Express Meter 3.5 and CentaMeter 2.7

Products that simplify software license management

Monitoring the legal use of software throughout a Windows NT enterprisenetwork is an important aspect of systems management. The systems administratortypically must determine what and how much software the organization needs,recommend the optimal number and type (per server or per seat) of softwarelicenses the organization must purchase, and decide which workstations andservers to install the software on. Purchasing one license for each PC doesn'tmake sense when you can share licenses under a concurrent usage agreement, butmanaging concurrent licenses so that you never have more users than the numberof licenses you own presents another administrative challenge.

Why bother being so precise with licensing agreements? According toinformation from WRQ's Web site, in 1992 and 1993, the Software PublishersAssociation (SPA) took action against 1324 companies, resulting in $7.5 millionin fines. Ten unauthorized copies of Microsoft Office 95 constitute a felonyoffense that carries up to $250,000 in fines and 5 years in jail.

Systems administrators have enough to worry about. Helping to eliminate oneworry, metering packages can analyze software usage, identify trends, restrictaccess, and prevent inactive applications from tying up valuable resources. Twosuch time- and money-savers are WRQ's Express Meter 3.5 and Tally Systems'CentaMeter 2.7. Let's review how these two software packages meter and tracklicense usage and examine each product's features.

Express Meter 3.5

Express Meter 3.5 from WRQ is a comprehensive program designed to ensurelegal software usage and maximize software savings. The product works with anyWindows or DOS shell. The Express Meter Audit Kit contains an installationCD-ROM, a well-written 144-page System Administrator's Guide, and a Quick StartManual. The Quick Start Manual contains step-by-step installation instructions,although much of the installation is automated.

To install the product, you first install the Applications Library on theserver. The Applications Library's only function is to store installation filesand metering information. Next, you install the Express Meter Editor on thesystems administrator's workstation; you use the Express Meter Editor toconfigure metering and reporting options. (Screen 1 shows the Express MeterEditor's main window.) Finally, you install the Express Meter Client on theuser's workstation.

You can also perform automatic and remote workstation installations.readme.txt on the CD-ROM gives instructions for automatic workstationinstallation, and other helpful information. Express Meter's Detached Clientlets you meter software usage on a laptop.

The CD-ROM includes Adobe Acrobat Reader, which installed automaticallywhen I accessed the online Help documentation. The Automatic Add feature (whichyou can disable) adds applications to the library as you run them. You canmanually add applications through menu commands or by dragging an application tothe Express Meter Editor. Once you add an application to the library, you canuse the Editor to select metering options: You can set the number of licensesand suite licenses, toggle metering on or off, enable crash detection, writecustom warning messages, and include the price per license.

Express Meter tracks software usage according to your licenses. When alicense violation occurs, you can set the product to respond in one of threeways. You can lock out access to the application and place the user on a waitinglist; you can let the user access the application and warn the user that allconcurrent licenses are in use; or you can issue a password so that the user canoverride a lockout.

Express Meter lets you collect statistical data, control access toapplications on your network, and generate both graphic and tabular reports(including 32 preconfigured reports). You can view statistical data by currentor cumulative usage of all applications, by user, and by cost savings. You canrequest usage reports by application or individual user to show the number oftimes an application was locked out or the user was warned because all availablelicenses were in use, and you can identify the number of times the user was puton a waiting list. I produced a Peak Usage graph that displayed the number ofusers running the same application at the same time, for each hour of thereporting period I specified. This information is useful in helping me determinewhether I have enough or too few application licenses.

WRQ follows a try-before-you-buy policy: The trial Express Meter Audit Kitcontains the complete Express Meter 3.5 program, with a time limit. To upgradeto a full version, you just call a WRQ technical representative and arrange apassword. This procedure works well because you don't lose the information thatyou created in the Applications Library during the trial period.

The product requires 12MB of free disk space on the NT server forinstallation and reporting, and 70KB of memory for the Express Meter Editor. Theprice of Express Meter User Licenses ranges from $12 to $20 per PC, depending onhow many licenses you purchase.

WRQ provides free, unlimited technical support over the telephone and itsWeb site. Dispatchers forward callers to a technical engineer. The engineer Ispoke to was knowledgeable in both network technology and Express Meter. If anengineer is not immediately available, WRQ queues your question and guaranteesan answer within 24 hours. WRQ's Web site provides a lot of information aboutExpress Meter. Besides marketing information, you can download a free 30-dayevaluation copy of Express Meter, read product reviews, and access a helpfulcollection of FAQs.

WRQ reports that a few large WANs running NT Server have experienced aproblem with Express Meter: The workstations visibly slow down when they accessnetwork data. At press time, WRQ is working with Microsoft to correct theproblem. Despite this problem, Express Meter 3.5 is a great package for managingyour software, staying legal, and saving money.

CentaMeter 2.7
CentaMeter 2.7 from Tally Systems lets you meter and track all license usagein a network to better manage software costs. CentaMeter's main features includedetermining the optimal number of software licenses, freeing up valuablelicenses by sharing them across servers, and restricting the use of applicationsduring certain times. The basic package contains the installation diskettes (youcan also get the product on CD-ROM), an information brochure, and a user'smanual.

CentaMeter requires at least a 386 computer with 8MB of free disk space forthe administrative and reporting PC; on the server, you need 12MB of free diskspace plus 13KB per metered application, 512 bytes per license, and 15KB to 30KBper monitored PC. For example, a network monitoring 2000 PCs, 4 meteredapplications, and 1000 licenses needs about 72MB of disk space on the server.

Installing CentaMeter to the network server was fairly easy. CentaMetercontains two main parts: the Manager, which you use to define applications andmanage the monitored data, and the Agent, which detects and monitorsapplications. The user's manual is well written and stepped me through theinstallation in a logical sequence, but the manual would be more useful if theinformation in some of the tips appeared in the main text instead.

After I installed CentaMeter, I used the Manager to identify theapplications I wanted to meter from a predefined applications list and determinethe number of licenses available. CentaMeter 2.7's application list did notinclude Microsoft Office 97, but Tally Systems will include it in the nextrelease of the product (CentaMeter 2.72). Within 10 minutes, I created testlicenses for Microsoft Office 95 and DOS applications and began to monitor mytest systems.

The Manager provides several formats for information about the networkapplications. The main CentaMeter window (shown in Screen 2) is a summary tablethat lists the defined applications, total available licenses, used licenses,inactive licenses, free licenses, and how many users are waiting to use alicense. You can produce reports in tables or graphs and display peak usage forone day or for a range of days. CentaMeter saves the results to a database,which you can export as a text file. You can also generate reports for anindividual user, server group, or workstation (the user's manual explains how).

I encountered only a few problems with this software, and Tally Systems'technical support resolved most of them. (I used the product's online Helplibrary, Tally Systems' telephone support, and email [email protected]. The company also offers a 24*7 support BBS at603-448-9254).

For example, I found a few ambiguous references to the server andworkstation in the user manual during the installation steps. Tally Systemsinformed me that it has updated the manual to eliminate these ambiguities.

Second, even though I could define my DOS applications for monitoring,CentaMeter didn't meter them. Searching the online Help, I found an advisorywith some very important warnings--one stating that you cannot meter DOSapplications under NT. Tally Systems reports that it plans to support DOSmetering in a future release.

The only other problem I experienced was the program's tendency to lock upthe administrative PC when I sent reports to the network printer in landscapeorientation. When I reinitialized CentaMeter, the printout succeeded inlandscape format, but the metering didn't function properly. The only way Ifound to correct the problem is to shut down and restart the administrativePC--and not print out reports in landscape format. Tally Systems' technicalsupport thought the problem resulted from my initial setup on the server.

CentaMeter gave me the metering information I needed and let me restrictapplication usage during certain times of the day (much to the displeasure ofthe Solitaire players and Web surfers on my test network). And by monitoringapplication inactivity, I was able to warn users who were tying up resourcesthat I could use elsewhere (e.g., users who started Microsoft Word 7.0 in themorning, yet never opened a document).

I liked the capability to share licenses across servers according to demand(e.g., one department needed to use PowerPoint, so the product transferred thelicenses from another department). When all the licenses for an application arein use, CentaMeter lets you lock out the application from a user, or issue awarning but still let the user run the application.

CentaMeter's price ranges from $40 per PC for 5 PCs to $10 per PC for 2000or more PCs connected to the server where CentaMeter is installed. Tally Systemsprovides free unlimited technical support for the first year and providesupdates to the CentaMeter Program Manger at least twice a year. You can gettechnical support contracts for additional years at a price of 18 percent of thecurrent license charge.