There are many benefits associated with software virtualization, and the majority of Forrester clients have already started their virtualization journey. However, like any licensing metric, the devil is in the details; while buying virtualization can be confusing, staying compliant is the real headache. IT decision-makers responsible for sourcing & vendor management must understand the nuances of virtualization, as well as the different licensing rules and policies applied by different software vendors, if they want to ensure they stay compliant and avoid costly embarrassment at audit time.
Virtualization is a powerful tool but needs careful handling.
By virtualizing software, you can run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on one physical machine and across multiple processors and cores. Virtualization is performed by adding a piece of software that acts as an abstraction layer between the physical server and the virtual server (or virtual machines). This abstraction layer is known as a hypervisor; examples include Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware ESXi.
Two key benefits of virtualization include: Firstly, it drives up the utilization of the physical machine. This allows you to do more work on fewer machines. The cost savings this provides are very attractive; it reduces the amount of physical hardware you need and it cuts hardware maintenance and power costs. Secondly, it makes it easier for IT to manage its infrastructure. Because virtual machines are essentially just software files, backing up, restoring, updating, or creating new users is a lot less time-consuming than having to do it on individual physical machines.
Virtualization is an important development and a great driver toward cost savings and operational efficiencies. It does, however, require careful handling and monitoring as allowing virtualized software to proliferate in an uncontrolled manner will quickly lead to licensing compliance issues, audit embarrassment, and financial exposure.
Three potential virtualization licensing pitfalls….
In the good old days, software was a physical item and was assigned to a physical asset (e.g., a PC) on a one-to-one basis. It was, therefore, relatively easy to count physical assets in order to find out how many software licenses were installed. But as soon as virtualization broke the one-to-one relationship, counting actual license usage suddenly got much more challenging. Three challenges to keep in mind include:
1. Software vendors license virtualization in different ways. To the detriment of the consumer, there is no industry standard for applying metrics to virtual scenarios. Some software companies try to ignore the issue and remain in the physical realm, while others devise conversion models based on peak resource use or running instances.
2. IT focuses on operational performance, not licensing rules. At the point of buying, most sourcing and IT executives licensing knowledge is aligned and the vendor-specific nuances of virtualization are jointly understood. But as time goes by, this common understanding and knowledge falls by the wayside; IT returns to their main drivers of keeping the lights on while performance tuning their hardware estate in order to provide a satisfactory service to users.
3. Keeping up-to-date with changing licensing rules is a full-time job. Most sourcing professionals are busy people and when not fighting fires are running hard to keep up with the demands of the business. As a result, it's easy to find yourself suddenly out of compliance.
The three things you need to do in order to avoid these pitfalls ….
It is a tough manual challenge for even a hawk-eyed sourcing and asset management executive to keep on top of license compliance in a virtualized world. Without constant due diligence and tools to help automate the management and monitoring of software, it's incredibly hard to be absolutely sure you are compliant. In order to get on top of this challenge, we recommend adopting the following best practices:
1. Understand each vendor's virtualization rules. If you are virtualizing your software estate, assign someone in sourcing or asset management the job of understanding and keeping up-to-date with all the licensing rules relevant to each of the software products your organization uses. Vendors differ in the way they license their software in a virtual world. They also regularly change their licensing rules and, thus, to maintain compliance, you must be vigilant in watching for rule changes that may affect the way you use software.
2. Communicate the licensing rules clearly and regularly to your IT colleagues. As time goes on, people's priorities change, they move on to other jobs, and new people arrive. This is business as usual and it's vital that the IT people who are responsible for installing and moving software are regularly updated with the various vendors' virtualization rules. This will stop inadvertent installations that breach the rules and will help maintain compliance.
3. Use SLO tools. A new generation of software asset management (SAM) tools has been developed that automate and alleviate many of the challenges of staying compliant in a virtualized world. Authored by the likes of 1E, Aspera, Eracent, and Flexera Software, these products are delighting exasperated sourcing and asset managers around the world. The key factor here is that these SLO tools understand — and keep up-to-date with — each vendor's latest PURs and virtual use rights.
There is no shortcut to ensuring your organization stays compliant in a virtualized world. You can't ignore the fact that virtual images are being spun up and multiplied by IT operations to satisfy user demand. Neither can you ignore the licensing rules each vendor applies. Forrester recommends you allocate time and/or resources to monitor and manage your use of virtualized software.
Mark Bartrick is senior analyst at Forrester Research where he serves the information needs of, and contributes to the blog for, Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals.