VDI License Manager Template-Based Usage Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions inadequately address software license consumption monitoring in cloud computing environments, particularly in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) settings where virtual machine lifetimes are short and desktops experience long periods of inactivity, making traditional license usage monitoring unsatisfactory.
Innovation Solution
A license manager is implemented to track software application usage by receiving information on virtual machine templates and user sessions, using an 'install-based' metric that counts applications available to a user during a VDI session, enabling accurate tracking, management, and accounting of software usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional license usage monitoring is used in VDI environments, then monitoring simplicity is maintained, but measurement precision deteriorates due to short virtual machine lifetimes and long idle periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by capturing software installation information from virtual machine templates before the virtual machines are instantiated. This allows the license manager to pre-know which applications are available in each template, enabling accurate license tracking without needing to continuously monitor running virtual machines during their short operational lifetimes or during idle periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses copying by creating virtual machine instances from templates. The license manager tracks software usage by associating user sessions with template-based virtual machines, copying the template's software inventory information to monitor license consumption. This allows accurate tracking without directly monitoring each transient virtual machine instance.
2Measurement precision
If install-based licensing metric is implemented, then license management accuracy improves for VDI environments, but information processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The license manager is designed with multi-functionality to handle multiple aspects of license management: receiving template software information, receiving user session information, determining usage metrics, and providing this information to other systems. This universal approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate systems, reducing overall complexity while maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The license manager acts as an intermediary between the VDI infrastructure and license compliance requirements. It receives information from the VDI system about templates and user sessions, processes this information to determine install-based usage metrics, and provides results to other computing systems for compliance enforcement. This intermediary role simplifies the overall architecture by centralizing the complex measurement logic.
3Measurement precision
If virtual machine lifetime is extended to improve license monitoring, then measurement accuracy improves, but productivity deteriorates due to reduced resource optimization
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by capturing software installation information from virtual machine templates before the virtual machines are instantiated. This allows the license manager to pre-know which applications are available in each template, enabling accurate license tracking without needing to continuously monitor running virtual machines during their short operational lifetimes or during idle periods.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique to manage software licensing in an environment that provides virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). A license manager is configured to receive first information identifying software applications associated with a virtual machine template used in the infrastructure, as well as second information that a user has logged into the VDI from a client device, thereby creating a VDI session. For a particular time period of interest, the license manager calculates software application usage information from the first and second information. Preferably, the software application usage information represents an application count that is based on the user and the client device “pair” when the user has the VDI session during at least some portion of the time period. The software application usage information is provided to one or more other computing systems to take a given action, such as tracking, managing, auditing, enforcing and accounting for software usage in the VDI environment.