August 2023
Flexera One introduced the following new features and enhancements this month.
Automation
Flexera One introduced the following new feature and enhancement in August 2023.
AWS Rightsize EC2 Instances policy replaced the AWS Rightsize Compute Instances policy
This feature is available with Automation.
The AWS Rightsize EC2 Instances policy has been enhanced to check all the instances in an AWS account for CPU and Memory usage over a specified number of days. Depending on the usage data, the virtual machines may be recommended for termination or downsizing. This policy can also automatically terminate the virtual machines (if idle) or downsize the virtual machines (if underutilized but not idle).
For more information about the policy, see AWS Rightsize EC2 Instances.
Enhancements to AWS usage reduction policies
This enhancement is available with Automation.
Flexera One has released significant enhancements to the AWS usage reduction policies.
Revised policies
The following policies have been revised:
- AWS Old Snapshots
- AWS Rightsize EC2 Instances (formerly AWS Rightsize Compute Instances)
- AWS Unused IP Addresses
- AWS Unused Volumes
- AWS Unused RDS Instances
New capabilities
The enhancements to the policies bring the following new functionality:
- Streamlined code for faster execution.
- Improved Incident Output—Additional context provided in incident output helps you in comprehending the presented information.
- Added consistent parameters and functionality, including:
- Configurable minimum savings threshold for generating recommendations.
- Result filtering by region using allow or deny lists.
- Resource exclusion using tags (key:value pairs).
- Eliminated deprecated and redundant parameters.
Additional capabilities for select policies
The additional capabilities now included for the following policies are:
- AWS Unused IP Addresses—You can use the Days Unattached parameter to specify the duration an IP address must remain unattached to qualify as unused.
- AWS Unused Volumes—You can use the Volume Status parameter to include attached volumes, unattached volumes, or both in the incident and take actions on them.
- AWS Unused RDS Instances—You can use the Unused Days parameter to define the historical check span for instance inactivity.
- AWS Rightsize EC2 Instances—You can leverage the automatic actions capability to downsize or terminate instances.
Additional smaller refinements have also been implemented. For comprehensive details, consult the CHANGELOG.md file associated with each policy.
Cloud Cost Optimization
Cloud Cost Optimization added the following new feature in August 2023.
Cost allocation using AWS account tags
This feature is available with Cloud Cost Optimization using the FinOps Analytics API.
Cloud Cost Optimization now enables you to use your AWS account tags to allocate your AWS spend using the new FinOps Analytics API and the new AWS Rule-Based Dimension From Account Tags policy.
The FinOps Analytics API lists all the AWS accounts across all the customers’ AWS organizations connected to Flexera One. With this API, it is easy to get all the AWS account tags from one API call instead of calling one API for each organization and potentially each AWS account. The API returns the following values:
- AWS Account Names
- All Discovered Account Tags
- Account ID
- Payer Account ID
The Flexera AWS Bill Connect retrieves the account and tag details.
Additionally, the new AWS Rule-Based Dimension From Account Tags policy creates rule-based dimensions based on the account tags in your environment. You can use the rule-based dimensions to create rules for viewing your cloud spend using the dimension values created from tags, such as environment, application, cost center, team, or anything else your business uses.
Together, the new API and the rule-based dimensions provide a powerful and dynamic method for creating allocation rules for viewing your cloud spend based on your unique business rules.
This feature will be implemented for other Cloud vendor accounts in future releases.
FinOps analytics API example
GET /finops-analytics/v1/orgs/{orgId}/cloud-vendor-accounts
{
"kind": "finops:cloud-vendor-account-aws",
"aws": {
"accountId": "nnnnnnnnnnnn",
"payerAccountId": "nnnnnnnnnnn"
},
"tags": {
"account_type": "production",
"division": "flexera",
"flexera_org_id": "111111",
"flexera_project_id": "131334",
"flexera_shard_id": "3",
"project_name": "aws-control-tower-integration",
"scope": "sales",
"team_name": "solution-engineering"
},
"lastDiscoveredAt": "2023-06-12T15:00:57.409Z"
}
Flexera One Platform
Flexera One released the following enhancement to the Identity and Access Management API in August 2023.
New API parameter added to suppress Flexera One invitation email
This enhancement is available with the Identity and Access Management API and applies to all regions: North America, EU, and APAC.
Flexera has updated the Identity and Access Management API with a new skipEmailNotification parameter that lets you specify whether to suppress sending an email notification to a Flexera One invitee. The skipEmailNotification parameter accepts boolean values of true or false. The default value is false.
When the skipEmailNotification parameter is set to true, no email notification will be sent to the Flexera One invitee.
When the skipEmailNotification parameter is set to true, the inviteeFirstName and inviteeLastName parameters are required.
If the email is not sent, the invitation is still created within Flexera One and the user accepts the invitation by doing the following:
- Log in to Flexera One.
- Click the user profile icon and select User Settings. The My Invitations page appears.
- Click the check mark in the Actions column to accept the invite. The Confirm Invitation dialog box opens.
- Click Accept to accept the invitation.
IT Asset Management
IT Asset Management released the following enhancement in August 2023.
Updated restriction by operating system
This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.
When applying a restriction by operating system, only operating systems that are locally installed on a device will now be considered when applying the restriction. As a result, consumption numbers may reduce.
This change of behavior applies to any and all types of restriction by operating system and isn't specific to Windows Server.
Prior to this change, for some devices, IT Asset Management was reporting software running on remote machines/virtualizations as installed applications on devices used to connect to the remote machine. For example, a common scenario would have been Microsoft Windows Server being reported as an installed application on any Microsoft Windows 10 device which was used to remotely access a VDI machine running Microsoft Windows Server. This effectively meant that a device running Microsoft Windows 10, with the Windows Server restriction by operating system setting applied, was able to consume from a Microsoft Windows Server license. This behavior is no longer the case. Now, IT Asset Management will only consider the local installation of Windows 10. Therefore, the Windows Server restriction will prevent the device from consuming and, as a result, consumption numbers (notably for Microsoft Server licenses) may reduce.
The following license types are impacted:
- Microsoft Server Processor
- Microsoft Server Core
- Microsoft Server/Management Core
- Microsoft SCCM Client Device
- Microsoft SCCM Client User
The following restrictions by operating system settings are impacted:
- Non Windows Server
- Windows desktop
- Windows Server
In all cases, devices will need a local installation of the operating system type specified in the restriction in order to be allowed to consume from the license. Consumption numbers may reduce if devices that previously consumed from that license have an operating system different to what is specified in the restriction.
For more information on restriction controls in IT Asset Management, see License Properties / Restrictions Tab.
IT Visibility
IT Visibility released the following enhancement in August 2023.
Sorting for IT Visibility dashboards and folders
This enhancement is available with IT Visibility.
On the IT Visibility Dashboard page (IT Visibility > Dashboard), when you click Change Dashboard, a slideout lists both built-in dashboards and any user-created dashboards. The dashboards are displayed in dashboard folders. With this enhancement, this list of dashboard folders as well as the dashboard titles are now sorted ascending in the following order:
- Numerically
- Special characters
- Alphabetically
When you create a new dashboard folder, the new sort order rules are also honored.
For related information, see IT Visibility Dashboards and see User Created Dashboards and Folders in the Flexera One Help.
SaaS Management
SaaS Management released the following enhancement in August 2023.
Legacy SaaS integrations no longer available as new integrations
This enhancement is available with SaaS Management.
As Flexera One continues to enhance its ServiceNow-related and Microsoft-related integrations with SaaS Management, Flexera no longer offers the legacy integrations listed in this announcement as new integrations and is instructing customers to instead use the applicable Microsoft or ServiceNow integration.
As of August 16, 2023, the SaaS integrations listed in the Removed Integrations column of the following table are no longer available when selecting Add Application on the Managed SaaS Applications screen. Use the integration listed in the second column as its replacement.
| Removed Integrations | Select This Integration Instead |
|---|---|
| Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365 Client Credentials Office 365 Office 365 Client Credentials Power BI Power BI Client Credentials Project (Microsoft) Project Client Credentials (Microsoft) Visio Visio Client Credentials | Microsoft 365 or Microsoft 365 Client Credentials or Microsoft 365 Certificate Based Authentication |
| ServiceNow | ServiceNow Licensing |
| ServiceNow OAuth2 | ServiceNow Licensing OAuth2 |