Microsoft updates System Center Licensing
… easy to license with Microsoft System Center 2012

With the imminent release of Microsoft System Center 2012, Microsoft has taken the time to simplify the System Center Product licensing mechanism, what follows is a brought overview. In the following days/weeks a dedicated webinar will be organized for our partners.

Microsoft System Center has two components: a server side component and a client side component, not all products have a client side component. The most important change is to be found in the

Microsoft System Center 2012 – Server Management Licenses
Are now only available in 2 flavors: standard and datacenter edition. Both versions contain all System Center components, including: SCCM, SCSM, SCVMM, SCOM, SCDPM, SCO but also the newly released System Center App Controller and System Center Endpoint Protection (previously Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection), a user will also have access to use Opalis (System Center Orchestrator) and AviCode. Furthermore the “management licenses” include a SQL standard instance if this is required by the System Center product. With the previous version of System Center your needed to licenses the system on which you were running the consoles as well, this is no longer the case, you do not have to license the system that runs the console !

For Example: SCCM (configuration manager) uses a SQL database to store settings, package settings, … in the past you needed to license the product with or without SQL technologies, as of the 2012 version this is no longer needed as a SQL Standard runtime is standard part of the offering.

What are the primary differences between de Standard and Datacenter edition:

• # of physical processors: both server management editions support 2 physical processors (not cores)
• Management rights: the standard edition only allows to manage 2 OSE (physical or virtual), while the datacenter edition offers unlimited OSE management.
• Licensing: each license is for a dual processor machine, that is 2 physical processors, not cores.
• Pricing (reference only!):
  • Standard: 1.323 USD for 2 processors
  • Datacenter: 3.607 USD for 2 processors

For those users that have bought in the past System Center 2010 Server Management Suites or other System Center products a generous transition plan is available, transitioning old licensing into new product licensing

Microsoft System Center 2012 – Client Management Licenses
There are only 3 products available under the client management licenses umbrella: Configuration Manager, Endpoint Protection and the “client management Suite”.

• SCCM
  available on a per OSE, per user or as part of the core CAL or enterprise CAL basis, the license included SCCM and SCVMM
• SCEP
  available on a per user, per device or as part of the core CAL or enterprise CAL basis, SCEP requires SCCM to be installed
• System Center Client Management Suite
  available on a per user, per OSE or enterprise CAL basis, the license includes SCDPM, SCOM, SCSM and SCO

Once Microsoft System Center 2012 is available it will integrate with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, offering a fully “private cloud solution”.

We will be organizing a more extensive deepdive (webinar or seminar) the following weeks, stay tuned for the invite.