About Device Ownership
In the End-User Portal, the device owner always retains full control of 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 account(s), the account(s) on entitlements, and the account that owns the device.
These factors 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.
By default, FlexNet Operations performs an account check when entitlements are mapped to a device. 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 optionally configure FlexNet Operations to skip the account check. This configuration permits mapping of entitlements from unrelated accounts on the same device. Therefore, the behavior of the End-User Portal during entitlement mapping operations depends on how FlexNet Operations is configured. See Skip Account Check, next, to learn how entitlement mapping works when FlexNet Operations does not perform the account check.
Some producers configure FlexNet Operations to skip 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.
Skipping the account check permits users to map entitlements to devices that are owned by unrelated accounts. In this configuration, End-User Portal users can perform all the operations for which they have permission 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 (such as 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 system is configured to skip the account check.
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 Entitlements to a Device.
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.
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. 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. (See Claiming a Device and Activating a License for instructions.)
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.
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 the View Child Devices permission. |
| • | Devices with an entitlement that belongs to one of the user’s accounts are visible. |
| • | 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 the 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 of 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 device’s default view 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 user’s 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 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 About Accounts.)
See Also