3.1 Managing Products and Subscriptions

The home page provides access to information about your purchased products and product subscriptions.

Figure 3-1 Home Page

This page helps you determine which products and subscriptions are current and which ones need to be updated. See the following sections for more information:

3.1.1 Managing Products and Subscriptions

The Products and Subscriptions portion of Novell Customer Center enables you to easily manage your products and subscriptions. The following tasks are available:

Getting Your Activation Code from an xLA Purchase

When you purchase a subscription, it is automatically added to the Products and Subscriptions list in Novell Customer Center. The primary contact on the order receives an e-mail upon purchase. Click the URL in the e-mail and follow the instructions on the page to get your activation code and/or download media. At this point, you can use Novell Customer Center to manage your subscription as described in this section.

Activating a Retail or OEM Purchased Product or Subscription

If you use the activation code during install, the product or subscription is activated. If you want installation support, you can activate the product or subscription as follows:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Activate Product in the left navigation frame.

  3. Choose the organization from the drop-down list.

  4. Type the activation code, then click Activate.

Viewing Basic Information About Your Product or Subscription

You can view basic information about your product or subscription, including the following:

  • The number of users of each type who can access information about that product subscription.

  • The number of systems that are activated for this product subscription (SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 only).

  • Information about media, patches, and downloads, if any.

To view basic information about your product subscription:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click a product or subscription in the list.

  6. Click Product Details.

Monitoring Product and Subscription Renewals

You can monitor when products and subscriptions need to be renewed by using the Novell Customer Center Alerts feature.

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

    If a product or subscription needs to be renewed, it is listed in the Alerts box.

  2. Click the alert message for more information.

NOTE:You can also check for products or subscriptions that need renewing by navigating to the Products and Subscriptions list page and using the filter to find those items that need to be renewed. See Viewing Basic Information About Your Product or Subscription.

Creating Subscription Compliance Reports

Organization Administrators and Group Administrators can create reports that show the compliance of systems installed under a selected subscription.

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. Click Export CSV file of this list, which is in the bottom right corner of the screen, and save the file to your hard drive or open it with a spreadsheet application.

Renewing a Subscription

When a subscription nears its expiration date, Novell Customer Center notifies all entitled users who have access to the subscription. To avoid losing access to updates and patches, you should renew the subscription before it expires; however, you can also renew an expired subscription and regain access to patches and updates.

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. Locate the subscription you want to renew.

    Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click the detail icon.

  5. In the Action column for the subscription, click Renew.

    If there is no Renew link, you do not need to renew the subscription at this time.

What happens next depends on how you purchased the subscription. You might see a window where you can enter your credit card information to purchase directly from Novell. Or, you might be redirected to your reseller so you can renew through them. In either case, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the transaction. If you receive a new activation code as a result of the renewal process, you need to go to the Systems area and move all the systems from the old code to the new one in order to retain patch and update service.

Editing a Description of Your Product or Subscription

If you don’t want to use the descriptions that are automatically entered when you register a product, you can enter your own product description.

To enter or edit a description:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click a product or subscription in the list.

  6. In the Custom Name field, type or edit a description of the product or subscription.

  7. Click Save.

    The new description prepends the default name for that product or subscription in the Products and Subscriptions list. The default name remains, enclosed in parentheses.

Managing the Entitled Users of a Product or Subscription

Group and Organization Administrators can manage which users have access to information about a selected product.

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click a product subscription in the list.

  6. Click User Access.

  7. (Optional) To add a user to the Entitled Users list, click the Add icon, type the e-mail address of the user you want to add, then click Add. You can click add multiple users to add more than one user at a time.

  8. (Optional) To delete a user from the list, click the user’s entry in the list, click the Remove icon, then click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the user.

  9. (Optional) Select Restrict activation rights to this list if you want to restrict rights so only the listed users can activate systems.

Managing the Details of the Systems Where the Product Is Installed

A system is any device that consumes a Novell activation code that is registered in Novell Customer Center. You can view and edit information for the systems installed under this product or subscription.

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Systems in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Double-click the system you want to view or edit.

    This page that appears shows a variety of information about the system and the product or subscription.

    NOTE:Currently, system information is available only for SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server 10 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

  5. (Optional) Edit the properties for the selected system under the heading System Properties.

    You can edit the name and description of the system and details about where the system is located.

  6. (Conditional) If you choose to edit the information (Step 5), edit the information as desired, then click Save.

Manually Adding Systems without Internet Access

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Systems in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click the icon.

  5. Type the required information, then click Register System.

Moving a Product Subscription to Another Organization

If responsibility for a retail purchase, OEM purchase, or evaluation product or subscription shifts to another organization, you can move the product or subscription from the first organization to the other one.

NOTE:You cannot move a subscription purchased under a contract.

To move a product or subscription to another location:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. Click a product family to expand the list.

  4. Click a product or subscription in the list.

  5. Click the Move icon.

  6. Select the company from the drop-down menu, or select Other and specify the e-mail address of the Organization Administrator who manages the new organization for the product or subscription, then click Move.

    If you specify the e-mail address to select the Organization Administrator, the Organization Administrator must approve the move before the change is carried out.

NOTE:You can also move a product or subscription by double-clicking the product or subscription and clicking Move Subscription.

3.1.2 Creating a Product or Subscription Group

You can place your products or subscriptions into groups and assign a user in each group as the Group Administrator. As a Group Administrator, you can add Group Users. Using groups makes it easier to provide customized information to specific groups of users. For example, you might want the members of an IT administrators group to have access to different information than your software purchasers group.

To create a product or subscription group:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

    Any existing groups appear in the left column, in the blue shaded area.

  3. Click the Add icon under the group list.

  4. Type a name for the group.

  5. In the box provided, type the e-mail address of the user, select Group Administrator or Group User, then click Add New.

    You can add additional users by repeating the process for each person you want to add, indicating whether that user should be a Group Administrator or Group User, and clicking Add New.

  6. Click Save.

    The new group appears in the left column.

    NOTE:You can edit the group name or add more users by clicking the group name and clicking the Edit icon.

3.1.3 Adding a Product or Subscription to a Group

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. Click the group where the subscription currently exists, or click All.

  4. Drag the subscription and drop it onto the name of the group you want to place it in.

    HINT:Use Shift+click and Ctrl+click to select multiple items.

3.1.4 Setting User Entitlements for a Subscription

Users can be set up with different entitlements for each of an organization’s subscriptions. Users can be entitled to the following:

  • Patches and updates for a subscription

  • Installation assistance

To set user entitlements:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click a product or subscription in the list.

  6. Click User Access.

  7. Double-click the user whose entitlements you want to set.

  8. Select the entitlements you want to give that user, then click Save.

3.1.5 Restricting Activation Rights for a Subscription

To allow only a specified set of users in your organization to activate products for a subscription:

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click a product or subscription in the list.

  6. Click User Access.

  7. Select the box labeled Restrict activation rights to this list on the bottom right of the screen.

    Only the users in that list can install products by using the activation code for this subscription.

HINT:If your users are organized into groups, you can create a group containing the users who are permitted to activate products, then restrict activation rights to only the users in that group.

3.1.6 Downloading Patches and Updates

  1. Log in to Novell Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.

  2. Click My Products > Products in the left navigation frame.

  3. (Optional) Use the filter to search for specific content, or click the column heading to reorder the list. The icon to the right of the filter fields applies the filter; the icon clears it.

  4. Click a product family to expand the list.

  5. Double-click the product you want to patch or upgrade.

  6. Check the Downloads section to see if patches or upgrades are available.

  7. Click Patches & Updates if downloads are available.

  8. Download the patch or update for the selected product.