Using the HCL License Dashboard

The Domino License Administration database (DLA) that contains the HCL License Dashboard has a navigation view, and the rest of the user interface displays the latest scan results as a DLAU report. The following paragraphs walk you through the results that you see in the report.

Note: For detailed information for all fields in a DLAU report, see the Understanding Results section in the DLAU documentation.

Scan results are summarized in two columns.

The left column, labeled Active, shows statistics from the latest scan in shaded boxes. Click on the information icon in the upper right corner of a box to get a dialog box that explains that statistic in detail:
  • Authorized Users is the number of users in the domain who require a license.
  • CCB Users and CCX Users breaks down those users into the different license types.
  • The remaining boxes provide additional information. For example, the number of Deny Access Groups and Deny Access Users is shown because it affects DLA license calculations.

The right column shows historical data for up to a year. The top of the column indicates how many days the data is based on, for example 365 Days. The statistics are similar to the Active ones except they show the highest value of the statistic for the time period. This can be helpful after adjustments are made to settings or configuration.

The rest of the UI provides more data in additional boxes organized in two additional columns. There is an information icon in the upper right corner of each box that can be clicked to see a description of the data provided.

The first box displays a bottom-line result of the scan. If DLA has the full data it needs for its report, it will display green bold text such as Dashboard is complete.

If there is a problem with the scan, the message will be in bold red text such as Dashboard is incomplete, please use the DLAU tool instead of DLA to create the DLAU report.

This can happen when not all Domino servers in the domain are DLA compliant, or when some servers have not reported any statistics. In these cases, use the DLAU tool instead of DLA for the most accurate license report.

The first box also shows the start and end dates of the scan period, which matches the number of days shown in the second column of statistics. This is how long DLA has been collecting and storing data. Data from any scan is saved for a maximum of one year, after that it is purged. Eventually there will always be 365 days of data.

To create a report, either to submit to HCL or to print, click on the Create Report button. It will first prompt for some basic company information. Then, a screen displays with a summary of the license and company information in the report. From there, there are buttons to submit the report, print it, or return to the scan results without any action.

Navigating DLA (dominodla.nsf)

The navigator on the left side of the dashboard provides access to detailed information collected by DLA or to configuration settings.

Current Information
Dashboard displays the dashboard that summarizes the current scan and historical data. This launches by default when the database is opened.
Current Scan displays the results of the current scan. It is very similar to the dashboard except it also includes an attached log file with the detailed logging from the scan. It also displays without the navigator on the left, so may be more convenient for viewing the results.
History
Scan History is a view that summarizes each scan. The view columns show the same statistics as those in columnar format on the dashboard. This is useful for a quick visual of how the results have changed over time due to users being removed or added or the configuration having changed. Double click on any entry to bring up the full results of the scan, in the dashboard format, including the log file from the scan.
Inventory
User Information is a view that shows each user that was found by the latest scan, categorized by license type. Double click on any entry to open the user document which shows all the data for the user that DLA factored into its license determination for that user. If DLA's license classification of a user is in doubt, the user document shows the input data used by DLA which might help clarify the classification.
Servers is a view that shows all servers in the domain that are known to DLA. Double click on any entry to open the server document which shows the data used by DLA for that server. This view is categorized by its DLA compliance:
  • Complete indicates the server is fully DLA compliant, running Domino 14.5 or later, or 14.0FP5 or later, or 12.0.2FP7 or later.
  • Partial implies that the server is running a pre-14.5 version that is only partially DLA compliant.
  • Back level means that the server is running a pre-12.0 version that is not DLA compliant.
  • No Data indicates that the server has not reported any data to DLA, possibly because it has been down or unreachable for an extended period of time.
Deny Access Groups is a view that shows any deny access groups that DLA factored into license calculations for any users. This does not necessarily show all deny access groups.
Configuration
Settings displays the HCL License Dashboard Settings. These settings are discussed in HCL License Dashboard: Background and first steps.
Custom views
Any views that you add to the database will automatically be accessible under Custom Views.

How data flows into DLA

There are several independent components within Domino that collect data that eventually feeds into DLA as input. Each runs on its own schedule and in no particular order, thus each time DLA runs it is with a "snapshot in time" of the available data.

On every Domino server in the domain, three separate components gather user data for that server.
  • Every hour, a directory scan runs that looks for updates to any users and groups in any directories configured on the server, and updates an internal database with the information needed by DLA.
  • Once a day, an entitlement scan runs that scans through the access control lists of all databases on the server and updates the users in the internal database with their access data.
  • Domino keeps data on users that have authenticated to the server using various protocols.
On the Domino administration server, additional components run to collect the data from individual servers.
  • Once a day, authentication data from servers in the domain is collected internally.
  • Every hour, any new data from directory scans on servers in the domain, as well as authentication data, is collected into a single database, entitlements.nsf.
  • Then, once a week, DLA performs its analysis based on the current data in address book(s) and entitlements.nsf.