Replicating software containers to model license needs

A computer system for replicating software containers based on established metrics, the computer system comprising:

• one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable storage media;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to receive a request for installation of a software application in a computing environment;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to identify a license metric for the software application in the request, wherein the license metric includes licensing information and further refers to a scope of the software application as would run in the computing environment;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to determine a capacity metric for the computing environment, wherein the capacity metric includes network and computing resources of an organization, specifications of hardware nodes that would be deployed and information about users and clients connected to the network;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to generate a software container in the computing environment based on the license metric and the capacity metric;
• and
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to simulate, via the software container, installation and operation of the software application in the computing environment based on a combination of the license metric and the capacity metric, the simulation including mock traffic between the hardware nodes and the users in an enterprise network, and wherein the simulating further comprises determining a footprint for the software application to identify how many licenses the organization needs for the users by benchmarking use of the software application from a user perspective.

A computer program product for replicating software containers based on established metrics, the computer program product comprising:

• one or more computer-readable storage media;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media, to receive a request for installation of a software application in a computing environment;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media, to identify a license metric for the software application in the request, wherein the license metric includes licensing information and further refers to a scope of the software application as would run in the computing environment;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media, to determine a capacity metric for the computing environment, wherein the capacity metric includes network and computing resources of an organization, specifications of hardware nodes that would be deployed and information about users and clients connected to the network;
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media, to generate a software container in the computing environment based on the license metric and the capacity metric;
• and
• program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage media, to simulate, via the software container, installation and operation of the software application in the computing environment based on a combination of the license metric and the capacity metric, the simulation including mock traffic between the hardware nodes and the users in an enterprise network, and wherein the simulating further comprises determining a footprint for the software application to identify how many licenses the organization needs for the users by benchmarking use of the software application from a user perspective.