Bring your own license or subscription to the public cloud

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 8 minutes to read
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    Summary of Bring your own license or subscription to the public cloud

    The Bring Your Own License (BYOL) and Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS) features enable ServiceNow customers to track and manage the license compliance of Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) software products across hybrid cloud and on-premise infrastructures. These models allow organizations migrating to public cloud environments to carry existing perpetual and subscription licenses with them, optimizing license usage by paying primarily for infrastructure costs rather than new licenses.

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    Supported Products and Cloud Environments

    • Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server: All editions supported via BYOL on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) models (shared and dedicated infrastructure).
    • Oracle Database: Various editions supported via BYOL on AWS (IaaS and PaaS), Microsoft Azure (IaaS), with licensing model support dependent on cloud provider and Oracle version.
    • Oracle WebLogic Server: Supported via BYOL on AWS and Microsoft Azure with manual license type specification.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server: Supported via BYOS on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and GCP IaaS (shared infrastructure).

    Key Functionality

    • Discovery and License Identification: ServiceNow Discovery and Service Mapping patterns automatically discover licensable software and cloud resources (virtual machines, service models, infrastructure types, license types) across on-premise and cloud environments.
    • License Type Determination: The Software Asset Management (SAM) application determines license types automatically for most products, except Oracle WebLogic Server where manual input is required. License types include BYOL, BYOS, or License Included.
    • Compliance and Reconciliation: SAM reconciles license data across hybrid infrastructures by applying specific licensing rules per cloud provider and product, factoring in special licensing rights (e.g., dual use rights, edition flexibility) to generate accurate compliance reports.
    • Reporting: Customers can view license compliance and usage through publisher-specific overviews and reports within the Software Asset Workspace for Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat products.
    • Cloud Remediation Options: Includes automated removal of unlicensed cloud installations and optimization of vCPU sizing for Oracle Database licensing on AWS RDS to ensure compliance and cost efficiency.

    Prerequisites

    • Activate the Discovery plugin and install related Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns applications.
    • Migrate cloud discoveries from Cloud API probes to pattern-based discovery.
    • Install CMDB CI Class Models and Cloud Cost Management applications for enhanced license discovery and cost insights.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Gain centralized visibility of BYOL and BYOS licenses across hybrid cloud environments, ensuring compliance without over-purchasing licenses.
    • Leverage automated discovery and reconciliation to reduce manual effort and errors in license management.
    • Utilize cloud-specific licensing rules and optimizations to maximize existing investments and avoid unnecessary cloud license expenses.
    • Access detailed compliance reporting and remediation workflows within ServiceNow to maintain license governance and optimize cloud infrastructure costs.

    Bring your own license (BYOL) support enables you to determine the license compliance of your Microsoft and Oracle software products across hybrid infrastructures. Bring your own subscription (BYOS) support enables you to determine the license compliance of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) software products across hybrid infrastructures.

    When organizations move to the public cloud, existing on-premise perpetual licenses are carried over to the cloud using BYOL. Existing on-premise subscription licenses are also carried over to the cloud using BYOS. BYOL and BYOS help improve license optimization, as organizations must pay only for infrastructure costs.

    The Software Asset Management application supports BYOL for Microsoft and Oracle software products and BYOS for RHEL software products as follows:
    Product Product edition BYOL or BYOS Supported cloud providers Supported service model Supported infrastructure type
    Note:
    This column applies to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) models only.
    Microsoft SQL Server All editions BYOL
    • AWS
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
    		 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Shared and dedicated
    Microsoft Windows Server All editions BYOL
    • AWS
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
    		 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Shared and dedicated
    Oracle Database
    • Oracle Database Standard Edition
    • Oracle Database Standard Edition One
    • Oracle Database Standard Edition 2
    • Oracle Database Enterprise Edition
    		 BYOL
    • AWS
    • Microsoft Azure
    • AWS: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS)
      Note:
      In AWS, the IaaS model refers to the Amazon Elastic Computing (EC2) web service, while the PaaS model refers to the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS).
    • Microsoft Azure: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
    		 Shared and dedicated
    Oracle Weblogic Server
    • Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition
    • Oracle WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition
    		 BYOL
    • AWS
    • Microsoft Azure
    		 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Shared and dedicated
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server All editions BYOS
    • AWS
    • Microsoft Azure
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
    		 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Shared
    BYOL and BYOS support on the Software Asset Management application help you:
    • Discover perpetual and subscription-based software licenses automatically across on-premise and cloud environments, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and GCP.
    • Determine the license compliance of the following software products across your hybrid infrastructure:
      • Microsoft SQL Server
      • Microsoft Windows Server
      • Oracle Database
      • Oracle WebLogic Server
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
    • Provide advanced support for optimization through Cloud Special Rights, such as dual use rights, edition flexibility, and unlimited virtualization.
    • Perform remediation when your software is out of compliance.
    Figure 1. Bring your own license or subscription flow
    Flowchart for BYOL and BYOS, starting with ServiceNow Discovery and ending with remediation.

    Prerequisites

    Before you can begin determining the license compliance of software across your hybrid infrastructures, you must complete the following prerequisites:

    BYOL and BYOS discovery

    With BYOL and BYOS, the ServiceNow® Discovery application locates and identifies licensable software in both your on-premise and cloud environments using Discovery and Service Mapping patterns. The Discovery application uses Amazon AWS Cloud, Microsoft Azure Cloud, and Google Cloud discovery patterns to discover the following resources for software in cloud environments:
    • Cloud provider
    • Virtual machine details
    • Service model type, such as IaaS or PaaS
    • Host infrastructure type for IaaS, such as shared or dedicated
    • License type, such as BYOL, BYOS, or License Included
    • Software that is installed on the virtual machine
    Note:
    The Amazon AWS Cloud, Microsoft Azure Cloud, and Google Cloud discovery patterns are included in the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns store application. For more information on Amazon AWS Cloud discovery patterns, see Amazon AWS Cloud components discovery using patterns. For more information on Microsoft Azure Cloud discovery patterns, see Microsoft Azure Cloud components discovery using patterns. For more information on Google Cloud discovery patterns, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) resource inventory discovery and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Organization discovery with Patterns.

    Resources for your discovered software are populated and stored in corresponding Configuration Management Database (CMDB) tables, including the Host [cmdb_ci_cloud_host] and Serverless Hardware [cmdb_ci_serverless_hardware] tables, on your ServiceNow instance.

    The Software Asset Management application then determines the license types of your discovered software either independently or with the Discovery or Cloud Cost Management application.
    • For Microsoft Windows Server and Oracle Database on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), the Software Asset Management application determines license types independently.
    • For Microsoft SQL Server on AWS, the Software Asset Management application determines license types using billing records from the Cloud Cost Management application.
    • For
      • Microsoft SQL Server on Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
      • and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP),
      the Software Asset Management application determines license types using resources that are discovered through the Discovery application.
    • For Oracle WebLogic Server on AWS and Microsoft Azure, you must specify license types manually.

    For all software products except Oracle WebLogic Server, license types are applied to associated configuration items (CIs) using automatically generated key-value pairs. The key-value pairs are stored in the Key Values [cmdb_key_value] table. Each key-value pair consists of a Key in the <software-product>_License_Type_automatic format and a Value of either License Included, BYOL, or BYOS.

    For Oracle WebLogic Server, you must specify license types manually by creating key-value pairs. The key-value pairs must have a Key of Oracle_WebLogic_Server_License_Type and a Value of either License Included or BYOL. After you create these key-value pairs, the specified license types can be applied to the associated CIs.
    Note:
    If the license type is not manually specified for a software product, the Software Asset Management application won't license the installation due to insufficient information.
    You can use these key-value pairs to determine whether the associated software licenses are using the BYOL, BYOS, or License Included licensing model. The BYOL and BYOS licensing models include license purchasing options such as Azure Hybrid Benefit. The License Included licensing model includes license purchasing options such as Pay As You Go (PAYG), SPOT, and On Demand. With the License Included licensing model, the cloud provider is responsible for managing licenses.
    Note:
    For Oracle Database, support for the BYOL and License Included licensing models is based on the cloud provider and Oracle Database version that you're using.
    • AWS RDS (PaaS): The BYOL licensing model is supported on Oracle Database Standard Edition, Standard Edition One, Standard Edition 2, and Enterprise Edition. The License Included licensing model is supported on only Oracle Database Standard Edition 2.
    • AWS EC2 (IaaS): Only the BYOL licensing model is supported.
    • Microsoft Azure (IaaS): Only the BYOL licensing model is supported.

    Software reconciliation for BYOL and BYOS license compliance

    After your discovered software is marked as BYOL, BYOS, or License Included, reconciliation runs on the software that is marked as BYOL or BYOS. You can then use the resulting information to determine the software compliance across your hybrid infrastructure.

    BYOL and BYOS licensing rules can differ for the same software products across different cloud providers. For example, Windows Server has different licensing rules on AWS and on Microsoft Azure. These rules must be combined with existing on-premise rules so that you can determine the complete license compliance position of each software product across your hybrid infrastructures. Microsoft offers special rights for products that are deployed on AWS vs Microsoft Azure, such as dual use rights, edition flexibility, and unlimited virtualization. For more information on licensing rules, see Licensing rules for BYOL and BYOS.

    The Software Asset Management application automatically reconciles these rules and provides an accurate license position report that can be viewed in the License usage view of the Software Asset Workspace.

    Cloud-based remediation options

    To remediate non-compliance for cloud installations, the Software Asset Management application provides the following remediation options:
    Remove Unlicensed Installs - Cloud

    The Remove Unlicensed Installs - Cloud remediation option removes all cloud installations that are unlicensed for the associated software product.

    When you select the Remove Unlicensed Installs - Cloud remediation option, removal candidates that follow the regular remediation workflow are created. After the removal candidates reach the Awaiting Revocation state, you can uninstall the cloud installations from your cloud provider and then mark the removal candidates as complete.

    Optimize vCPU

    The Optimize vCPU remediation option provides vCPU sizing optimizations based on the core count and core thread count. This remediation option is applicable only to Oracle Database Per Processor licenses on AWS RDS (PaaS). That Per Processor licensing is based on the number of vCPUs on which you install or run an Oracle database.

    For more information on AWS core counts and core thread counts, see Configuring the processor for a DB instance class.