How-to

Auto-allocation of Software Licenses

Every time the Alloy Discovery Synchronization job runs, the Discovery Connector matches data from discovered installations in audit snapshots with existing Software License records. In order to accomplish this task, the Discovery Connector uses a sequence of rules. These rules are applied in order, looking for the best match. Once the Discovery Connector finds a positive match between snapshot values and corresponding values specified in software license record, it allocates the license to the computer associated with the audit snapshot.

Subsequent rules are applied to the remaining list of software products as follows:

  1. The Discovery Connector compares the Serial Number and Installation Key values in the following order:
    1. Serial Number AND Installation Key
    2. Serial Number
    3. Installation Key
  2. If the license has restriction rules associated with a Device, the Discovery Connector compares the Device, Organization, Location values in the following order:
    1. Device Name AND Organization AND Location
    2. Device Name AND Organization
    3. Device Name AND Location
    4. Device Name
    5. Device Owner AND Organization AND Location
    6. Device Owner AND Organization
    7. Device Owner AND Location
    8. Device Owner

      NOTE: If the license has a Restriction by Organization rule, the Discovery Connector compares the user’s department from the snapshot to the Organization value specified in existing licenses for that software product. If the Restrict Software License by its Organization and its sub-organizations option is enabled, the Discovery Connector also applies the comparison rule to all sub-organizations. If the license has a Restriction by Location rule, the Discovery Connector compares the office location from the snapshot with the Location value specified in existing licenses for that software product. If the Restrict Software License by its Location and its sub-locations option is enabled, the Discovery Connector also applies the comparison rule to all sub-locations.

  3. When there is no restriction on the Device value, the Discovery Connector compares the Organization and Location values in the following order:
    1. Organization AND Location
    2. Organization
    3. Location
  4. Main License — If none of the above rules produce a match, the Discovery Connector associates the computer with the main license for that software product, if such main license exists.

    NOTE: The main license has the Main License check box selected. For details, see Configuring Software Licenses.

    When there is no main license, the discovered installation becomes “unreconciled” and requires manual allocation.

    NOTE: Licenses covered by the "tracking by user" policy are not involved in auto allocation.