About Device Ownership
For any device that exists in the Producer Portal, producers can perform all device management actions that are possible for a user with their roles and permissions. Typically, producers can create devices, view a device, map entitlements, remove licenses, and so forth. However, by default, mapping entitlements to a device involves an ownership check.
In the End-User Portal, the device owner always retains full control over the device and the licenses on it. But for users in other accounts, the visibility and control of devices depends upon multiple factors, mainly related to the end user’s accounts, the accounts that are on entitlements, and the accounts that own the device.
These factors, along with expected behavior in both the Producer Portal and End-User Portal, are discussed in detail in the following subsections:
| • | Ownership Account Check |
| • | Skip Account Check |
| • | Assignment of Ownership for Unowned Devices |
| • | Device Visibility in the End-User Portal |
Note:In all cases, users working with devices must have the appropriate permissions to interact with them. For example, users who do not have roles with the Manage Devices permission cannot make changes to FlexNet Embedded devices.
Tip:In the Producer Portal, producers can directly assign device ownership to an end user or partner account from the default view for a device or server page. For instructions, see Assigning an Account to a Device.
By default, FlexNet Operations performs an account check when entitlements are mapped to a device. Different factors are considered for this account check, depending on whether entitlements are being mapped in the Producer Portal or the End-User Portal.
In the Producer Portal, producers can map entitlements from the device owner’s account or its sub-accounts to any device that account owns (or any unowned device). Entitlements that belong to other accounts outside the device owner’s sub-account hierarchy cannot be mapped.
In the End-User Portal, the account check compares the user’s accounts, entitlement accounts, and device owner accounts when entitlements are mapped to a device. Specifically, in the End-User Portal,
| • | Users can map any entitlement owned by their accounts to any device they can see in the End-User Portal. (See Device Visibility in the End-User Portal, below, to learn about which devices a user can see in the End-User Portal.) |
| • | Users with roles that include the View Child Devices permission can also map entitlements owned by sub-accounts of their accounts. |
| • | Users with roles that include the Claim Device and Activate permission can also map their entitlements to unowned devices if they can identify the device by its device ID. |
Producers can configure FlexNet Operations to permit mapping of entitlements from unrelated accounts on the same device by enabling the Skip Account Check system configuration setting.
The ownership check that FlexNet Operations performs by default can be ignored by enabling the Skip Account Check system configuration setting. This setting removes the account check ordinarily performed when an entitlement is mapped to a device. Because the account check is not performed, FlexNet Operations permits entitlements that belong to accounts unrelated to the device owner to be mapped.
Note:The Skip Account Check system configuration setting applies to certain activations (End-User Portal, Web Service activations, and capability requests) that map new activation IDs or increase quantities.
In the Producer Portal, skipping the account check allows producers to map any entitlement to a device regardless of which account owns the device. The account check is not used.
In the End-User Portal, skipping the account check permits users to map entitlements to devices that are owned by unrelated accounts. With Skip Account Check turned on, End-User Portal users can perform all the operations permitted when the account check is run. But they can also map any of their entitlements to any device as long as they know its device ID and the activation IDs of the entitlements. (Standard permission requirements apply.)
End users with entitlements on a device owned by an unrelated account can only manage their own entitlements (removing licenses or reducing quantities) on that device.
Channel partner users can only manage entitlements for which they are a distribution partner.
Important:Channel partners cannot map entitlements to devices unless the Skip Account Check system configuration setting is enabled.
Note:In the End-User Portal, skipping the account check applies only to mapping methods for which the user is free to specify device IDs and activation IDs: capability requests, mapping by activation ID, and claiming and activating. It does not apply for methods in which the system pre-determines the list of available entitlements (based on account check rules), such as mapping an entitlement to a device.
Tip:To enable this system configuration setting, click System > Configure > FlexNet Operations and, in the Embedded Device Settings group, select the check box for Skip Account Check.
Assignment of Ownership for Unowned Devices
As new devices are created, the account that owns the device is determined by a number of different factors. Devices can be created in FlexNet Operations manually or programmatically. For example, producers can manually create a device via the Producer Portal, as described in the instructions in Creating Devices.
In some cases, such as when a device is manually created in the End-User Portal, ownership is assigned when the device is created. In other cases, devices are created without an owner.
Unowned devices can be claimed by end users in the End-User Portal or can be assigned an owner by the producer in the Producer Portal.
| • | For producers, the process of assigning an owner account to an unowned device is relatively simple and direct. (See Assigning an Account to a Device for instructions.) The specified account becomes the device owner. |
| • | In the End-User Portal, the process of claiming and activating a device can also assign an owner to an unowned device. When an end user clicks Devices > Claim and Activate, the End-User Portal shows the Claim and Activate page. On this page, the user identifies the device—typically by specifying its device ID—and then lists one or more activation IDs for licenses to activate on that device. In this process, for an unowned device, the account to which the first activation ID belongs becomes the owner of the device. |
Tip:Claim and Activate only appears in the Devices menu of the End-User Portal for users with roles specifically granted the End-User Portal permissions, Claim Device and Activate and Generate Licenses. (By default, only the Producer Portal system administrator role has this permission; no End-User Portal roles have this permission.) See FlexNet Operations Permissions for more information about these permissions.
Device Visibility in the End-User Portal
A user’s ability to see a device in the End-User Portal depends on the accounts he or she belongs to and the user’s relationship (if any) with the account that owns the device. The visibility of devices to End-User Portal users also depends on whether or not one of the user’s accounts (or sub-accounts thereof) has an entitlement mapped to the device.
Device Visibility Guidelines
The following organizational and entitlement factors determine which devices are visible to an end user:
| • | Devices that are owned by an account to which a user belongs are visible. |
| • | Devices that are owned by a sub-account of the accounts to which a user belongs are also visible, if the user has a role with View Child Devices permission. |
| • | Devices with an entitlement that belongs to one of the user’s accounts are visible to that user. |
| • | Devices with an entitlement that belongs to a sub-account of the user’s accounts are also visible, if the user has a role with View Child Devices permission. (This is true even if the device itself is not owned by any of the user’s related accounts.) |
| • | For channel partner users, devices with an entitlement for which the channel partner account is a distribution partner are visible. |
| • | For channel partner users, devices with an entitlement for which one of the sub-accounts to the user’s account is a distribution partner are also visible, if the user has a role with the View Child Devices permission. |
Devices that are visible to an end user appear in search results for devices.
Restricted Information on the View Device and View Server Pages
The end user can see these devices, but not all details about the device are shown in cases where none of the end user’s related accounts is the device owner. In particular, while the activation IDs of licenses owned by an end users accounts (or their sub-accounts) are shown, the activation IDs of unrelated accounts are masked—all but the last three characters of the activation ID are replaced with asterisks.
Similarly, channel partner users can see all the entitlements on a visible device, but the End-User Portal masks the activation IDs of the entitlements for which the channel partner is not a distribution partner. And, for greater privacy among producers, distributors, resellers, and end customers, entitlements that belong to accounts other than the channel partner account or its sub-accounts do not show the account that owns the entitlement. In these cases, instead of the owner account, they see Name Withheld.
(For more information about channel partner accounts, see Account Types and Partners and Distribution Tiers in the About Accounts section.)
See Also