NinjaOne Endpoint Management: Software Licenses

Topic 

This article explains how to use NinjaOne's IT Asset Management (ITAM) tool to manage software license usage and renewals. 

Environment

NinjaOne Endpoint Management

Description

The new Asset Management dashboard allows you to track and manage your software licenses across all devices. With this feature, you can: 

• View the total number of licenses purchased and their expiration dates.
• View the number of licenses being consumed.
• Track consumption based on the type of license model used for that piece of software (per user, per device, or per site).
• Receive alerts for insufficient licensing and expirations.
• Quickly update license quantities and assignments. 

To use NinjaOne's asset management feature, you must enable the application. For more information, refer to Getting Started With NinjaOne IT Asset Management.

Once the application is enabled, the License management section displays in the navigation pane. 

Index

Select a category to learn more: 

• Add Software Licenses
• Manage Software License Data
• Troubleshooting
• Additional Resources

Add Software Licenses

To add a new software license, perform the following steps: 

1. Open License management from the left navigation pane in NinjaOne and then click Add software license. 

The Add software license configuration modal displays. 

2. Refer to the following table for guidance when filling out the fields in the General section.

   Field	Description or Purpose
   Software license name	Add a unique identifier.
   License type	If you select any option other than "Custom," a new section titled Assignment will appear in the configuration modal. For more information, refer to Software License Assignment within this article.
   Publisher	The drop-down menu may be empty the first time you use the Asset Management dashboard, though NinjaOne will attempt to identify installed manufacturers for the device. Click Add publisher to add the information. Once added, this name will appear as an option in the drop-down menu for future licenses.
   Vendor	The drop-down menu may be empty the first time you use the Asset Management dashboard. Click Add vendor to add the information. Once added, this name will appear as an option in the drop-down menu for future licenses.
   License scope	Select Global to include all organizations and locations. Select Limited to select specific organizations and locations from a drop-down menu. If you limit the scope to specific organizations, you can only assign devices associated with the organization. Additionally, the license information will show up on the organization dashboard under Asset → Licenses.
   Purchased quantity	Click Edit to update the amount.
   License usage	This field only appears if you select "Custom" for License type. Click Edit to update the number of licenses in use.
   Purchase date	Enter the date you purchased the licenses.

3. Open the Expiration date section and click the toggle switch if the software license has an expiration date. New fields will display, allowing you to enter the information and select whether you want to automatically renew the license or set an alert. 

4. If applicable, configure the Assignment data (refer to the following section) and then click Submit. 

Software License Assignment

Your options for assigning software licenses in NinjaOne will vary depending on the option you selected for License type when configuring the data in the General tab of the Add software license modal (refer to the previous section of this article). The Assignment tab does not display if you select "Custom" as the License type.

• Per device (automatic)
• Per device (manual)
• Per end user (manual)
• Per end user (automatic)

Per device (automatic)

Assign the software license by detecting devices with certain software installed.

• Detect normalized software name: This data is pulled when NinjaOne AI feature detects software. This option is only available for those signed up with our Vulnerability program.
  • Resource: NinjaOne Patching: OS Patch Sentiment Analysis (Patch Intelligence AI).
• Detect device groups (learn more about device groups at Search and Grouping.
  • Assign when any group matches: Rules will be applied to devices with any of the selected groups.
  • Assign when all groups match: Rules will be applied to devices with all of the selected groups.
• Filter by devices with specific software: Identify which devices currently have a piece of licensed software installed.
  • Use the Conditions drop-down menu to filter whether the device contains or does not contain any or all of the software specified. Specify what software to search by clicking Add. 

Per device (manual)

Assign the software license to specific devices. 

1. Click Add and then select one or more devices from the drop-down menu.
2. Click Add again to confirm. 

Per end user (manual)

Assign the software license to specific end users. 

1. Click Add and then select one or more end users from the drop-down menu.
2. Click Add again to confirm. 

Per end user (automatic)

This option assigns licenses based on the user role. 

• Any roles match: If you select multiple roles from the End user roles drop-down menu, the user must include only one of the options.  
• All roles match: If you select multiple roles from the End user roles drop-down menu, the user must include all of the options.  

Manage Software License Data

The Asset Management dashboard provides several columns of data that you can add, remove, or rearrange through the table settings (click the gear icon). 

The dashboard will display icons for active and expired license terms, and also show a tooltip when the number of assignments exceeds the number of licenses. 

Click a license name on the Asset Management dashboard to view the software license details, list of licensed end users, assignments, and purchases. 

Select a category to learn more: 

• Change the License Quantity
• Change the License Assignment Date
• Change the Licensed End User or Device

Change the License Quantity

You can edit license settings, change quantity (number of licenses purchased), or delete the license by clicking Edit in the top right corner. 

Change the License Assignment Date

From this dashboard, you can also edit the date that a license was assigned. 

Open the Assignments tab, click the ellipsis button next to the name, and then click Edit date. 

Change the Licensed End User or Device

You can modify which end users or devices are associated with a license. 

1. From the License management page, select a license to open the detail page. 
2. Click Edit and select Edit settings. 

3. Open the Assignment tab and update the data.
   • For licensed users, click the X next to the role name to remove it, or select new roles from the available drop-down menu. If you still do not see the end user listed in the Licensed users tab, go to their account detail page and ensure they are a member of the selected user role. 
   • For licensed devices, move your cursor over the row and click the ellipsis button to view the option to delete the devices from the assignment. Click Add to include more devices. 

4. Open the Licensed devices or Licensed users tab. This tab name will vary depending on how the license was assigned. 
5. Verify the new data is reflected correctly. 

Troubleshooting

Use this section if you are experiencing issues with this feature. 

The device is not displaying in the licensed device list

Problem

The Licensed devices tab on the software license dashboard does not show the licensed device. 

Cause 

This issue may be caused by an incorrectly configured assignment. 

Solution

To resolve the issue, refer to the following best practices: 

• If you selected "Per device (automatic)" as the license type, verify that the device is assigned to one or more groups.
• Verify the assignment is not set to All group matches if the device is only in one group.

Additional Resources

Refer to the following resources to learn more about ITAM in NinjaOne:

• Working with Unmanaged Devices in NinjaOne (ITAM)
• Device Enrollment and Management: Resource Catalog