Patent attributes
Systems and techniques for managing software licensing are described. When a computing system service request is made, the request is intercepted and software information that may be more or less continuously updated in a managed computing environment is examined to determine the effect of the service request on software usage by the system. The software usage represented by the service request is evaluated based on licensing information to determine license usage by the system and changes in license usage based on the service request, and license usage information is determined based on the software usage and the licensing information. The license usage information may be used in connection with a system of rules to govern actions such as reporting licensing usage or allowing or preventing the use of software based on whether use of the software will violate licensing requirements.
