APPSENSE & PHOENIX

"Working closely with Phoenix Software, AppSense provides a unique way of helping customers achieve licence management for applications delivered via thin client or virtualisation technologies. Through use of enforced licensing application control, this information can be recorded in Licence Dashboard, to help reduce the cost of owning and managing those assets, helping customers achieve compliance with the associated vendors."

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Peter Rawlinson
Vice President - Marketing
AppSense

AppSense and Microsoft Licence Management

AppSense Application Manager offers a solution to the licence compliance challenge presented by application virtualisation solutions

Today, many organisations are using virtualisation technologies to deliver applications and desktops to users across the enterprise. Presentation virtualisation using Microsoft Windows Terminal Services and Citrix XenApp have been the most popular means of delivering a virtual environment to users, however, a whole new generation of hosted virtual desktops and application virtualisation solutions are emerging. While these solutions provide the ability to centrally manage desktops and applications, in turn reducing cost and improving security, licence compliance then becomes an enterprise challenge that needs to be resolved.

MICROSOFT LICENSING
In a Presentation Virtualisation Environment ...
Many Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Office, Project and Visio, are licensed on a per-device basis. This means a desktop application licence is required for each device that is able to access the application. A device may be a PC, notebook, PDA, thin client, workstation, terminal or any digital electronic device that is able to access the application. This model is simple to adhere to when applications are only available through local install on a PC or notebook, but requires more consideration when applications are installed centrally and accessed in a variety of ways or delivered to a range of devices.

A common misconception is that by 'publishing' applications to a limited user group, that group is compliant with the Microsoft licence agreement - in other words, Microsoft licenses its applications per user.

Microsoft desktop applications are licensed per device - meaning any device that can access the application requires a separate desktop application licence. In Windows Terminal Services environments, therefore, a licence is required for each client that can connect to the server where the application is installed.

'Publishing' applications to a limited user group, therefore, is not a valid approach to licence restriction - since users within the group can potentially access the application from any device that can connect to the Windows Terminal Server hosting the application binaries. This means desktop application licences may need to be purchased for devices where the user of that device does not actually use the application.

Microsoft technologies such as Group Policies and Software Restriction Policies cannot be used as a means of enforcing licensing control - as these methods apply to users, or groups of users. For Microsoft applications which are licensed on a per device basis, application access must be controlled at the device level.

In a Hosted Virtual Desktop Environment ...
Some common misconceptions also exist regarding Microsoft licensing in hosted virtual desktop environments. Similar to presentation virtualisation environments, if a user can access a Microsoft desktop application in a virtual desktop from multiple devices, a licence is required for each device, not for the user.

If more than one device can access a virtual desktop where only one instance of an application is installed, a desktop application licence is still required for that application for each potential access device.

Similar to a Windows Terminal Services environment, Microsoft Group Policies and Software Restriction Policies cannot be used to control application access and enforce licence control for applications licensed on a per device basis as these policies only apply at a user level.

In an Application Virtualisation Environment ...
Application virtualisation technology, such as Microsoft App-V, enables applications to be delivered to any client device with access typically being defined at the user level. As such, the same licensing misconceptions exist here as with Windows Terminal Services and virtual desktops.

Since applications can be delivered to any client device, a desktop application licence must be obtained for every device the virtual application server has the ability to deliver an application to - not just the person using the desktop application.

APPSENSE APPLICATION MANAGER
AppSense Application Manager operates with a kernel-level filter driver within the Windows operating system. This filter intercepts all file execution requests prior to an application actually launching, to determine if the request is to be authorised or prohibited. Any unauthorised requests are blocked and the user receives a message, configurable by the administrator, stating that execution has been denied.

A flexible and granular rule set enables the Administrator to restrict access to applications by device name or IP address. This enables AppSense Application Manager to effectively control, manage and in most cases, reduce the required number of Microsoft licences.

AppSense Application Manager also provides detailed insight into user activity and application usage through reporting and auditing functionality. By reporting on application usage at a user and device level, AppSense Application Manager helps organisations verify compliance with Microsoft desktop application licence models and provide estimates of licence volumes typically required across the user base.

Example
Consider an organisation with Microsoft Project installed on Windows Terminal Services or installed on a virtual desktop. Microsoft Project is required to be used by only a limited number of users. In this case, the organisation must license Microsoft Project for each and every device that may connect to Windows Terminal Services or the virtual desktop. In this example, the organisation is required to purchase more Microsoft Project licences than there are users who will be using the application.

AppSense Application Manager verifies client device names and/or IP addresses to control device-based-access to MSProject.exe. By using AppSense Application Manager, the organisation is able to define which devices can run Microsoft Project and prevent access from other devices - thereby restricting access and minimising the number of licences required. If more users require access to Microsoft Project in the future, their client device details can be added to the AppSense Application Manager configuration once additional Microsoft Project licences have been purchased.

Additionally, AppSense Application Manager can be run in 'passive mode' where, rather than enforcing application access by device, application usage across the user/device community can be monitored, enabling an estimate to be obtained as to what application licences are required, and what enforcement policies will be needed.

APPSENSE & MICROSOFT
AppSense Application Manager enables IT Administrators to reliably and effectively enforce software licensing policies on client devices, and therefore gain greater control over the deployment of applications in a Windows Terminal Services or virtual desktop environment. To this end, AppSense is endorsed by Microsoft:

"Today's IT organisations are constantly striving to lower the total cost of ownership of their infrastructure while getting the maximum value from their IT investment. Effective and efficient software licence management is a key component of today's IT strategy and AppSense Application Manager can benefit customers by granularly controlling access to a centrally-accessed application."
Alex Balcanquall, Technical Product Manager, Windows Terminal Services

"AppSense Application Manager can benefit customers by helping ensure an organisation's usage of centrally-managed applications meets the device licensing models common with products like Microsoft Office 2007."
Parri Munsell, Director Software Licensing, Microsoft Business Division

APPSENSE & PHOENIX
AppSense Application Manager and Licence Dashboard™ from Phoenix Software are complementary software tools, enabling customers to take control of their Microsoft (as well as other vendors) licences.

"Working closely with Phoenix Software, AppSense provides a unique way of helping customers achieve licence management for applications delivered via thin client or virtualisation technologies. Through use of enforced licensing application control, this information can be recorded in Licence Dashboard, to help reduce the cost of owning and managing those assets, helping customers achieve compliance with the associated vendors."
Peter Rawlinson, Vice President - Marketing, AppSense

FIND OUT MORE
For further information and pricing, contact your Phoenix Account Manager on 0845 265 1265 or email info@phoenixs.co.uk