MicroStrategy 7.2.2 Licenses 1

[mstrNate]

Hello,

Has anyone else recently upgraded or considered upgrading to MicroStrategy 7.2.2 from 7.1.x, (we are on 7.1.3) and found out that the administrative tools like Command Manager, and Object Manager needed to be purchased under an additional license?

It seems like MicroStrategy is charging for tools they used to bundle in with everything else. Olap Services needs a license, which I can almost understand, but charging for the Object Manager and Command Manager tools ... OM has been around since before 7.x and they didn't charge for it then right?

Thanks!

Nate

 

[chael]

The Administrator tools have always been a distinct product set requiring a separate license...at least since the release of 7

Contact your account exec or re-seller for the details of your existing contract (you can also call tech support for this).

BTW, OM has not been around since before 7...it was first released with 7.0.2

 

[mstrNate]

Thanks Chael. I guess I've previously always been involved with just implementing the product and so haven't paid attention to the licensing details. We have a reseller and so I was just trying to confirm the "new" (for us) licensing scheme with others in this group.

Object Manager has however been around since pre 7.x. It's been around since 5.x actually. I used to use it in 6 but it's been awhile. Anyways, I appreciate the response. Have a good day!

Nate

 

[chael]

My memory of the 5.x and 6.x products is so hazy I can't even remember Object Manager back that far...but I do remember .dss files and thunking!!!

 

[wolf5370]

OM did exist for both 6x and 5x - it was 16 bit and was fond of corrupting the Metadata from time to time.

We have been at odds quite a bit with regard to the new licensing system that Mstr puts forward. It seems to us that we are being led in a carrot and stick manor (and by the dumping of suppoprt for earlier products) to take the next upgrade - usually to fix bugs of the current version and inherit the next set of bugs. As the product moves forward, more and more functionality is moved to the higher licenses. Web reporter is pointless, but 6x licenses where transferred to these gharstly restricted licenses. In 6x, there were two levels - top level allowed you to create reports via Web, the 'bottom' level gave you everything but - including drill anywhere etc. SO much has been removed unless you go to Web Pro which is soooo much more expensive and harder to justify to the business - end result = users feel they are moving backwards as they loose functionality.
Unfortunatly, until some serious competition comes along (I said SERIOUS competition), Mstr will keep these practices up and we will keep climbing that greasy pole.

Note: in 7.2.2 you need an Admin license per administrator. If you have one, and that person does not log out properly (or 7.2.2 does one of it usual "you can't log on 'cos you are already logged on" lies), you have to to restart the service to free it! (as you can't log on as Admin in another instance and kill the first's connection!) - i.e. all the users get logged off too. Seems penny pinching to me, and not worth the bad image in my view - how many people are going to Administrate a project at any one instance? Or do they think we are going to give it out to the user base to avoid buying licenses - and thus bypassing all the security stuff this is half the point of the prodiuct anyway?

 

[robo100]

Do you also need an admin license for the user Administrator.

I have 3users + administrator and license manager only shows 3 licenses???

 

[namrac]

We recently upgraded from 7.1.6 to 7.2.3. It's been fairly smooth although we have more server memory concerns than we did in the later builds of 7.1. We still have a number of open issues we are working to resolve but in general it's been worthwhile.

We find the new licensing frustrating and the license manager tool not as much help as we had hoped. Since the upgrade our administrators are frustrated with NagWare that our licenses are out of compliance, although we can't figure out why. It seems to center around the architect license. We have 1 person with "architect" priveleges, but 9 in the "Administrator" group and the Nag screen tells us we have 9 with architect.

We have also been frustrated with the numerous changes to the pricing model going to this version. The Web Analyst to Web Professional scheme hit us hard, forcing us to buy additional unbudgeted licences to provide the same functionality we had in 7.1.x. We hope this is just a "growing pain" as MSI recovers from their financial bad times.

 

[26point2]

Namrac,

We ran into the same problem, where the License Manager counts admin users as architects as well. Like OLAP Services, this license-within-a-license trick is designed to get you to pay more money. To get around it, uncheck all architect privileges from the system administrator group. Then add architect privileges to the administrator user. Administrator is allowed to have everything, without it counting towards licenses.

Note that in doing this, only administrator will be able to perform functions like using Object Manager. To use Object Manager in 7.2, you'll need both System Administrator and Architect privileges. MSTR has a tech note (TN4200-72X-0060) that says you only need to be a member of the system administrator group and have "bypass all object security" checked, but this is not true. You also need architect privileges, as well. Try it.

We're having our MSTR license audit right now, and it's amazing how we're going to have to purchase "new licenses" to keep the functionality we already have paid for. Any comments or warnings from anyone on what license games MSTR plays when you move from 7.2.1 to 7.2.3?

26point2

 

[reisw]

Wait till you guys read what they have done with 7.2.4 and 7.5. Check out this tech note: TN5800-750-0204.

Here is quote from the tech note:

For the first 15 days of being out-of-compliance, administrators will see a warning message when they log into MicroStrategy Desktop and open the Administration folder. After the first 15 days, a warning message will be displayed to all end users of MicroStrategy Web and MicroStrategy Desktop. If the system is still out-of-compliance after 30 days, the products identified as out-of-compliance will have their privileges marked as unavailable in the User Editor in MicroStrategy Desktop. At this point privileges cannot be added to users, user groups or security roles, taking the system further out of compliance.

Seems like they are getting a little extreme with their licensing controls.