OpManager's licensing is a device-based licensing, which depends on the number of devices to be monitored. In a device-based licensing, the pricing depends upon a device as a whole and all the components of the device such as interfaces, ports, disks, and performance metrics will be included by default. This is beneficial to the users since they don't have to purchase separate licenses to monitor interfaces, disk volume and other components of a device.
Now, let us see a sample calculation which shows how OpManager's licensing works.
Each network device has 10 interfaces and every device and interface has 5 performance metrics to be monitored.
Total no. of physical devices: 50
Total no. of interfaces: 10x50 = 500
No. of sensors (performance metrics for interfaces): 500 x 5 = 2500
No. of sensors (performance metrics for devices): 50 x 5 = 250
Total no. of sensors = 2500 + 250 = 2750
In OpManager, you just require a license for the number of devices you want to monitor and everything else will be included within that license.
Kindly note that, IPMI devices will be considered separately for licensing.
OpManager's pricing can be rightly termed as "pay for one and monitor plenty!" as it is affordable and gives the flexibility to users to monitor any number of interfaces, disk, and performance metrics present in a device. Check out the full Info-Tech report and find how transparent OpManager's pricing and licensing model is.
1. How is OpManager's pricing different or affordable when compared to other vendors in the market?
OpManager offers device-based license that helps you monitor any number of interfaces and performance metrics in a device. Whereas, other vendors in the market follow either element-based or sensor-based license model.
Let us say, you have a requirement to monitor 50 network devices and each network device has 10 interfaces and every device and interface has 5 performance metrics to be monitored.
Total no. of devices: 50
Total no. of interfaces: 10x50 = 500
No. of sensors (performance metrics for interfaces): 500 x 5 = 2500
No. of sensors (performance metrics for devices): 50 x 5 = 250
Total no. of sensors = 2500 + 250 = 2750
In OpManager, you just require a license for 50 devices and everything else will be included within that license.
Element-based licensing model: In element-based licensing, an element can be a Node, Interface or Volume. Each of these entities is counted and the type of element having the highest count will be used for licensing purposes. This tends to be costlier than device-based license, since users have to pay for every single element and the elements get exhausted real quick. For the same requirement stated above, you have to purchase a license for 500 interfaces in an element-based licensing.
Sensor-based licensing model: In sensor-based licensing, every aspect which is required to be monitored on a device, such as the CPU load on a machine, a port of a switch, a specific URL or the traffic of a network connection will be considered as a sensor. This is disadvantageous since it does not give the users enough flexibility while monitoring. For the same requirement stated above, a user has to purchase license for 2750 sensors in a sensor-based licensing model.
Therefore, OpManager's pricing is more affordable than other vendors and it also provides all the functionalities at that price.
2. Does OpManager offer any unlimited license similar to other vendors?
OpManager does not offer unlimited packs. But with a license purchased for devices, any number of interfaces, disks, ports etc., can be monitored in those devices. Although other vendors offer unlimited license, they have a technical scalability. Beyond that limit, either they ask you to add additional polling servers or purchase a separate license.
3. Some vendors offer sensor-based licensing. How it is different from OpManager ?
In sensor based licensing, every aspect which is required to be monitored on a device, such as the CPU load on a machine, a port of a switch, a specific URL or the traffic of a network connection will be considered as a sensor. For example, if you have 100 network devices with 3000 performance metrics to be monitored, a license for 3000 sensors is required if you opt for a sensor-based licensing.
However, in OpManager, license for 100 devices is sufficient to cover all the monitors and disc volumes.
4. I have a distributed network. How does the licensing work in OpManager?
You can opt for Enterprise edition if you have a distributed network across different regions. OpManager's probe-central architecture allows you to deploy probes at each remote site and centrally collect, view and troubleshoot performance issues through the central server, thereby allowing you manage your distributed network from a centralized location.
5. Are additional software required while purchasing a license in OpManager?
OpManager comes with a free inbuilt PostgreSQL DB. This helps to scale more devices than the SQL express DB and no third party software is required. However, the MSSQL database provided by other vendors have a limitation of 10GB per DB which probes users to buy additional software.
6. What are considered as devices?
Routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, wireless LAN controllers, servers, VMs, printers, storage devices, and everything that has an IP and is connected to the network is considered as a device.
7. Right now, I am using a 100 device pack, so if I upgrade to a 250 device pack, should I pay for the entire pack or just the difference?
While upgrading from one pack to another, a user is required to pay only the difference and it is not required to pay the entire price during the upgrade.
8. How are virtual machines licensed in OpManager?
OpManager's licensing is a device-based licensing policy. Users will be charged for the number of devices monitored, irrespective of whether the device is a physical device or a virtual machine. Based on the number of physical devices and VMs monitored, users will have to choose the licensing policy that fits their organisation's requirements.
9. What if my VM count exceeds my licensing limit?
There might be instances where the VM count might exceed the device licensing limit. In that case, users can do either of the following:
Click here to know more about how to manage and unmanage devices in OpManager.
10. What is the AMS cost and is it published?
OpManager follows a transparent pricing policy where the perpetual cost and AMS is publicly displayed. We charge 20% of the license cost as the AMS. Whereas, some vendors do not publicly disclose their AMS. Moreover, they trick customers by giving discounts, but in fact charge the actual licensing cost for AMS, instead of the discounted price.