Understanding Policy-Based License Consumption in Symantec Endpoint Security Cloud

Products

• Endpoint Security Complete

Issue/Introduction

• The Symantec Endpoint Security (SES) Cloud platform utilizes an automated, policy-based licensing model to manage seat consumption.
• This article explains why manual group-based license assignment is no longer required or supported and how license consumption is determined for endpoints.

Environment

• Product: Symantec Endpoint Security (SES) Cloud
• Operating System: Windows, macOS, Linux, Mobile

Cause

• The "Edit Groups" option for manual license assignment has been deprecated.
• The platform now automatically consumes the appropriate license tier (SES or SES Complete) based on the features and policies active on the specific endpoint.

Resolution

License consumption is automated based on the security features enabled on each endpoint. Licenses are not manually assigned to groups.

1. Review Assigned Policies: Navigate to the Policies section in the Symantec Endpoint Security Cloud Console
2. Verify Feature Usage: Check the active policies on your endpoints
   • If the endpoint has EDR, THAD, or Adaptive Protection it uses a SES Complete license more info can be found here.
   • If the endpoint only uses standard protection features, it consumes a Standard SES license.
3. Automatic Synchronization: The system periodically synchronizes license consumption based on the effective policy applied to the device. No manual intervention or group management is required to force a specific license.

Additional Information

• Over-deployment: If you believe the license count is inaccurate, ensure that endpoints with advanced features enabled are intended to have those features. Deactivating features on the policy level for non-critical endpoints will automatically release the SES Complete licenses back to the pool.
• Techdoc regarding licensing subscription