[BESAdmin-Announcements] LMT and BFI application update 9.2.7 is now available!

[Announcements for BES Administrators]

IBM BigFix Inventory and IBM License Metric Tool application update 9.2.7
is now available.
This update contains features that extend software discovery and enhance
license reporting as well as facilitate software classification to help you
manage and reduce software costs. The key features include:



   ·	Enhanced reporting of the Microsoft Software Assurance licensing
      model with focus on Microsoft SQL Server (BigFix Inventory only)


      The All Metrics report is extended with information about the
      utilization of core-based metrics for Microsoft SQL Server. The
      feature is supported for Microsoft SQL Server 2012, 2014, and 2016
      (Standard and Enterprise edition) on condition that the product is
      licensed according to the Microsoft Software Assurance licensing
      model. Physical and virtual core-based licensing is supported.


      Benefits: You can calculate the demand for Microsoft SQL Server
      licenses.





   ·	Reporting license utilization of VMware vCenter and vSphere (BigFix
      Inventory only)


      The Resource Utilization report is extended to support reporting of
      license utilization for VMware vCenter and vSphere products deployed
      in your infrastructure.


      Benefits: It is now easier to manage and control license demand for
      VMware.





   ·	Enhanced discovery of SAP components and products (BigFix Inventory
      only)


      This is the first step in expanding the capability to support the SAP
      portfolio. Discovery of SAP products and business application
      components is extended to support SAP NetWeaver 7.x. The discovery is
      supported on Linux and AIX.


      Benefits: Enhanced visibility and detailed inventory of SAP
      components installed on Linux and AIX.





   ·	Stand-alone scanner for monitoring isolated computers


      If some of your Windows or Linux computers cannot be managed from a
      central location due to security reasons, you can discover software
      and hardware inventory by using disconnected scans. Scan results are
      placed in files that can be later on used to import the collected
      data to the BigFix Inventory or License Metric Tool server.


      Benefits: You can collect software and hardware inventory data from
      computers that cannot have the BigFix client installed.





   ·	New management of software classification across vendors and
      enhancements of the related panels


      A new Software Classification panel is added to improve user
      experience and provide more flexibility in managing the software
      inventory and relationships between components and licensable
      products.


      The panel allows for assigning products to specific license metrics.
      It also allows for creating software classification rules based on
      predefined filtering criteria that are later on used to automate
      software classification tasks.


      NOTE: The existing IBM Software Classification panel continues to be
      available but is planned to be deprecated and fully substituted by
      the new Software Classification panel.


      Additionally, the Software Catalog report is enhanced to allow adding
      part numbers (for IBM products) or SKUs (for non-IBM products) to the
      product in the catalog on top of information that is already
      available. For IBM products, these additional part numbers are
      matched against the part numbers that you obtain from Passport
      Advantage to improve the accuracy of automated bundling. You can
      check which of your uploaded part numbers were matched against the
      catalog part numbers or additional part numbers on the Software
      Catalog report.


      Benefits: You can easily manage relations between discovered
      components and licensable products to ensure that your software
      inventory reflects your actual purchases.





   ·	Overall enhanced reporting of IBM products


      The All Metrics report is extended to aggregate license utilization
      of IBM products licensed based on the number of installed instances
      regardless of whether the instances are installed on one or many
      computers.


      Benefits: You can see the current number of installed product
      instances and view how that number changed over time. You can also
      set a threshold to easily monitor when the number of installed
      instances exceeds your expectations.


      The All Metrics report also shows all IBM products with related
      license metric. For products that went through the license management
      readiness with ILMT, you can see the utilization of the metric.


      Benefits: You can see all IBM products with related license metric
      information and verify whether you have the required licenses.





   ·	Discovery of new components from Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle (BigFix
      Inventory only)


      The software catalog is extended to discover a number of new
      components from Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle. To discover the
      components, ensure that you upload the software catalog published in
      March 2017, and upgrade BigFix Inventory to version 9.2.7. The new
      components include:


         ·	Components of Microsoft SQL Server

               o	Analysis Services

               o	Integration Services

               o	Master Data Services

               o	Reporting Services

         ·	Components of SAP

               o	SAP Crystal Reports

               o	SAP Crystal Reports Viewer

         ·	Components of Oracle

               o	Oracle Adapter

               o	Oracle B2B

               o	Oracle BPEL Process Manager

               o	Oracle Business Process Management Suite

               o	Oracle Business Rules

               o	Oracle Coherence

               o	Oracle Human Workflow

               o	Oracle Mediator

               o	Oracle SOA Suite

               o	Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder

               o	Oracle WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition

               o	Oracle WebLogic Suite

               o	Oracle WebLogic Server

               o	Service Architecture Leveraging Tuxedo

               o	Tuxedo Jolt

               o	Tuxedo Message Queue

               o	Tuxedo Server

               o	Tuxedo System and Application Monitor Plus

               o	MySQL Connector C

               o	MySQL Workbench

         ·	TIBCO Enterprise Message Service



Action to take


To learn how to get the application update and deploy it as well as to view
the full list of new features and APARs that were fixed in this application
update, see the following links:


BigFix Inventory: http://ibm.biz/bfi_update_927


License Metric Tool: http://ibm.biz/lmt_update_927


During the upgrade, new versions of the software catalog and PVU table are
uploaded. The versions that are uploaded are the newest ones that were
available during the release of the application update to which you are
upgrading.





Questions


If you have any product-related questions, please post them on one of the
following fora:


http://ibm.biz/BFI_Forum


http://ibm.biz/ILMT_Forum


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