Nexthink device, VDI session and mobile counting describes how Nexthink measures consumption of a Nexthink Infinity subscription. The contract sets three counted quantities. Collectors are licensed per Device, VDI Experience per VDI Session, and both are capped by the quantity in the Order.[2] Mobile Experience devices are the third quantity, counted on the License page.[1] The product shows consumption against allocation on the License page of the Administration module. For a licence manager, that page and the rules in the documentation behind it are the measuring instrument for an effective license position.[1]
Metrics
| Unit | Catalog row | Where defined | How counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Device | Device (Collector) | MSA s.1(c) | Per endpoint or device with the Collector installed[2] |
| Endpoint, server, thin client | Endpoint, Server, Thin client | License documentation | One seat per device in the database, shown by type[1] |
| VDI Session | VDI Session | MSA s.1(d) | Sum of daily peak concurrent sessions per desktop pool[2] |
| Mobile device | Mobile device | License documentation | One seat per mobile device in the database[1] |
Counting / floors
Device seats
With a Workplace Experience licence, the License banner “shows device consumption and allocation, broken down into Endpoints, Servers and Thin clients”. The system “counts one seat for each device in the database”. When a device leaves the database because its data retention period has expired, its seat is released.[1] Catalog proof: One seat per device in the database.
Retention therefore drives the count. By default, inventory objects, including devices and mobile_devices, are kept for 30 days from the object’s last activity.[3] Administrators set inventory retention under Administration > Data management. Operational data retention must be equal to or shorter than inventory retention.[4] Raising inventory retention from 30 days to 60 or 90 days “can impact the license count because devices not used in over a month still occupy one seat”. Customers whose retention is below 30 days “might only see the number of allowed devices”.[1] To free seats, obsolete devices can be removed under Administration > Data management > Deletion.[1] Catalog proof: Longer inventory retention can raise the licence count; Inventory objects are retained 30 days from last activity by default.
A worked example, as commentary: an estate of 10,000 active laptops has 600 machines retired in a quarter. With 30-day retention, the retired machines stop occupying seats about a month after their last activity. With 90-day retention, they can hold seats for up to three months, even though the Collector licence would allow reallocation once a device is decommissioned.
Reallocation of Collectors
The contract limits moves between devices. “Once allocated to a Device, the Collector may not be transferred to another Device, except when the original Device has been decommissioned.”[2] Hardware refresh is therefore a permitted reallocation event. Moving licences from one active population of devices to another is not. Catalog proof: Collector cannot move between Devices unless the original is decommissioned.
VDI sessions
The MSA defines the authorised maximum as the sum of “the maximum number of simultaneous sessions used by each virtual Device or group of virtual Devices (desktop pool) over a 24-hour period (UTC)”.[2] The License page applies a seven-day window to that daily figure. Each day it finds the peak number of concurrent sessions in each desktop pool and adds the peaks of all pools. It then “Takes the highest daily total from the last 7 days to display this the session usage”.[1] The documentation’s example uses two pools, London and Sydney. The highest weekly daily total, 1,520 sessions on Thursday, is the reported usage.[1] Catalog proof: VDI Sessions are counted as summed daily peaks per desktop pool; Reported VDI session usage is the highest daily total of the past seven days.
Two details affect the result. The MSA measures the 24-hour period in UTC, while the License documentation describes it in the Nexthink instance time zone.[2][1] Second, because the peaks of separate pools are added, the figure can exceed the true maximum number of sessions open at one moment across the whole estate. That is the case for pools in different time zones, such as London and Sydney, whose peaks occur at different hours.
Mobile devices
With a Mobile Experience licence, mobile devices are counted “independently of other device types”. The count covers devices with the Nexthink Mobile app installed, and devices connected through the Intune Connector for mobile devices that do not have the app. “If the Nexthink Mobile app is installed twice on the same device, the system counts two licenses.”[1] Catalog proof: Two Nexthink Mobile installations on one device count twice.
Over-allocation
Usage above the Order quantity is Additional Use under MSA section 3(b). After Nexthink’s Initial Notification, the customer has one month to buy the extra quantity or correct the use. Otherwise, the excess is charged from its first date at the negotiated fee plus 20%.[2] Catalog proof: Additional Use is charged at a 20% premium after one month.
Virtualization & partitioning
Devices or sessions. In an instance licensed for both Workplace Experience and VDI Experience, licensing for virtual desktops “is based on sessions rather than devices”. Device seats exclude devices for which VDI session events are reported. To be excluded, those devices need Collector version 25.4.x or higher.[1] Without VDI Experience, a virtual machine with the Collector is simply a device. Catalog proof: Devices reporting VDI session events are excluded from device seats.
Golden images and pooled desktops. Non-persistent and pooled desktops are usually created from golden images. Nexthink advises excluding them from automatic Collector updates. When the Collector is included in a Windows reference image, the administrator should “remove the UID that Collector may have generated to identify the device”.[5] The documentation does not state the licence effect of a UID left in place. As commentary: device identity is what the one-seat-per-device rule counts, so image hygiene is worth checking whenever device counts look wrong. Catalog proof: Remove the Collector UID from reference images.
Brokers. Nexthink documents connectors for Microsoft AVD, Windows 365, Citrix CVAD and DaaS, Omnissa Horizon and AWS WorkSpaces. For Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host and brokers not in its chart, it recommends “features available in the basic Nexthink license” instead of VDI Experience.[7] Catalog proof: RDSH and unlisted brokers use features of the basic licence.
Client devices. The VDI Client Extension is built into the Collector from version 25.4.1. A standalone version exists for client devices on which the Collector cannot be installed. The standalone extension does not “register as a managed Collector or device in inventory”.[6][8] When VDI Experience is enabled, “Collectors automatically pick up the updated VDI entitlement” and start reporting enhanced session data after a restart at the latest.[6] A contractor that is itself a Nexthink customer, but has no VDI Experience licence, needs the extension enabled separately through Nexthink.[6] Catalog proof: Collectors pick up the VDI entitlement automatically.
VDI Experience also raises the data resolution for VDI metrics to 30-second intervals. In the Desktop Virtualization module, that data is available for two days, and 5-minute data for 30 days.[3]
Cloud / BYOL
Counting is the same whether endpoints are on premises, remote or in a public cloud VDI service. The Collector licence follows the Device, and VDI Experience follows the session, wherever the virtual desktop is hosted.[2] No bring-your-own-licence provisions apply.
Out of scope
- Prices per device or session, which are set in Orders and not published.
- Counting units for expansion products such as Amplify, Flow, Guides or Spark, which the retrieved documents do not state. See Nexthink Infinity products and modules.
- Licence counting in Nexthink’s legacy on-premises (“classic”) products.