Links between licenses
Links can be created between licenses in ALVAO Asset Management to define the relationships between licenses.
Links tab
You can manage your links on the Software - Licenses - License - Related licenses tab. There are both direct and indirect (transitive) links.
Views
By default, the following views are displayed on the "links" tab:
- Direct - displays only direct links, i.e. links whose starting or ending license is the directly selected license.
- Follows - displays a list of licenses that the selected license follows.
- Precedes - displays a list of licenses that the selected license precedes.
Columns
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Path | Path to the linked object. |
| Object type | Type of linked object. |
| Object name | Name of the linked object. |
| Direct | Yes - this is a direct link to the object that is selected in the tree. No - this is an indirect link to the object that is selected in the tree (link via another object). |
| Link type | The type of link from the perspective of the currently selected object in the tree. |
| Modified | Date and time when the link was last modified. |
| Edit | The person who last modified the link. |
| From object (path) | The path to the object on which the link is defined. For direct links, this is the selected object in the tree. |
| From object (type) | The type of object on which the link is defined. |
| From object (name) | The name of the object on which the link is defined. |
| From object (link type) | The type of link from the view of the object on which the link is defined. |
Link Types
The following link types can be defined between objects:
| Link type | Description |
|---|---|
| Related to - Related to | License A is related to License B. |
| Precedes before - Follows after | License A precedes License B. For example: the MS Office 2003 license precedes the MS Office 2010 license. |
Direct and indirect links
For example, the following links exist between licenses A to E: A -> B -> C -> D -> E
If the selected license is C, then the links B->C and C->D are direct, because they directly follow from or point to license C.
Links A-> C and C-> E are indirect, because license A is indirectly linked to C via license B. Similarly, license E is indirectly linked to C via license D.
Example: License links When Upgrading a Software License
Purchasing 10 licenses of Windows XP Professional to upgrade 10 Windows 98 licenses. The license list will have the following entries after the upgrade:
Purchase 10 Windows 98 licenses,
Cancelling 10 Windows 98 licenses and- Purchasing 10 Windows XP Pro licenses.
In the list of links of purchasing a Windows98 license, the following will appear:
Windows 98 and- Windows XP Pro.
In the list of links of the Windows 98 license cancellation, the following appears:
Windows 98 and- Windows XP Pro.
In the links list of a Windows XP Pro license purchase, the following will appear:
- Windows 98 and
- Windows 98.