The Myth About SAM Tool Certifications

... and a tool with a fool, remains a tool and doesn't end up as part of a solution ??

Richard, I like your comment "A fool with a tool......." ;o)

Hi Richard, I'm not sure this article helps in an area where customers are already getting mixed messages. Overall I agree that Inventory is only 60% of the work required to help customer, contracts, allocation, rule recognition all play a big part. But for most customers having some data that helps them understand what is deployed in invaluable. As a tool vendor I'm happy to stand up and say "There is no Myth about this", the verification proves that the tools collect the same data as would be collected by the Oracle scripts. Lets have a look at the Aspera document and put it into context. 1: Does Microsoft have a verification/certification for 3rd party tool vendors? I haven't seen any, but please share if you know of any? 2: Discovery/Inventory and Recognition are different processes in the SAM puzzle. Recognition, applies the rules and knowledge of experts like yourselves. 3: Manual Script based - Inventory data collection is a time-consuming task, that can lead to mistakes, labour intensive and non-repeatable. 4: False positives: Everyone gets excited about this. However as part of the inventory process, manually or tool based, there should systematic checks on data integrity, even in manual processes questions and checks should be asked. In fact in our view the data collected by tools/Scripts should be used carefully and no assumptions should be made. 5: Only Database is covered by the verification, this is correct, but it is important to remember that most customers have a much higher investment in the database than any other products. 6: Using any tool Snow/Aspera/Lime for any software audit does not replace an audit from any vendor, including Microsoft IBM etc. The same applies here. 7: Oracle customers using verified tools will be able to use the tool data in any audit, this brings a great benefit to customers who want to know where there may be any issues. Also there is an interesting side note to this in regards to customer using the Oracle Scripts without permission, whether this is enforceable or correct has never been proven, but there is a sufficient risk in this that some customer would not feel comfortable in using the LMS scripts. So why are Aspera getting involved in this? As far as I know Aspera integrates with lots of inventory tools, but does not actually have an inventory solution, it looks clearly like they are promoting their Oracle Licensing Solutions I hope this puts things into perspective.

Im glad someone has put a document together on this.. Kudos to Aspera. From memory, Oracle insist on their own scripts being used for ease. Its tried tested and part of a step by step process. However there is nothing stated contractually that you must use their scripts. Therefore "As long as you can provide the information required for Oracle to complete an Audit" then you have served the purpose and legally nothing should be able to stop Oracle completing the said audit. The only problem for Oracle is.... You are then in control of the information and "know" what you are giving back rather than blindly running scripts and hoping for the best. (Please note I say "know" on the assumption that your aren't the fool with a tool) In relation to certification/verification.... couldn't agree more.. absolute rubbish when sales people from some organisations cite the Oracle "Certification". The answer "so what" came up quite often from me personally! Nice article Richard... "fool with a tool" made me chuckle a little. A little harsh but funny none the less.