Per Install and Per Server Metrics Explained

Beyond core based metrics

PVU and VPC tie cost to capacity. Install and server metrics tie it to countable units instead: each install of the software, or each server it runs on, regardless of how many cores sit underneath. The math is simpler, but the place the exposure hides is completely different.

Install based metrics

An install based metric is counted per copy installed and activated. Physical and virtual installs both count, and an install that was stood up for a project but never decommissioned still counts. Dormant and forgotten installs are one of the most common findings under this metric, because nobody was watching the instance count after go live.

Server based metrics

A server based metric is counted per server, physical or virtual, on which the software is installed or which it manages. The definition of server in your specific agreement decides whether a single VM counts as one server, which is exactly the kind of clause IBM and buyers read differently.

Where these metrics create audit risk

• Forgotten installs in non production and disaster recovery estates.
• Cloned images that quietly multiply the install count.
• Test and staging copies that were never entitled.
• Servers that changed role but kept the software installed.

Reconciling install and server metrics

Reconciliation here is an inventory exercise, not a PVU calculation. Enumerate every instance, map each to an entitlement, retire what is genuinely unused, and document the rest. The evidence an auditor accepts is a complete and current instance inventory, not an ILMT capacity report, so the data you keep for these products is different from what you keep for PVU.