Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

I have a question about licensing and how they can be reclaimed if consumed by a non active machine.

We have purchased 5650 licenses for Altiris and the same number for each solution, we currently consume the amount of licnses for each solution as mentioned below:

Deployment Solution = 5492

Inventory Solution = 5498

Patch Management = 5512

Software Management = 5494

How can I tell if a machine is in a status other than active and is consuming a license? Is there a query that someone has to tell if a non active machine is consuming a license. I know that if you put a machine into a Retired status the license will be reclaimed but I am the administrator of the application but do not work the Asset Management piece of the application, just the admin and need to figure out these things when I am asked why license count differes for each solution and are non active machines consuming licenses. Any help is appreciated.

What version of the products are you using as this will determine how to obtain this information? 

We are running ITMS 7.5 SP1 HF5

Hi JohnVee,

here is some information about your case:

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"Deployment Solution" license consuming:

• Client computer has installed "Deployment Agent" plug-in ⇒ this computer will consume 1 license node.

"Deployment Solution" license reclaiming:

• If client computer will uninstall "Deployment Agent" plug-in, then 1 license node will be reclaimed per this client pc.
• License can be reclaimed, If client PC is inactive and you can Delete it or set as "Retired" from SMP Console (Of course if you have such privileges and approval)

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"Inventory Solution" license consuming:

• Client computer has installed "Inventory Agent" plug-in and performed "Collect Full Inventory Scan" task ⇒ scanned Hardware and installed software data populates in "Symantec_CMDB" database per this client computer and available in reports and Resource Manager page ⇒this computer will consume 1 license node.

"Inventory Solution" license reclaiming:

When license node will not be reclaimed for "Inventory Solution" product:

• If client computer will uninstall "Inventory Agent" plug-in, then 1 license node will not be reclaimed per this client pc, since all scanned Hardware and Software data still available per this client PC and requires license consuming.
• Client PC Guid reset also will doesn't reclaim 1 license node consuming by this client PC.

When license node will be reclaimed for "Inventory Solution" product:

• You can delete this client PC record from SMP Console ⇒ then 1 license node per deleted client PC will be reclaimed.
• You can set "Retired" state for client PC from SMP Console ⇒ then 1 license node per deleted client PC will be reclaimed.

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"Software Management Solution" license consuming:

• Client computer has installed "Software Management Solution Agent" plug-in ⇒ this computer will consume 1 license node.

"Software Management Solution" license reclaiming:

• If client computer will uninstall "Software Management Solution Agent" plug-in, then 1 license node will be reclaimed per this client pc.
• License can be reclaimed, If client PC is inactive and you can Delete it or set as "Retired" from SMP Console (Of course if you have such privileges and approval)

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"Patch Management Solution" license consuming:

• Client computer has installed "Software Update Agent" plug-in and this computer received and executed "Windows Assessment Scan" package ⇒ this computer will consume 1 license node.

"Patch Management Solution" license reclaiming:

• If client computer will uninstall "Software Update Agent" plug-in, then 1 license node will be reclaimed per this client pc.
• License can be reclaimed, If client PC is inactive and you can Delete it or set as "Retired" from SMP Console (Of course if you have such privileges and approval)

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How to identify, which computers are inactive per appropriate time range:

Please check these links to have report and identify scope of these inactive computers, which are still consuming license(s) and don't communicate with Notification Server.

1. https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/computers-which-arent-reporting-inventory-ns-n-days
2. https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/inactive-machines-report-primary-user

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Thanks,

IP.