Integration of IBM License Metric Tool with IBM License Service Reporter for aggregated license usage reporting

How To

Summary

Learn how to integrate the information about license usage of IBM hybrid products that are deployed in non-containerized environment from IBM® License Metric Tool into IBM License Service Reporter. To accomplish this goal, deploy and configure IBM License Reporter Proxy on a machine that can connect to both the IBM License Metric Tool Server and IBM License Service Reporter.

IBM hybrid product (for both IBM Cloud Pak or IBM Certified Container) indicates if the product can be deployed on both traditional VMs and Kubernetes clusters. If both deployment options are possible, cumulative license usage might need to be combined from both IBM License Metric Tool and IBM License Service.

Objective

Versions:

(Legacy) ibm-license-advisor-sender-script 1.x - dedicated for IBM License Advisor (EOL), able to process only IBM Cloud Paks. EOL reached.
(Current) ibm-license-reporter-proxy 4.x - dedicated for IBM License Service Reporter, able to process all IBM hybrid products (both IBM Cloud Paks and IBM Certified Containers).
- with LMT version 9.2.30 and above
  License Reporter Proxy handles all IBM hybrid products (IBM Cloud Paks and IBM Certified Containers).
- with LMT version lower that 9.2.30
  License Reporter Proxy handles IBM Cloud Paks only.

Environment

IBM License Service Reporter is an aggregator that adds and analyzes the license usage data from multiple clusters, and retrieves the highest license usage of IBM Cloud Pak solutions and stand-alone containerized software. You can configure your clusters to deliver license usage data to IBM License Service Reporter.

Some IBM products (hybrid products) can be deployed on clusters and in the traditional VM-based environment. To correctly aggregate license usage for these products, IBM License Service Reporter needs to get data from clusters and virtual machines. The license usage data from virtual machines is reported by IBM License Metric Tool.

IBM License Reporter Proxy is an integration tool that delivers license usage data of IBM Cloud Pak solutions and IBM Certified Containers from IBM License Metric Tool to IBM License Service Reporter.

Steps

Deploying and configuring License Reporter Proxy to retrieve license usage of IBM Cloud Pak solutions and IBM Certified Containers from IBM License Metric Tool

Deploy IBM License Reporter Proxy in one of the following configurations:
- On a machine where the IBM License Metric Tool server is installed and that can connect to IBM License Service Reporter.
- On a machine that can connect to the IBM License Metric Tool server and IBM License Service Reporter APIs.

Prerequisites:

An OpenShift role with permissions to get information about Route and Secret.
An IBM License Metric Tool user who is authorized to get all IBM hybrid products reports.
Minimal required permission that user in IBM License Metric Tool needs to have is View License Metrics.
A system role with permissions to schedule jobs.
To deploy IBM License Reporter Proxy, make sure that you have Python 3 and pip installed.
To schedule IBM License Reporter Proxy to run regularly, make sure that cron (for Linux or Mac) or task scheduller (for Windows) are available.

Before you begin

Download the IBM License Reporter Proxy installation package.

The package contains the ibm_license_reporter_proxy_4.0 directory that consists of the following files that are used to deploy and configure IBM License Reporter Proxy:

File name	Description
ibm_license_reporter_proxy.py	The python script for running IBM License Reporter Proxy on the system.
requirements.txt	This file carries information about dependencies that need to be resolved and is required for the script.
config/config.json	The configuration file where you define the IBM License Service Reporter and IBM License Metric Tool server.
README.md	Readme file.
RELEASE_VERSION	File with release version number.

Procedure:
1. Unpack the IBM License Reporter Proxy package.

2. Copy files to the machine that can connect to IBM License Metric Tool and IBM License Service Reporter.

3. Open the config directory.

4. Open the config.json file.

5. Set the service type parameter to lmt-service.

6. Provide the URL for IBM License Service Reporter. To obtain the URL, complete the following steps:

- For an OpenShift cluster:

a. Log in to the OpenShift console and go to Networking>Routes.
b. Set the project to <your-license-service-reporter-namespace>.

c. Find the ibm-license-service-reporter route and copy the URL listed as Location.

- For a Kubernetes cluster without OpenShift:

To retrieve the License Service Reporter console URL for Kubernetes environments without OpenShift, check your Ingress configuration. For more information, see Installing License Service Reporter without Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).

7. Provide the token to authorize the connection to IBM License Service Reporter. To obtain the token, complete the following steps:
a. Log in to the OpenShift console and go to Workloads>Secrets.

b. Set the project to <your-license-service-reporter-namespace>.
c. Find the ibm-licensing-reporter-token for IBM License Service Reporter 1.x.x or ibm-license-service-reporter-token for IBM License Service Reporter 4.x.x, and click the name.
d. Scroll down to the Data section.
e. Reveal and copy the token value.

8. Set the value of the datasourceName parameter.
Important:The name of the data source is included in the audit snapshot and must be clear for an auditor to identify the cluster.

9. Leave the License Service section empty.

10. Provide the URL for the IBM License Metric Tool server in the following format: https://<host>:<port>.

Note:

- The combination of the data source name and the URL is an unique identifier of the data source on the IBM License Service Reporter user interface. Requests from IBM License Reporter Proxy with the same data source URL but with a data source name that is different than the one that exists in IBM License Service Reporter will be not be processed.

11. Provide the IBM License Metric Tool token. To obtain the token, complete the following steps:

a. Log in to IBM License Metric Tool as a user who is authorized to get Cloud Pak reports .
b. Hover over the User icon, and click Profile.
c. Click Show token.

12. Save the config.json file.

13. Run the following command:

python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

14. Run IBM License Reporter Proxy with the following command:

python3 ibm_license_reporter_proxy.py -c <config_directory_path>

15. To check whether the IBM License Reporter Proxy configuration was correct and the script was successfully completed, read the onscreen logs. Each stage should be completed with status_code=OK, and the script should end with Status: SUCCESS.

16. Schedule IBM License Reporter Proxy to run regularly.

It is recommended to run the proxy every 12 hours.

- On Linux, Mac: Use crontab

- On Windows: Use Task Scheduler

Results:

Whenever IBM License Reporter Proxy runs, the license usage data is collected from IBM License Metric Tool server from the last 90 days and sent to IBM License Service Reporter.

For more information about IBM License Service Reporter, see the Tracking license usage in multicluster environment with IBM License Service Reporter.

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

More support for:
IBM Cloud Platform Common Services

Software version:
All Version(s)

Document number:
6333487

Modified date:
21 January 2025

UID

ibm16333487

IBM Support

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