I’ve always been curious as to how IBM monitors user licenses in Maximo 7…

Abstract
Maximo base services provide a number of tools that allow clients to self-monitor license compliance. These tools are part of the system and do not require anything additional to be purchased/licensed.

Content

User Types:

In the Users application there is a field titled ‘Type’ which has a value list of types 1 through 10. Each type of user that the client has licensed should be associated with one of these numbered types. These types are managed in the USERTYPE domain where alternate descriptions can be specified or additional values can be entered.

The types entered here do not programmatically prevent users from doing anything in the system. They are used by the User Type KPI (on the standard Administrator start center) and the User Type report. In the User Type KPI, clients can configure their thresholds for licensed for each type of user and see a graphical representation of the number of users in each type as compared to their license. In the User Type report the same basic information is compiled when the report is run.

User Sessions:

Each time a user logs in to the system a session is created for that user. By default, multiple sessions for the same user are allowed but this can be disabled by setting the property ‘mxe.enableConcurrentCheck’ to 1. In addition to monitoring user sessions in the MAXSESSION table, user sessions are also stored in the LOGINTRACKING table when login tracking is enabled (see system administrator’s guide for more information on this feature). In the Users application there is an action on the menu ‘Manage Sessions’ that allows the user to see the current sessions (and even end them) and the login history. This information can be sorted, filtered and down loaded. In addition, there are two KPIs on the standard Administrator start center – Current User Sessions (all sessions, including duplicates fro the same ID) and Current Logged In Users (single instance of each user id) that show the logged in user information in a graphical format. The User Session report can also be run to provide additional information in a more granular format.

Of special note:

In the LOGINTRACKING table there is a column CURRENTCOUNT that displays the current count of unique users as identified by the combination of their loginid and host client address. This count is not updated each time a user is added or removed – every 5 minutes the number of users on the system is counted and this number is used until the next count. This is to make sure accuracy remains if there is a server that is brought down unexpectedly since this database table does not get cleared – the count could be come incorrect after a crash.

If users have a limited license or only some users are licensed for particular applications, we suggest identifying those users as a specific type and then using security groups to associate the users in a particular type with the appropriate applications. Auditing can also be enabled to prove compliance over time. IBM Support