[BESAdmin-Announcements] IBM License Metric Tool application update 9.2.22 is now available!

[Announcements for BES Administrators]

This update introduces the following key features:
Automating management of disconnected scans by using Red Hat Ansible
Ansible is an open source automation platform that you can use to manage 
disconnected scanners. Ansible platform itself is not delivered as part of 
License Metric Tool and is not subject to IBM support. Thus, managing 
disconnected scans with Ansible is a solution for customers who are able 
to configure and maintain Ansible on their own, without support from IBM. 
However, Ansible playbooks that are delivered with License Metric Tool are 
subject to IBM support.

To get access to License Metric Tool playbooks and documentation as well 
as approval for using them for reporting sub-capacity license, write an 
e-mail to talk2sam at us.ibm.com. 
Benefits: Ansible playbooks that are delivered with License Metric Tool 
automate installation of the disconnected scanner and upload of scan 
results. Thus, you do not need to perform these actions manually.

Local type of VM Manager Tool for new installations of License Metric Tool
Starting from this application update, new installations of the License 
Metric Tool server use the so-called local VM Manager Tool (that is 
installed as an internal component of the License Metric Tool server). 
Earlier application updates use the central VM Manager Tool (that is 
installed on the same computer as the BigFix server and is managed through 
BigFix). The type of the VM Manager Tool deployment remains unchanged 
during the upgrade of License Metric Tool.

Benefits: Because the local VM Manager Tool is embedded in License Metric 
Tool server, it is easier to manage, quicker to test connections, has no 
delays in data upload and is always up-to-date.

Support for new platforms and virtualization technologies
o       Oracle Enterprise Linux 8 on x86 by using the BigFix client
o       Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 and higher 8.x versions on Power by 
using the BigFix client. You can use this operating system starting from 
License Metric Tool 9.2.21.
o       Ubuntu 20.04 on x86 by using the BigFix client
o       Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 on zSystems by using the disconnected 
scanner 
o       IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers on IBM Cloud
o       Tencent Cloud Server Instance


End of support for some operating systems
Support is dropped for Windows 7.

Security enhancements
For more information, see: Security enhancements.

Other important changes:
Disconnected scanner reports utilization of license metrics by products 
that deliver .slmtag files 
A number of IBM products deliver .slmtag files that contain raw data about 
utilization of license metrics by these products. Starting from this 
application update, the disconnected scanner collects the data from 
.slmtag files and reports raw utilization of license metrics. 

Dashboard improvements and simplification
        The following changes are introduced on the dashboard:
o       Software Catalog widget: links to software products, versions, 
components, and signatures no longer show the number of particular items. 
Additionally, the link to publishers is removed.
o       Software Classification widget: more explanatory text is added.
o       Inventory Data widget: the search field that allows searching 
components and products that are discovered in your infrastructure is 
added.
o       The New Dashboard and Reporting is changed to Additional 
Information. Widgets that are duplicates of the widgets from the main 
dashboard are removed. The search field is moved to the Inventory Data 
widget.
o       Software Scan Health and Capacity Scan Health widgets now include 
data from IBM i computers

Removed content
Part Numbers Upload panel that was previously marked as deprecated is now 
removed.


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: Release Notes.


Questions
If you have any product-related questions, post them on the License Metric 
Tool forum: https://ibm.biz/LMT-support-forum. 

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