[BESAdmin-Announcements] IBM License Metric Tool application update 9.2.23 is now available!

[Announcements for BES Administrators]

Announcements: 
Support for DB2 10.5 will be removed in application update 9.2.24
Support for DB2 10.5 was officially withdrawn on 30th April 2020 (See: 
Software lifecycle). Because of that, License Metric Tool will also 
withdraw support for DB2 10.5 at the end of 2Q 2021. If you use this 
version of DB2 for the License Metric Tool server, BigFix server, or both, 
upgrade it promptly to version 11.5. For information about the evolution 
of the DB2 support matrix, see: Changes in versions of DB2 supported by 
the License Metric Tool server.
Version 1 REST APIs become deprecated
Version 1 REST APIs for retrieving computer systems, clusters, software 
instances, and license usage become deprecated. They are still fully 
functioning and supported. However, they are not going to be changed or 
updated. It is recommended to use their version 2 equivalents.
Support for Windows 2008 and 2008 R2 is removed
Starting from this application update, support for Windows 2008 and 2008 
R2 is removed. If you use these operating systems, promptly upgrade them 
to supported versions. Information about removing the support was 
announced in the following technote: Schedule of removing items from the 
list of subcapacity eligible technologies.


Application update 9.2.23 introduces the following key features:
Integration with Red Hat Marketplace
You can integrate License Metric Tool with Red Hat Marketplace to view 
consolidated license information. After you configure the integration, 
license usage data is exported to Red Hat Marketplace on demand. Because 
no data is sent automatically, you always have control over what data is 
exported to Red Hat Marketplace and when.
Benefits: You can view consolidated license information and thus make 
well-informed purchases, renewals and trade-ups in the future.

Semi-automated method of migrating License Metric Tool to a different 
computer
A new semi-automated procedure allows for migrating the License Metric 
Tool server, its database, and the BigFix server to a different computer 
and reduces the amount of manual configuration afterwards. You can use the 
procedure when the operating system of the computer on which the License 
Metric Tool server is installed needs to be upgraded. For example, when 
you need to migrate Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to a higher supported 
version.
Benefits: The procedure reduces the amount of manual work required after 
the migration and eliminates the duplication of computers that was caused 
by resubscribing endpoints between BigFix servers.

Disconnected scanner can be used on computers that run on public clouds
Computers that run on public clouds need to be identified as such to 
ensure that PVU consumption is properly calculated for software that is 
installed on these computers. Starting from this application update, you 
can use the disconnected scanner to report license usage for software that 
runs on public clouds. Using the disconnected scanner still requires 
approval from the IBM Compliance Team.
Benefits: You can report license usage for software that is installed on 
public clouds on which the BigFix client cannot be installed.

Support for new platforms and virtualization technologies
o       Debian 10 x86 (64 bit) by using the BigFix client
o       Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 on zSystems by using the BigFix client
o       Red Hat Virtualization 4.4
o       SLES 15 on zSystems by using the BigFix client
o       Ubuntu 18 guest on Ubuntu KVM on Power by using the BigFix client 
and the disconnected scanner
o       Support for NEC public cloud under BYOSL policy

Security enhancements
For more information, see: Security enhancements.

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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