Software Metering Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is software metering in SMS 2.0 going to be removed during the upgrade process?
| A. |
No, you must remove your software metering servers and disable the Software Metering Client Agent before upgrade. The Readiness Analyzer should report that as a failure — “SMS 2.0 still configured for software metering” — and prevent the upgrade. For more information about preparing a site for upgrade, see “Upgrading an Existing Installation of SMS 2.0” in Scenarios and Procedures for Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003: Planning and Deployment on Microsoft TechNet. |
Q. The site I want is not shown in site code combo box on Software Metering Rule properties when I try to create a new Software Metering rule. Why?
| A. |
You might not have specified Meter permission in Site security right to sites where you want to apply the metering rule. To manage software metering rules, the SMS administrator must have appropriate software metering rule SMS object security rights. For those rules to apply to a site, the administrator must also have the site's Meter instance right, or the class-level site Meter right, in which case the rules apply to all sites the rule is distributed to. The Meter rights that are relevant are the rights at the site the rule originates at, not the rights at the sites the rule is distributed to. For more information about SMS object security rights or changing SMS object rights, see “Appendix SMS Object Security and WMI” in Scenarios and Procedures for Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003: Security on Microsoft TechNet. |
Q. Do I still need a separate database for my software metering data?
| A. |
No. Software Metering data is now integrated into the SMS Site database in SMS 2003 and does not reside in its own database. For more information about changes to software metering, see Chapter 8, “Software Metering,” in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide. |
Q. How do I set software metering in SMS 2003 to deny access to an application?
| A. |
Software metering in SMS 2003 only records application usage. Unlike software metering in SMS 2.0, it does not deny access based on licensing, time of day, computer, and so on. For more information about changes to software metering, see Chapter 8, “Software Metering,” in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide. |
Q. What do the comment and column headings mean for the report “Total Usage Trend Analysis for a Specific Metered Software Program”?
| A. | The comment and column headings in the report refer to the number of users and Terminal Services users who ran the specified metered software program. However, the number of users referred to in the report indicate the number of user licenses (seats) required under some Per Seat license agreements instead of the number of user accounts. The Users column refers to the number of computers that have run software, and the Terminal Service Users column refers to the number of distinct user account and computer combinations using the program in terminal service sessions. The total of these two columns, displayed in the Total Users column, indicates the number of seats being used. You can find more information about this by searching on “Software metering” and “trend analysis” in the SMS 2003 Operations Release Notes. |
Q. Are there any options for integrating the SMS 2.0 software metering data with the new SMS 2003 metering information?
| A. |
SMS 2003 software metering does not interoperate with SMS 2.0 software metering. Software metering rules from SMS 2003 sites do not propagate to SMS 2.0 sites, and software metering data from SMS 2.0 sites does not propagate to SMS 2003 sites. For more information about software metering in a mixed-version hierarchy, see Chapter 8, “Software Metering,” in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide. |
Q. How is software metering data summarzied at the site server? Can I configure the summarization? (Added October 29, 2004)
| A. |
There are two site maintenance tasks that perform summarization of software metering data:
By default, both tasks run daily but the schedule can be modified. Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data summarizes data from multiple records into one general record for the file. Summarize Software Metering Monthly Usage Data summarizes records older than one month. By default, the monthly software usage data is sent to the central site one time each day. |
For More Information
Did you find this information useful? Send your suggestions and comments about the FAQ to smsdocs@microsoft.com.
.gif "Top of page"){kind=icon}
|
Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||