Efficient automatic population of downgrade rights of licensed software

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11263002-B2
Application number	US-202017096657-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2020
Priority date	May 3, 2019
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

A software model specification for a software package can be associated with representation of a software downgrade definition. The software model specification can include a publisher of the software package, an application title of the software package, and the version of the software package. One or more entitlements for the software package can be obtained. Based on the software downgrade definition being associated with the software model specification, the software downgrade definition can be associated with the entitlement(s). Compliance of the installations of the software package with the entitlement(s) can be calculated, where the software downgrade definition can cause each of the entitlement(s) to be applicable to the installations of the version of the software package or one or more earlier versions of the software package.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying installations of a software package on one or more computing devices; and
calculating compliance of the installations by allocating an entitlement corresponding to a software license for the software package to each installation of the installations, wherein allocating a first entitlement to a first installation comprises:
identifying a group of associated entitlements for the software package;
selecting a closest-match entitlement of the group of associated entitlements based at least in part on a software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements, wherein the closest-match entitlement comprises a smallest number of applicable versions of the software package of the group of associated entitlements, wherein the applicable versions of the software package are specified by the software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements;
determining whether a first software license for the software package associated with the closest-match entitlement is available;
in response to determining that the first software license associated with the closest-match entitlement is available, updating metric data to indicate that the first software license associated with the closest-match entitlement has been allocated to the first installation;
in response to determining that the first software license associated with the closest-match entitlement is not available, selecting a minimum entitlement of the group of associated entitlements, wherein the minimum entitlement comprises a next smallest number, greater than the smallest number, of applicable versions of the software package of the group of associated entitlements; and
in response to determining that a second software license of the software package associated with the minimum entitlement is available, updating the metric data to indicate that the second software license associated with the minimum entitlement has been allocated to the first installation.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining an installed version of the software package for the first installation.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements is associated with the installed version of the software package.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the closest-match entitlement comprises applicability for only the installed version of the software package.

5. The method of claim 1 , determining the software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement based at least in part on software upgrades or software downgrades supported by the associated entitlement.

6. The method of claim 5 , comprising:
determining relationships between discovery maps, wherein each discovery map of the discovery maps comprises version information associated with the software package; and
determining the software upgrades or the software downgrades supported by each associated entitlement based at least in part on the determined relationships.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising generating a compliance report of the installations of the software package based at least in part on the metric data, wherein the compliance report indicates whether any software license is available for the first installation of the software package.

8. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
non-transitory memory comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying installations of a software package on one or more computing devices; and
calculating compliance of the installations, wherein calculating the compliance of the installations comprises:
allocating an entitlement corresponding to a software license for the software package to each installation of the installations, wherein allocating a first entitlement to a first installation comprises:
identifying a group of associated entitlements for the software package;
determining an installed version of the software package for the first installation;
selecting a minimum entitlement of the group of associated entitlements based at least in part on a software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements, wherein the minimum entitlement comprises an available software license with a smallest number of applicable versions of the software package of the group of associated entitlements, wherein the applicable versions of the software package are specified by the software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements; and
updating metric data to indicate that the minimum entitlement has been allocated to the first installation; and

allocating a second entitlement to a second installation having the installed version of the software package, wherein allocating the second entitlement to the second installation comprises:
identifying the group of associated entitlements for the software package;
determining that no additional software license associated with the minimum entitlement is available;
selecting a second minimum entitlement, wherein the second minimum entitlement comprises a second available software license with a second smallest number, greater than the smallest number, of applicable versions of the software package of the group of associated entitlements; and
updating the metric data to indicate that the second minimum entitlement has been allocated to the second installation.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein each associated entitlement of the group of associated entitlements is associated with the installed version of the software package.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein calculating the compliance of the installations comprises attempting to allocate a third entitlement to a third installation having the installed version of the software package, wherein attempting to allocate the third entitlement to the third installation comprises:
identifying the group of associated entitlements for the software package;
determining that no additional software license associated with the group of associated entitlements is available; and
update the metric data to indicate a compliance issue associated with the third installation.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the minimum entitlement comprises a closest-match entitlement.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations comprise determining the software downgrade definition associated with each associated entitlement based at least in part on software upgrades or software downgrades supported by the associated entitlement.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise:
determining relationships between discovery maps, wherein each discovery map of the discovery maps comprises version information associated with the software package; and
determining the software upgrades or the software downgrades supported by each associated entitlement based at least in part on the determined relationships.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors of a computing system, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying installations of a software package on one or more computing devices; and
calculating compliance of the installations, wherein calculating compliance of the installations comprises:
allocating an entitlement corresponding to a

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Vora Nirali A
• Wang Yiwen
• Blakeman Colby Andrew

Classifications

• G06F21/10

  Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material (protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16) {; Digital rights management [DRM]} · CPC title

• G06F8/77

  Software metrics · CPC title

• G06F8/61 Primary

  Installation · CPC title

• G06F8/75

  Structural analysis for program understanding · CPC title

• G06F8/71 Primary

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title