matching module configured to match entitlements that are based on one or more license agreement identifiers corresponding to respective one or more license agreements of a customer to respective licensable software product identifiers corresponding to respective instances of applications deployed on respective client computers of the customer; and

a report generation module configured to generate a report that indicates whether the instances of the applications comply with the one or more license agreements based on whether at least one instance of the licensable software product identifiers is not matched to a respective entitlement.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first matching module is configured to compare a first number of the licensable software product identifiers to a second number of the entitlements;

and

wherein the report generation module is configured to generate the report to indicate that at least one instance of the deployed applications is not in compliance with the one or more license agreements if the first number exceeds the second number.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the report generation module is configured to generate the report to specify each of the applications that does not comply with the one or more license agreements.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the report generation module is configured to generate the report to indicate a number of instances of the applications that do not comply with the one or more license agreements based on the number of the licensable software product identifiers that are not matched to respective entitlements.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first matching module is configured to match the entitlements to the respective licensable software product identifiers in accordance with a down-level rights determination technique.

19. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a second matching module configured to match the licensable software product identifiers to respective standard software identifiers;

wherein the first matching module is configured to match the entitlements to the respective standard software identifiers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first matching module is configured to review a plurality of alternative spellings of at least one of the entitlements to match the at least one of the entitlements to a respective at least one of the standard software identifiers.