Microsoft System Center licensing on a VM-only basis when host-to-VM relationships are unavailable?

[TejasviR]

Hello everyone, 

We are looking for guidance on the recommended ServiceNow SAM Pro approach for modeling Microsoft System Center licensing in an OpenStack environment where virtualization relationships are not automatically discovered.

Current Environment

• Physical hosts are discovered and maintained in the CMDB.
• Virtual machines are maintained as separate configuration items (CIs).
• VM-to-host relationships are manually maintained in the cmdb_rel_ci table.
• License mobility is enabled across server farms distributed across four Availability Zones (AZs).

For Microsoft System Center, the customer's requirement is to calculate license consumption based solely on virtual machines rather than all physical hosts. At present, this is being achieved through a custom license metric.

Questions

1. Does ServiceNow provide a supported SAM Pro methodology for calculating Microsoft System Center licensing on a VM-only basis when host-to-VM relationships are unavailable or not reliably discovered?
2. From a compliance perspective, what is the recommended way to model VM mobility across multiple OpenStack server farms when hypervisor or cluster relationships are not discovered?
3. Are there any documented best practices, supported configurations, or known limitations related to Microsoft System Center licensing in OpenStack environments that lack automated virtualization discovery and dependency mapping?

Regards,

Tejasvi

[pr8172510]

Hi @TejasviR,

 Microsoft System Center licensing is designed to leverage virtualization relationships for accurate license consumption and mobility calculations.

1. Host-to-VM Relationships
   • The recommended approach is to maintain accurate virtualization relationships in the CMDB.
   • SAM Pro calculations for Microsoft server products rely on discovered or maintained host/guest relationships.
2. Manual Relationships

   • If OpenStack discovery does not populate virtualization relationships automatically, maintaining them in cmdb_rel_ci is the supported approach.

3. VM-Only Licensing
   • There is no documented OOTB Microsoft System Center licensing model in SAM Pro that ignores the host layer entirely and calculates consumption solely from VMs while also supporting license mobility logic.
   • A custom metric can be used, but this would be outside the standard Microsoft content model.
4. License Mobility

   • Mobility calculations require reliable placement information between:

     VM → Host → Server Farm / Cluster

   • Without those relationships, SAM Pro cannot accurately determine mobility rights or reassignment compliance.

 

OpenStack VM
      ↓
Maintain VM-to-Host Relationships
      ↓
CMDB
      ↓
SAM Pro Normalization
      ↓
Microsoft System Center Licensing

 Limitation

If virtualization relationships are incomplete or unavailable:

• License mobility calculations may be inaccurate.
• Host-based licensing metrics may not reflect actual deployment.
• Compliance results should be reviewed carefully.

For OpenStack environments, the primary recommendation is to ensure virtualization relationships are maintained (discovered or manually populated) so that SAM Pro can correctly evaluate Microsoft licensing rules.

[a_nehadaman]

Can we get the license mobility details via OpenStack Integration, that will act as an input for System Center Licensing? Which cmdb table will reflect these details? As this is not mentioned in the Reader • Docs | ServiceNow document.