Software license compliance

In a computing environment, an apparatus, comprising:

• a computer comprising a licensing data store operable to store information regarding licenses, the stored information comprising entitlement data regarding licenses that have already been or will be purchased;
• a license needs calculation engine operable to receive a request and to determine whether additional licenses are needed based at least in part on the information;
• a rules engine operable to determine whether business rules impact an intended action regarding software affected by at least one license, the business rules comprising a software deployment policy, an authorization/access policy and a count-based policy;
• and
• a configuration manager operable to consult the license needs calculation engine and the rules engine to determine a response to the intended action.

A computer storage medium, the computer storage medium not consisting of a propagating signal, the computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

• receiving an indication of an action with respect to software, the action potentially affected by a license;
• determining that at least one additional license is needed to fulfill the action;
• evaluating one or more rules to determine whether to allow the action, the rules comprising a software deployment policy, an authorization/access policy and a count-based policy;
• and
• providing notification via a user interface as to whether the action is allowed.