Licensing Worries

[Admiral208]

Hey everyone

 

im new here so im sorry if this is the wrong place.

 

i have started to work in a primary school and one of the items in my job description was to ensure that the licensing of the programs we have isnt 'abused'. however there are no records of what programs have been installed on what computers, or when.

 

Does anyone have any advice, should i be collecting in all the staff laptops, looking at all the workstations to make sure that there are no problems. or do i let it lie and hope that the ict co-ordinator has abided to the licensing before i started.

 

We have around 50 workstations and about 20 staff laptops so it would take some time.

 

What do you think?

 

James

[gaz350]

if you have no record, only way to do it is make one.

 

time for an Audit i think. will also help you grasp what problems there are at the same time.

[ICT_GUY]

Spice works might help you out with a quick audit, as will http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html though the fee version is only free for non educational use.;-)

[localzuk]

Implement some form of system auditing software, such as OCS-NG. (Have a look on google) or something similar.

[GlennT]

Try Spiceworks. [ http://www.spiceworks.com/ ] you can perform Software Auditing on there and also specify no. of licences to make sure you are compliant.

[ICT_GUY]

Try Spiceworks. [ http://www.spiceworks.com/ ] you can perform Software Auditing on there and also specify no. of licences to make sure you are compliant.

 

 

Copycat.

[GlennT]

Copycat.

 

Whoops! Sorry ICT_GUY!

[mrtechsystems]

Yeah I would create an audit if you have got the time I am using 2 programs one mention above spiceworks and other is X3 Audit

 

Brilliant for Windows Office Keys/OS as well

 

Also the reporting is really good aswell

 

http://www.visionsoft.com

 

 

Also Educational discount is available

 

[ICT_GUY]

Whoops! Sorry ICT_GUY!

 

 

this message is too short error so writing this.

[Pete10141748]

Whatever way you decide to do it, an audit needs to be done. Its your job to make sure the school is abiding by the Licensing Laws (as it is mine at my school ) and its not enough to just trust the ICT-Coordinator to have done it right, IMO.

 

When we started here back in July last year, there was no record of anything really, so one of our first jobs was to make a complete Hardware and Software audit. The school has no fancy audit sotware, so we had to go from machine to machine to do it (around 75 laptops and 35 Pcs), it took th best part of a few days, but having the audit has been useul ever since. Luckily most of our software is Site Licensed so we didn't have much bother with most of the software being installed.

 

On the plus side, once the audit is done, it's done, save for adding the few new items you get along the way. And having the lists has been useful to us quite a few times in the last 9 months!

 

Pete

[dave.81]

I'm having a look at the Spiceworks package but why will it not identify workstations or anything else come to look at it. Have tried to put in network logon accounts but this still doesn't help... apart from that looks like a brilliant bit of software.

[rrichmond]

Yes. you need to have your licenses recorded somehow. We presently have recorded them in the Library catalouge.

 

We have just started to transfer these details to ZENWorks Asset Manager (We are a Novell environment).

 

I agree, it is a lot easier to purchase site licenses, but it is unlikely that you will have this from a starting platform, so it is even more important to a) find out what licenses you have and b) ensure you are abiding by these licenses.

 

You don't want to be on the wrong side of a license agreement.

 

As for laptops. It depends upon if the software installed on them is owned by the school. If so, then yes, you will need to check this as well.

 

Have fun!

[GlennT]

I'm having a look at the Spiceworks package but why will it not identify workstations or anything else come to look at it. Have tried to put in network logon accounts but this still doesn't help... apart from that looks like a brilliant bit of software.

 

You need to define the ip range and then scan it.

Look at the "Settings" tab > "NetworkScan"

[dave.81]

You need to define the ip range and then scan it.

Look at the "Settings" tab > "NetworkScan"

 

Done that it's going through all my ip ranges and detecting the pc's but just putting them into "unknown" even though i've supplied network usernames/passwords in the correct section... hmm will check their own help section i guess... looks brilliant bit of software so far.

 

classified pascal-7.campus.shebbearcollege.co.uk as a Unknown rather than as desktop.

Edited March 17, 2008 by dave.81

[GlennT]

Done that it's going through all my ip ranges and detecting the pc's but just putting them into "unknown" even though i've supplied network usernames/passwords in the correct section... hmm will check their own help section i guess... looks brilliant bit of software so far.

 

classified pascal-7.campus.shebbearcollege.co.uk as a Unknown rather than as desktop.

 

It seems to struggle a bit with anything Non-Windows but you can batch re-classify. You should alsoi check there help & forum section.

 

Been using Spiceworks for a while now....it's tops!

[Joanne]

collecting 20 laptops would take a long time?? Less than a week surely? 4 a day isn't that many to check over!!

 

You can do it... sounds daunting at first, but at least it isn't 500 like what I have to audit!!

[PEO]

Hey everyone

 

im new here so im sorry if this is the wrong place.

 

i have started to work in a primary school and one of the items in my job description was to ensure that the licensing of the programs we have isnt 'abused'. however there are no records of what programs have been installed on what computers, or when.

 

Does anyone have any advice, should i be collecting in all the staff laptops, looking at all the workstations to make sure that there are no problems. or do i let it lie and hope that the ict co-ordinator has abided to the licensing before i started.

 

We have around 50 workstations and about 20 staff laptops so it would take some time.

 

What do you think?

 

James

 

OCS-NG is great for what you need to do. I wouldnt touch spiceworks because its resource intensive/slow.

[ICT_GUY]

It seems to struggle a bit with anything Non-Windows but you can batch re-classify. You should alsoi check there help & forum section.

 

Been using Spiceworks for a while now....it's tops!

 

Agreed.