To begin this blog I’ll explain to you exactly what a Microsoft License actually is. The software you are wishing to use is the intellectual property of Microsoft, and therefore the license you buy provides you with the right to use the software and also defines the conditions of use.

When buying your license there are many ways to purchase it. You could buy a Full Packaged Product (FPP). With FPP you purchase your license from a retailer, and it is typically one license to one box. This is usually the most expensive way of buying licenses, however it is the easiest. Another way of buying is Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) licenses. This type of license is preinstalled on a new computer; therefore the software lives and dies on that machine. This way of buying software is also, however, typically the cheapest way to buy licensing.  In addition to this another form of buying licensing is through Online Services. Online Services is where the technology is hosted on Microsoft’s, or a hosting partner’s, servers. The final way to buy your licenses would be through Volume Licensing. Through this way licenses are purchased through the reseller channel. There are also different programs to suit all kinds of organisations needing more than 5 licenses, I will cover this next.

Microsoft Licensing Programs

When finding the right licensing program for an organisation the following factors need to be considered: the size of the organisation, whether they want to buy or subscribe and rent the licenses,  whether they want Software Assurance or not and also whether they want to standardise the software on all PC’s in the organisation or not.

Open Licensing

• 5-250 PC’s
• Software Assurance Optional
• Perpetual Licensing with up-front payment
• 2 year agreement term
• Online Services not offered

Open Value

• 5-250 PC’s
• Software Assurance is included
• Perpetual Licensing with up-front payment or annual payment
• 3 year agreement term
• Online Services offered
• Can be companywide standardised or not

Open Value Subscription

• 5-250 PC’s
• Software Assurance included
• Non-perpetual with subscription payment every year on a rolling contract
• Three year term, which is renewable
• Online Services offered
• Must be standardised

The above programs can be sold by any Microsoft reseller

Select (This program has been discontinued from 1/7/2011. However you still may encounter them so it is useful to know about them)

• +250 PC’s
• Software Assurance optional
• 3 year agreement term
• Perpetual Licensing with up-front payment or annual payment
• Online Services offered

Select Plus

• +250 PC’s
• Software Assurance optional
• No agreement expiration
• Perpetual Licensing with up-front payment or annual payment
• Online Services offered

Enterprise Agreement

• +250 PC’s
• Software Assurance included
• Must be standardised
• Perpetual License

Enterprise Subscription Agreement

• +250 PC’s
• Software Assurance included
• Must be standardised
• Non-Perpetual  License

Perpetual and Non-Perpetual Licenses

A Perpetual License allows you to own their software throughout the term of the licensing agreement and forever afterwards the ended term. Whereas a Non-Perpetual License is like a rental agreement, you subscribe to use the software throughout the term of the agreement.

Server Licenses and CALs

Purchase Server licenses for every server, and then also Client Access Licenses (CALs) for either users or devices:

• A Device CAL is assigned to a device and allows multiple users to use the device.
• A User CAL is assigned to a specific user and allows the user to use multiple devices with that CAL.

Standard and Enterprise CALs

Some server products offer different levels of functionality that can be accessed by users through different CALs. The core functionality offered by the server is linked to a Standard CAL. To gain the extra functionality of the product you must then purchase an Enterprise CAL on top of the Standard CAL.

Standard and Enterprise CALs can also be used to license External Users. This applies to products such as SharePoint Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2010.

CAL Suites

For many organisations buying their CALs in suites can be very beneficial. It is the most cost effective way to buy a set of CAL’s for an organisation. They combine the most popular CALs in two packages, Core CAL Suite and Enterprise CAL Suite. They contain the following CALs:

Core CAL Suite

• Windows Server Standard
• Exchange Server Standard
• SharePoint Server Standard
• System Centre Configuration Manager
• Lync Server Standard
• Forefront Endpoint Protection

Enterprise CAL Suite (Everything Above Plus)

• Active Directory Rights Management Services
• Exchange Server Enterprise
• SharePoint Server Enterprise
• Lync Server Enterprise
• System Centre Client Management Suite
• Forefront Protection Suite
• Forefront Unified Access Gateway

We had some VMs stuck on starting today. There were no error messages and they wouldn’t shift no matter what we tried. It eventually turned out that they had ISOs inserted to the optical drive from a network source that was not responding properly. The solution was easy – remove the ISO media and they all booted nicely. We’re working on resolving the network source.

Moral for today – remove ISOs after use in a VM.