Controlling device-based licensing in Citrix

How can you control device-based licensing in Citrix?

Many organizations today are still getting to grips with the licensing implications of virtualized technologies, such as VDI, Citrix and Terminal Services, where instead of being simplified, controlling licensing often becomes much more complex and high-risk as the licensing metrics change and potential access to software is significantly increased.

A prime example is when organizations wish to publish software within Citrix and tend to lock-down application access at a user-level through Group Policy. The issue with this is that vendors such as Microsoft have device-based licensing models, whereby all devices with access to specific software titles would require a license, regardless of the actual user count.

Controlling Device-based Licensing: Finding the Right Tool

Having to purchase licenses for all devices, regardless of the business need, is very expensive. What is needed is a tool that can enforce access at the device level to comply with device-based licensing metrics and provide the required evidence of control to satisfy software vendors such as Microsoft.

By controlling which users or devices have permission to run named applications, limits can be placed on:

• The number of application instances
• Which devices or users can run an application
• The timing of when users run a program
• How long a user can run a program

It should also be possible to control which approved applications can be accessed based on where the user or device is, preventing unauthorized software use.

Full Control of Software Licensing in the Citrix Environment

Organizations today want to be able to have full control over device-based licensing in Citrix.

There are very few tools that can provide this level of control, but Certero for Enterprise SAM AccessCtrl module can. It delivers full control of software licensing in the Citrix, as well as other thin client, environments, allowing you to create access control policies that ensure corporate governance and licensing rules.

Application access can be defined on factors such as user, location, device name, IP address, firewall settings, even time of day, providing complete control over what can be executed, from where and when.

This allows savings to be made on the number of application licenses required across your organization as well as denying access to unauthorized software. Organizations who implement Certero for Enterprise SAM, with the AccessCtrl module, benefit from full control over device-based licensing.

Want to find out more about Certero for Enterprise SAM and it’s access control funcitonality? Get in touch with Certero.