Maintenance Tasks for Software Metering in Configuration Manager
Updated: May 14, 2015
Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager includes a number of maintenance tasks to help you manage the usage data collected by software metering:
Delete Aged Software Metering Data
Delete Aged Software Metering Summary Data
Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data
Summarize Software Metering Monthly Usage Data
Use the following sections to learn more about these maintenance tasks. By default, all four tasks are enabled in Configuration Manager. Use the following procedure to configure these maintenance tasks.
To configure maintenance tasks
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In the Configuration Manager console, click Administration.
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In the Administration workspace, expand Site Configuration, and then click Sites.
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In the Sites list, select the site that you want to configure maintenance tasks for and then, in the Home tab, in the Settings group, click Site Maintenance.
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In the Site Maintenance dialog box, configure the site maintenance tasks you require and then click OK.
Tasks that Delete Software Metering Data
The following maintenance tasks remove old software metering data and summarized data from the site database:
Delete Aged Software Metering Data
Use the Delete Aged Software Metering Data task to delete all software metering data that is older than the number of days specified.
By default, the task is scheduled to run every day and to delete software metering data that is older than five days. You can configure the number of days to be any number from 2 through 255.
Delete Aged Software Metering Summary Data
Use the Delete Aged Software Metering Summary Data task to delete summarized software metering summary data that is older than the number of days specified.
By default, the task is scheduled to run every Sunday and to delete software metering summary data that is older than 270 days.
Tasks that Summarize Software Metering Data
The summarize software metering tasks perform the data summarization to compress the amount of data in the site database.
Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data
The Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data task condenses software metering file usage data from multiple records into one general record. This record provides information about the program name, version, language, and number of distinct users over intervals of 15 minutes and one hour. This process compresses and optimizes the amount of data stored in the site database.
By default, the Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data task runs daily. For every hour and every 15-minute interval within the hour, the task calculates the total number of distinct user/computer combinations that are running the matching program. Within the 15-minute intervals, this approximates the number of concurrent users. For example:
If the same user is using a software program and is logged on to three different computers simultaneously, this counts as three usages.
If three users are logged on to a computer running Terminal Services and all three are running the software program, this counts as three usages.
If the same user starts and stops the software program on the same computer three separate times during the hour, this counts as one usage for that user.
When replicated up hierarchy, the software metering summary data from each site remains separated from data from the other sites. When the data reaches a parent site, each record is marked with the site code of the site where the usage data was generated. These records can be added together to estimate concurrent program usage in the network.
Summarize Software Metering Monthly Usage Data
The Summarize Software Metering Monthly Usage Data task condenses detailed software metering usage data from multiple records into one general record. This record provides information about the program name, program version and language, program running times, number of usages, last usage, user name, and computer name. Data summarization helps compress the amount of data in the site database. Monthly software usage data is sent to the central administration site.
The summarization information includes the number of times each matching software program ran on a particular computer and by a particular user during the month. By default, the task is scheduled to run daily and the summarization period is one month. Software monthly usage data is replicated to the parent site.