Patent Abstract:
A method and system for resolving an unlicensed installation of a type of software in a first computer of a company. The method and system: determines that the type of software is currently installed on a second computer of the company; determines that the company has an existing license permitting multiple copies of the software to be installed on the second computer; and based on the determination that the company has an existing license which permits multiple copies of the software to be installed on the second computer, determines, and generates a computer record indicating, that a solution to the unlicensed installation of the type of software on the first computer is to decommission the unlicensed software from the first computer and install another copy of the software in the second computer under the existing license in addition to the type of software currently installed on the second computer.

Full Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation application claiming priority to Ser. No. 11/179,405 filed Jul. 12, 2005. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more specifically to a program tool to determine what to do when a software installation on a computer is not covered under an existing software license. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Typically, software is licensed not sold. The license includes conditions and restrictions such as (a) a geographic location where (an unlimited number of copies of) the software can be installed, (b) a specific computer CPU serial number in which (an unlimited number of copies of) the software can be installed, (c) a total number of copies which the licensee can install in one or more computers located anywhere, (d) a type of computer (such as production, development, etc.) on which the software can be used, and (e) a maximum size computer (typically expressed in processing power) in which the software can be installed. Often times, one company has multiple licenses that authorize installation of the same type of software, and many copies of the software are installed on different computers of the company. It has proven difficult for many companies to effectively track their licenses and which software copies are licensed when the company is large and has many separate software licenses, software installations and computers. Often times, the result is that one or more software installations are not covered by an existing software license of the company. Usually this is inadvertent, but nevertheless improper. (Often times also, the company has excess software licenses.) 
         [0004]    An IBM Tivoli License Manager program is a known software license management program, and is further described in a document entitled “Introducing IBM Tivoli License Manager” by Manoel, et al. which is available from ibm.com/redbooks. Chapter 2 of this document is hereby incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure. Using this program, when a license is associated with specific installed software, an administrator enters into a database information about the license. To the extent applicable, this information includes maximum size of the computer processor on which the program can be installed, maximum number of copies of the program that can be installed (on any computer), expiration date, specific CPU serial number on which the program can be installed or executed, and geographic location of the processor for executing (an unlimited number of copies of) the program. The Tivoli License Manager program checks whether each installed software program complies with an existing license by applying the licenses to the installations based on a predetermined and set order of conditions. For example, the Tivoli License Manager may be preprogrammed to apply all licenses having one type of condition to the installations, and then determine which installations are not covered by this type of license. Then, the Tivoli License Manager may be preprogrammed to apply all licenses having another type of condition to the remaining installations, and then determine which installations are not covered by either type of license. Then, the Tivoli License Manager may be preprogrammed to apply all licenses having still another type of condition to the still remaining installations, and then determine which installations are not covered by any of the three license, etc. If the Tivoli License Manager has not associated any remaining installed software with a license after all the licenses have been applied, then it is possible that such remaining installed software is not covered under any existing software license. (If any licenses remain after all the software installations are associated with/covered by any of the previously applied licenses, then the Tivoli License Manager deems the remaining licenses as excessive or unnecessary, and they can be terminated to save the company money.) 
         [0005]    Copending U.S. patent application entitled “System, Method and Program Product To Identify Unutilized or Underutilized Software License”, Ser. No. 11/157,397, filed by J. Marsnik, O. Nalamwar and T. Smalley on Jun. 21, 2005 (IBM Docket END9-2005-0014) discloses an improved program tool for identifying installed software which is not licensed as well as excess or under utilized licenses. According to this patent application, the improved program tool applies the software licenses in various orders to the software installations, where each order is based on a different prioritization of license conditions. For example, in one order, all licenses with a condition on geographic location are applied first, then all licenses with a condition on total number of copies are applied second, then all licenses with a condition on specific CPU are applied third, etc. In another order, all licenses with a condition on total number of copies are applied first, then all licenses with a condition on geographic location are applied second, then all licenses with a condition on specific CPU are applied third, etc. In still another order, all licenses with a condition on specific CPU are applied first, then all licenses with a condition on total number of copies are applied second, then all licenses with a condition on geographic location are applied third, etc. This patent application is hereby incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure. After all the licenses are applied in the different orders to the software installations, if none of the licenses covers one or more software installations in any of the orders, then that software installation is not licensed. (Also, if less than all the licenses are needed to cover all the software installations in any of the orders, then the remaining licenses are unnecessary and can be terminated to save the company money.) 
         [0006]    While the foregoing techniques are effective in identifying unlicensed software installations, they do not disclose a technique to determine what to do when such unlicensed software installations are identified, other than to simply decommission/delete the unlicensed software installation. This may not be in the best interest of the user/company. 
         [0007]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to determine what to do when unlicensed software installations are identified, to serve the interest of the user/company. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    The present invention resides in a computer system, computer implemented method and computer program product for determining a recommended course of action to resolve an unlicensed software installation of a type of software in a computer of a company. A determination is made as to an amount or level of use of the type of software by the company during a predetermined period of time. A determination is made if the type of software is currently installed on another computer of the company. A determination is made if the software of the unlicensed software installation can be relocated to the other computer of the company and encompassed under another existing license for the other computer. 
         [0009]    In accordance with features of the present invention, recommendations are automatically made based on the foregoing determinations. 
         [0010]    The present invention also resides in a computer system, computer implemented method and computer program product for determining a recommended course of action to resolve an unlicensed software installation of a type of software in a computer of a company. Characteristics of the company&#39;s use of the type of software which would permit removal of the type of software from all computers of the company are automatically evaluated. Characteristics of the company&#39;s use of the software installation which would permit removal of the software installation are automatically evaluated. Characteristics of the company&#39;s use of the type of software which would permit relocation of the software from the unlicensed software installation to another computer of the company at which the software would be licensed are automatically evaluated. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computer system in which the present invention is incorporated. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a software license resolution program within the computer system of  FIG. 1  according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0013]    The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures. The present invention is implemented with a programmed computer such as computer  10  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Computer  10  includes a known CPU  12 , operating system  13 , RAM  14 , ROM  16 , disk storage  18 , and TCP/IP card  20 . Computer  10  also includes a software license review program  22  which compares license conditions and scope of a plurality of software licenses for the same type of software to the actual software installations to determine if all of the software installations are licensed (or “compliant”). (Program  22  also determines if any of the software licenses are not needed at all and therefore can be terminated, i.e. other software license(s) cover/license all the software installations. Program  22  also determines if an individual software license can be reduced in scope, i.e. reduced in the number of copies licensed. Either case will reduce the total license fees for the licensee.) Program  22  can be the known IBM Tivoli License Manager program described above (for certain types of single-condition software licenses) or the software license optimizing program disclosed in U.S. patent application entitled “System, Method and Program Product To Identify Unutilized or Underutilized Software License”, Ser. No. 11/157,397, filed by J. Marsnik, O. Nalamwar and T. Smalley on Jun. 21, 2005 (IBM Docket END9-2005-0014), described above (for a wider range of software licenses including those with multiple conditions). As explained above, the IBM Tivoli License Manager program applies the software licenses to the software installations in an order based on the type of condition in each license, and a predetermined order of such conditions. After all the licenses are applied to the software installations, if none of the software licenses covers/license one or more of the software installations, then such one or more software licenses are not licensed. The software license optimizing program of U.S. patent application entitled “System, Method and Program Product To Identify Unutilized or Underutilized Software License”, Ser. 11/157,397, filed by J. Marsnik, O. Nalamwar and T. Smalley on Jun. 21, 2005 (IBM Docket END9-2005-0014) applies the software licenses to the software installations based on the type of condition in each license, and different orders of such conditions in different iterations of the program. After all the licenses are applied in the different orders to the software installations, if none of the licenses covers/licenses one or more software installations in any of the orders, then such one or more software installation are not licensed. 
         [0014]    Computer  10  also includes a software license resolution program  24  according to the present invention. Program  24  determines what to do when a software installation in one of the company&#39;s computers is not covered/licensed by an existing software license. As explained in more detail below, program  24  has expert system rules to determine when to (a) decommission/delete this software from all computers of the company, (b) decommission/delete an installation of the software on any computer of the company so that an existing license has sufficient scope (or “room”) to license the remaining software installation(s), (c) move the currently unlicensed software to another computer where it will be properly licensed under an existing license (such as a geographic location license or CPU license), (d) renegotiate an existing license to extend/expand the scope of the existing license to cover the currently unlicensed software installation, or (e) purchase a new license to cover the currently unlicensed software installation. Program  22  and  24  are stored on computer readable storage  18  for execution by CPU  12  via memory. 
         [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates the functional steps and operation of program  22  and program  24  in more detail. In step  122 , program  22  conducts an inventory of each type of software which is currently installed in computers of a company, for example, the user&#39;s company or the user&#39;s customer. The inventory identifies each computer (and its serial number) on which the type of software is installed, the geographic location of the computer, and the number of installed copies of the type of software. If there are other conditions or restrictions on usage specified in the associated software licenses (such as listed below), the inventory can identify other, corresponding characteristics of the usage. Program  22  conducts this inventory by querying configuration files and other files for the computers containing this information. Program  22  records the results of the software usage inventory in a table or file  101  (shown in  FIG. 1 ). Before, after or concurrent with software installation inventory, the user conducts an inventory of the software licenses for this type of software used by the one company. The inventory identifies the type(s) of usage condition(s) or restriction(s) in each software license. After conducting the inventory, the user populates a table or file  103  (shown in  FIG. 1 ) with fields and predetermined key words for the different types of conditions or restrictions. By way of example, a condition or restriction may state the following: 
         [0000]    (a) The type of software can only be used on a specified computer (typically specified by the computer CPU serial number), with no restriction on the number of copies that can be installed on the specified computer or the geographic location of the specified computer. In file  103 , this type of license is referenced by the key word, “CPU Serial #”.
 
(b) The type of software can only be used at a specified geographic location of the computer CPU, with no restriction on the number of computers at that geographic location on which the type of software can be installed or the number of copies of the software that can be installed at that geographic location. In file  103 , this type of license is referenced by the key word, “Location City XYZ”.
 
(c) The total number of copies of the type of software that can be used, with no restriction on the number of computer CPUs on which the software can be installed or the geographic location of the computer CPUs on which the software can be installed. In file  103 , this type of license is referenced by the key word, “Number of Copies #”.
 
(d) The maximum processing power of a computer CPU on which the type of software can be used, with no restriction on the number of copies that can be installed on the computer or the geographic location of the computer.
 
(e) The business unit which uses software.
 
(f) The number of Logical Partitions (“LPARS”) in which the software can be used.
 
(g) The number of actual users of the software program.
 
(h) The number of computers or server “nodes” on which the software can be installed.
 
(i) A type of computer (such as production, development, etc.) on which the software can be installed.
 
After performing the inventory of the software licenses, program  22  records the results of the software usage inventory in file  103 .
 
         [0016]    In one example, there are five software licenses applicable to the same type of software for the one company. In this example, each of the software licenses has only one of the following restrictions: (i) computer CPU serial number in which the software can be installed (unlimited number of copies on the computer, unrestricted geographic location of the computer CPU), (ii) geographic location of the computer CPU in which the software can be installed (unlimited number of computers at the geographic location in which the software can be installed, unlimited number of copies that can be installed on the computer(s) at the geographic location), or (iii) total number of copies of the software that can be installed (unlimited number of computer CPUs up to the total number of copies, unrestricted geographic location of the computer CPUs). In this example, license #1 has only the condition of computer CPU serial number, license #2 has only the condition of geographic location of the computer CPU, license #3 has only the condition of total number of copies of the software, license #4 has only the condition of geographic location of the computer CPU, and license #5 has only the condition of the computer CPU serial number. It should be noted that the foregoing example is just one possible example. Program  22  can evaluate other types of software licenses with other types of individual conditions or combinations of conditions (in a single license). 
         [0017]    As described below, in one embodiment of program  22  (as described in Copending U.S. patent application entitled “System, Method and Program Product To Identify Unutilized or Underutilized Software License”, Ser. No. 11/157,397, filed by J. Marsnik, O. Nalamwar and T. Smalley on Jun. 21, 2005 (IBM Docket END9-2005-0014)), program  22  compares the software licenses to the software inventory in different orders of the software license conditions; one or more of the orders will reveal the most excesses, if any, in the software licenses. If there are such excesses, this represents an opportunity to terminate or reduce the scope of the excess software license(s), and thereby, reduce the license fees. Conversely, if none of the existing software licenses covers one or more of the software installations during any order of applying the software licenses, then such one or more software installations are unlicensed (or noncompliant with existing licenses), and program  22  invokes program  24  to determine how to resolve this problem. In some cases, there is no license whatsoever for the subject software installation. In other cases, there is a software license intended for the software installation, but the software installation does not comply with one or more conditions of the intended license. For example, the intended software license may be limited to a CPU of a certain maximum processing power, and the actual software installation may be on a computer with greater processing power. In either case (either no license or an inadequate license), the software installation is considered unlicensed. 
         [0018]    Thus, after program  22  identifies one or more software installations as being unlicensed in step  100  and invokes program  24 , program  24  determines a course of action to satisfy the licensee&#39;s needs without violating the copyright laws or breaching an existing software license. In other words, program  24  will determine a course of action that will result in all (remaining) software installations of the company being properly licensed. As explained in more detail below, program  24  will determine the viability and desirability of the following remedies, preferably in the following order: (a) decommission/delete the software from all computers of the company, (b) decommission/delete an installation of this software on another computer of the company so that an existing license has sufficient scope (or “room”) to license the currently unlicensed software installation, (c) move the currently unlicensed software to another computer where it will be properly licensed under an existing license of the company, (d) renegotiate and expand an existing license of the company to extend the existing license to the currently unlicensed software installation, or (e) purchase a new license to cover the currently unlicensed software installation. 
         [0019]    Accordingly, in step  204 , program  24  determines if the currently unlicensed software installation should be decommissioned/deleted from all computers of the company, based on the following expert system rules in a rules data base  201 : 
         [0000]    (a) An administrator previously classified the software installation as “non critical”, and previously recorded this classification in a table  203 , and any one of the following situations applies:
 
(i) the software has not been used for a past, predetermined time period, such as thirteen months, on any computer of the company. (Each time the software has been used, the operating system  13  records the date of such use in table  203 ;) or
 
(ii) the software has been used “lightly” for a past, predetermined time period, such as thirteen months, on all computers of the company and an administrator previously recorded in table  203  that comparable software is currently installed on a computer of the company. (Program  24  determines “light” usage by comparing the number of uses recorded in table  203  to a threshold previously recorded by the administrator in table  203 ); or
 
(iii) the software has been used lightly for a past, predetermined time period, such as thirteen months, on all computers of the company and the usage has been decreasing faster than a predetermined rate (as indicated by the records in table  203 ); or
 
(iv) an administrator previously made a record in table  203  that the customer intends to discontinue use of this software; or
 
(v) the currently unlicensed software installation has not been accessed for a past, predetermined time period, such as thirteen months; or
 
(vi) the software is responsible for a predetermined percentage or more of the licensee&#39;s important failures (“business capabilities failures”) in the last year (based on records previously entered by a support person in table  203 ), and is functionally redundant to another installed software product (based on records previously entered by an administrator in table  203 ).
 
If the company&#39;s situation permits the resolution considered in step  204 , then program  24  notifies the administrator of this recommended resolution (decision  206 , yes branch), and that the cost is low, i.e. the labor cost of decommissioning the software from all computers of the company (step  230 ). There is no additional license fee. In addition, if one or more software licenses can be terminated due to the decommissioning of the software based on the recommendation of step  204 , and there is an ongoing cost associated with the one or more software licenses as recorded in file  103 , program will notify the administrator of the potential cost savings.
 
         [0020]    If the software installation cannot be decomissioned/deleted from all the computers of the company based on the rules of step  204  (decision  206 , no branch), program  24  determines if the software type of the currently unlicensed software installation can be decommissioned/deleted from another computer of the company to “make room” for the currently unlicensed software installation under an existing license (step  208 ), based on the following rules: 
         [0000]    (b) the software is installed on another computer of the company, the software was substantially underutilized there (based on the records previously entered by operating system  13  in table  203  as to usage of the software and a usage threshold previously entered by the administrator in table  203  representing substantial under utilization), and an existing license would cover the currently unlicensed installation if the software was decommissioned/deleted from this other computer. For example, there may be an existing license that is limited to total number of installed copies or total number of sites where the software is installed, and the license is currently at its limit, and decommissioning of the software at the other computer would make room for currently unlicensed software installation. In such a case, the currently unlicensed software installation can be decommissioned/deleted on this other computer, and the company can rely on the existing license to license the currently unlicensed software installation.
 
If the company&#39;s situation permits the resolution considered in step  208 , then program  24  notifies the administrator of this recommended resolution (decision  210 , yes branch), and that the cost is low, i.e. the labor cost of decommissioning the unlicensed software installation at the other computer (step  230 ). There is no additional license fee.
 
         [0021]    If the unlicensed software installation cannot be decomissioned/deleted based on the rules of step  208  (decision  210 , no branch), program  24  determines if the software of the currently unlicensed installation can be relocated to another computer of the company, i.e. installed on another computer of the company under an existing, underutilized license and the currently unlicensed software installation decommissioned/deleted (step  212 ), based on the following rules: 
         [0000]    (c) an existing license of the company permits installation of the software on another computer with sufficient resources—CPU, RAM, etc. (as program  24  determines by query of configuration files of this other computer and comparison to resource data previously entered by the administrator in table  203  indicating resource requirements of the software) to effectively execute the software, without additional charge or with substantially less charge than another, new license of the same type.
 
If the company&#39;s situation permits the resolution considered in step  212 , then program  24  notifies the administrator of this recommended resolution (decision  214 , yes branch), and that the cost is low, i.e. the labor cost of relocating the software from the computer of the unlicensed installation to another computer of the company (step  230 ). There is no additional license fee.
 
         [0022]    If the software installation cannot be moved to another computer and licensed under an existing, underutilized license at this other computer based on the rules of step  212  (decision  214 , no branch), program  24  determines if an attempt should be made to renegotiate an existing license of the company for this software to expand it to license the currently unlicensed software installation (step  216 ), based on the following rules: 
         [0000]    (d) The administrator on behalf of the company has previously recorded in table  203  an intent of the company to retain and invest in this type of software. Also, there is an existing license for another installation of this software on another computer or an existing license intended for the current installation (which is inadequate in some respect, such as a limit on processor power or geographic location, for the current installation) which will expire in less than a predetermined time period, such as nine months. In such a case, program  24  will estimate a cost for an expanded license to cover the currently unlicensed installation. Program  24  estimates the cost for licensing the unlicensed software installation based on a fixed, predetermined percentage (such as 25%) of the total license fee for the existing license plus the total license fee for the existing license divided by the number of copies licensed under the existing license.
 
If the company&#39;s situation permits the resolution considered in step  216 , then program  24  notifies the administrator of this recommended resolution (decision  218 , yes branch), and the estimated cost as noted above (step  230 ).
 
         [0023]    If an existing software license should not be renegotiated and expanded to license the currently unlicensed software installation based on the rule of step  216  (decision  218 , no branch), program  24  determines if another, new license should be purchased for the currently unlicensed installation (step  220 ), based on the following rules: 
         [0000]    (e) The administrator previously recorded in table  203  that it is critical to the company to keep the currently unlicensed software installation on the same computer. In such a case, program  24  will estimate a cost for the new license for the currently unlicensed software installation. Program  24  estimates this cost for the new license as the same cost for any comparable existing license (based on data in table  103 ). If there is no such comparable existing license, program  24  program  24  will estimate the cost for the new license to license the unlicensed software installation based on a fixed, predetermined percentage (such as 25%) of the total license fee for the existing license plus the total license fee for the existing license divided by the number of copies licensed under the existing license.
 
After step  220 , program  24  notifies the administrator of this recommended resolution (step  230 ), and the estimated cost as noted above.
 
         [0024]    It should be noted that the order of the steps  204 ,  208 ,  212 ,  216  and  220  is generally the order of lower cost to higher cost to the company of the resolution, i.e. to maximize the license cost reductions or minimize the additional license cost, as the case may be. In other words, complete removal of the software from all the computers of the company following step  204  will lower the cost to the company (if the existing licenses have ongoing charges). The removal of a single software installation following step  208  may also lower the cost to the company (if there is a license intended for the software installation, but is inadequate) but not as much as complete removal of the software from all the computers of the company. In other cases, the removal of the single software installation following step  208  will be neutral as far as cost. The relocation of the software from the currently unlicensed installation to another, licensed computer following step  212  will be neutral as far as cost to the company (except for the labor involved). The renegotiation/expansion of an existing license following step  216  will likely entail some additional cost to the company. The purchase of a new license following step  220  will likely entail greater cost than renegotiation/expansion of an existing license in step  216 . So, the earlier in the sequence of steps  204 ,  208 ,  212 ,  216  and  220  that program  24  determines the respective resolution to be viable based on the rules in database  201 , the more economical the recommendation by program  24  to the company. 
         [0025]    If program  24  reaches a recommendation in steps  204 ,  208 ,  212 ,  216  or  220  to (a) decommission/delete the software from all computers of the company, (b) decommission/delete another installation of this software on another computer of the company so that an existing license has sufficient scope to license the currently unlicensed software installation, (c) move the currently unlicensed software to another computer where it will be properly licensed under an existing license of the company, (d) renegotiate an existing license of the company to extend the existing license to the currently unlicensed software installation, or (e) purchase a new license to cover the currently unlicensed software installation, then program  24  notifies the administrator in step  230  as explained above. In the illustrated embodiment of program  24 , when program  24  first determines satisfaction of one of the foregoing recommendations listed above in step  204 ,  208 ,  212 ,  216  or  220  in that order, program  24  notifies the administrator of the recommendation (and cost) in step  230 , and does not consider the other possible resolutions which appear downstream/later in the flowchart of  FIG. 2 . However, in another embodiment of program  24 , program  24  considers all the possible resolutions of steps  204 ,  208 ,  212 ,  216  and  220  (and their respective costs) in the case of all installations of software being licensed properly, and notifies the administrator in step  230  which possible resolutions comply with the rules in rules database  201  and their cost. This allows the administrator to choose amongst all possible acceptable resolutions. 
         [0026]    Programs  22  and  24  can be loaded into computer  10  from a computer storage medium such as magnetic disk or tape, optical CD ROM, DVD or the like onto RAM or hard drive, or downloaded from the Internet and TCP/IP adapter card  20 . 
         [0027]    Based on the foregoing, a system, method and program product for determining what to do when an unlicensed software installation is identified, have been disclosed. However, numerous modifications and substitutions can be made without deviating from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the case of all installations of a software type being properly licensed, program  24  can determine if there are any opportunities to reduce the scope of the current licenses and, thereby, gain savings in future licensing costs. Therefore, the present invention has been disclosed by way of illustration and not limitation, and reference should be made to the following claims to determine the scope of the present invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6