Value unit exhibits

Each IBM® value unit–priced software product has a specific value unit exhibit that applies to the product. The value unit exhibit is a read-only table that provides information that is used when converting a base unit, such as MSU (millions of service units), to value units.

IPLA capacity for mainframe software is typically measured in MSU but licensed in value units. Conversion is necessary before you can match your existing computer capacity in MSU to value unit–priced software when considering a software purchase or evaluating license audit reports.

Value units and base units

IBM value units are the applicable capacity measures in System z® IPLA (International Program License Agreement) software product licenses. A value unit, also referred to in IBM pricing documents as a processor value unit (PVU), represents the quantity of a specific capacity measurement that IBM has defined for a given IPLA software product. For pricing purposes, each software product (for example, WebSphere® Application Server) has its own designated measurement.

Base units, on the other hand, are the measures to be converted to value units; in this case, MSU (but they can also be messages or engines). Capacity for System z computers is measured in MSU, but license entitlements use value unit measures instead. The number of MSU that a licensed, value unit–priced software product consumes is obtained with data from its IBM-defined value unit exhibit.

Value Unit Converter

IBM provides a downloadable Value Unit Converter tool for converting the number of available MSU on the System z computer where the product is to be installed to the value units measure supplied in an IPLA software license. A calculator is also available from the Control Desk user interface when you use the View Value Unit Exhibits action in the Licenses application. To use either tool, the administrator needs to first determine how many MSU are available on the target computer, then figure out which value unit exhibit to use for the software product to be licensed.

Converter tool example

For example, if you are trying to determine the number of value units to purchase when licensing WebSphere Application Server on a 100 MSU System z mainframe computer, you can look at the relevant WebSphere announcement letter online, and search for the word exhibit to locate the value unit exhibit number. In this case you find that the value unit exhibit (VUE) used is VUE007. (Only announcement letters for new products, or new versions of an existing product, indicate the applicable value unit exhibit.)

Next you would enter the VUE used, VUE007, along with the MSU available on the target machine, into the converter tool to obtain the suggested number of WebSphere Application Server value units that you need to purchase.

For more information about the external converter tool and how to use it, download the Value Unit Converter and reference the Help system for the tool.

Value unit conversion and audit reports

As noted above, IPLA capacity for mainframe software products are normally measured in millions of service units, or MSU. IBM Tivoli® Asset Discovery for z/OS® only discovers and returns license usage data for System z products in MSU. So, to obtain the usage data on an existing license for one of these System z products, you must either:

Enter the license capacity in MSU into the software product's license record before running an audit report, or
Run the report first and then convert the license capacity to value units after the discovered MSU usage data is returned from Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS.

Doing so gives you the used license capacity in value units, and you can then order additional license capacity or adjust your existing capacity as availability permits.

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