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named user licences for what ?
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For development and test, example Windows server, Visual Studio etc.
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For development and test, example Windows server, Visual Studio etc.

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Windows OS licenses are very different to Application Licences.<br />
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When an application uses network activation to &quot;check out&quot; a licence (such as Quark Express) it is simple to control. When OS instances and applications do not use network activation, all you can do is audit use, or prevent people from installing applications.<br />
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For operating systems, it is fairly easy to count VMs, for applications it becomes a more involved task. There are many applications that can record installed software on machines, perhaps this is a path you would like to investigate further.
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Windows OS licenses are very different to Application Licences.

When an application uses network activation to "check out" a licence (such as Quark Express) it is simple to control. When OS instances and applications do not use network activation, all you can do is audit use, or prevent people from installing applications.

For operating systems, it is fairly easy to count VMs, for applications it becomes a more involved task. There are many applications that can record installed software on machines, perhaps this is a path you would like to investigate further.

rdodderi

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Controlling named user licenses in a virtualized environment. Other than enforcing 1 user to login to the virtual machine in a named user licensing context such as MSDN are there other controls possible to ensure this is adhered to. What are the possible areas an auditor would look at.
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Controlling named user licenses in a virtualized environment. Other than enforcing 1 user to login to the virtual machine in a named user licensing context such as MSDN are there other controls possible to ensure this is adhered to. What are the possible areas an auditor would look at.

Controlling named user licenses in a virtualized environment

Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.