Infrastructure-based Licensing

Create a License Rule

To create a license rule:

  1. Go to SettingsSettings > License > Rules.
  2. Click Create Create.
  3. Add a rule name.
  4. Define how many units from each license are included in the rule.

  5. Choose which applications and servers the rule applies to.

    This diagram depicts an example of a scope configuration for IBL.

    License Scope Configuration

Machine and Cluster Agent License Prioritization

Note: The Machine and Cluster Agent license prioritization setting is available for infrastructure-based licenses in Controller >= 21.11.0.

With Infrastructure-based Licenses (IBL), you can activate license rules to preserve license usage for a Cluster Agent in situations where the system cannot detect its vCPU details. When a Cluster Agent lacks vCPU information, it will be refused and will not be registered, preventing license consumption. This feature enables you to avoid using a license for the agent.

For example, use this setting when you are running a large cluster with several working nodes. If a node using the Cluster Agent fails, then the other app agents on the cluster may use up all the licenses available in the infrastructure-based license pool. When the node recovers and the Cluster Agent tries to get a license lease, there might not be enough available, which will result in overages. If the Machine/Cluster Agent license prioritization setting is activated, one of the other agents will release licenses to allow cluster agents to use them if there are not enough licenses available.To enable the Prioritize Machine/Cluster Agent License Lease setting:

  1. Go to SettingsSettings > License > License Rules.
  2. Click the PRIORITIZE MACHINE AND CLUSTER AGENT LEASE toggle.
  3. Click Done.

Wait for vCPU Information Before Registering Agents

You can enable license rules to help you conserve license consumption for a Cluster Agent when the system cannot detect its vCPU information. In such cases, the Cluster Agent without the vCPU information will be rejected and not registered, so you can avoid consuming a license for the agent.

For example, an agent will request to be registered every minute and will be rejected for up to ten minutes while waiting for vCPU information from a host. If no vCPU information has been received after 10 minutes, the agent will fall back to use the default license units. An agent will be allowed to report data as soon as it's registered. If no license units are available, then the agent will be rejected.

To enable the Wait for vCPU Information Before Registering Agents setting:

  1. Go to SettingsSettings > License > License Rules.
  2. Click the WAIT FOR VCPU INFORMATION BEFORE REGISTERING AGENTStoggle.
  3. Click Done.

Best Practices to Create License Rules

  • When creating license rules, you should follow consistent criteria for selecting which applications belong to a rule. We recommend:
    • If you want a rule to contain multiple applications, then group applications by business unit.
    • If you want to view individual application usage, then select only one application per rule.
  • For each rule you create, a new access key is generated, and the agents under that rule are authenticated with that generated key. Make sure to update your agent to use this new access key and restart the agent.
  • Make sure the selected applications and servers on each rule are an exclusive list and are not part of multiple rules. This structuring helps with managing chargebacks effectively.
  • If you choose not to create any rules, then your license allocation follows the default rule, which allows all applications and servers to equally consume each license.
  • To simplify license reporting in a cluster (containerized environment), we recommend that all applications and agents use the same license key when using license rules.
  • When configuring rules, you can allocate more units than you were originally provisioned by Splunk AppDynamics. Over-provisioning units buffer your unit allocation and are useful when the exact number of license units for the list of applications and servers for the rule are unknown. Although the allocation on the rule is unbounded, Splunk AppDynamics limits your unit usage according to the number of licenses you purchased.
Warning: Overlapping configurations on license rules may complicate license reporting. Splunk AppDynamics recommends you configure license rules with caution because you must confirm the license usage on each rule matches the license usage at the account level. License usage at the account level is the union of usage for all license rules, and not a sum of usage of all license rules. When multiple applications are hosted on the same host and each application agent uses a different rule key, usage will be reported in both the rules, and it will be reported as if you are consuming double the licenses, which is incorrect.