KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q226858: SMS:License & Calculated Trend Balancing Not Off in Offline Mode

Article: Q226858
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): 2.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsms200 kbsms200bug
Last Modified: 13-JAN-2001

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

License balancing and Calculated Trend balancing operations are not turned off
as expected in Offline mode. For example, in the following scenario, License
balancing operations consumed immense bandwidth and Microsoft SQL Server
resources:

- One cycle delivered a 28-megabyte (MB) SQL Server log file and required more
  than an hour to complete because of writing to the log.

- Network usage repeatedly exceeded 30 percent during the cycle on a
  100-megabits per second (Mbps) network when not writing to the log.

Software metering performs License balancing and Calculated Trend balancing
when:

- The site is in Offline mode.

  This is unnecessary because:

   - No licenses are pushed from the site in Offline mode.

   - Denials are not possible in Offline mode.

   - Software metering servers have no licenses; therefore, there are no
     licenses to balance.

- There are no licenses in the system.

Note that the only time License balancing and Calculated Trend balancing should
run is in Online mode, when there are licenses in the system.

WORKAROUND
==========

If the site is running in either of the states described in the "Symptoms"
section, set the schedule to once a year.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server
version 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) depends on SQL Server as its database
engine. The database device configuration of SQL Server and the resource needs
of SMS are linked and have hardware interdependencies. The performance of SMS is
directly related to the performance of SQL Server.

If you configure SMS clients to run in Online mode, the Software Metering Client
Agent contacts a software metering server whenever a user starts or quits a
program. Online mode enables you to control software usage through permissions
or license availability. In Online metering mode, you must provide sufficient
capacity of software metering servers to respond in real time to the peaks that
you have charted.

If you configure SMS clients to run in Online mode, consider the following
ramifications:

- Network traffic increases because of the immediate reporting of the client
  agent to the software metering server.

- Demand for product licenses from clients in real time increases the load on
  software metering servers.

- Each software metering server can serve a significantly lower number of users
  in Online mode than in Offline mode.

The key to measuring software metering capacity requirements is to estimate the
number of program starts and quits over a known period (per hour, day, or week).
For example, if 120 clients each run two metered programs, and they all start
and quit the programs during the same hour, that is equivalent to 480 metering
events per hour.

Additional query words: prodsms

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbsms200 kbsms200bug 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS200
Version           : :2.0
Issue type        : kbbug

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.