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Author Archives: MS Licensing

300 Level SPLA Licensing

02 Jun

Now it’s time to get into the fun part; the licensing scenarios that can literally drive you NUTS because if interpreted wrong, it can cost you and your company money.  Based on experience, here’s a list of the top confusing scenarios….simplified.

Customer Owned Licenses

Let’s say you have a customer that would like to bring their license into your datacenter.  You first ask them if the licenses are legit and if they have software assurance for those licenses.  Why ask if they have software assurance (SA).  If they have SA on certain software applications, they could be eligible for license mobility (shared hardware, dedicated VM).  If they do not have software assurance, now you have to consider dedicating (see dedicated v shared in this post) a server and VM for that customer and that customer only.  Without software assurance, they do not qualify for license mobility.  So keep this in mind – no software assurance = 100% dedicated hosting.

Now let’s say the end customer owns 100 Exchange licenses (CAL) without SA and they would like you to host Exchange for them using these licenses. No problem, you just dedicate a server for those users. But what happens if they hire 50 more employees that need Exchange?  Do you simply add those additional 50 users via SPLA or do they have to buy those additional 50 licenses from their volume licensing agreement?  If you picked the latter, you would be correct.

You cannot mix server/CALs on a product-by-product basis. This means the end customer CAL’s for a particular product cannot be used to access servers deployed with that product and which are licensed by the service provider under SPLA. It is ok for a service provider to rely on end customer owned licenses for one particular product (like SQL) but acquire licenses for a different product (like Windows) via their SPLA as long as they dedicate the server.  It also means that if an end customer has Servers/CALs for a particular product(s) and chooses to move to a hosted model with a service provider, they will need to acquire any additional licenses for that product(s) under their volume licensing agreement (i.e. if they increase the number of seats or need more servers for deployment or load balancing). It’s not ok for the service provider to acquire SAL’s under SPLA when the number of seats goes up for the end customer or when additional servers is required. This is because the licensing construct of internal use doesn’t match that of SPLA ,and therefore needs to be separate.

Dedicated v Shared

So what does “dedicated” and what is “shared mean?”  In short, it means one customer per server/VM for dedicated, and multiple customers using the same server/VM for shared.  But what about the other components of a hosted offering?  You have a SAN, does that need to be dedicated?  No, according to this document it doesn’t (download it  here)

“Any hardware running an instance of Microsoft software (OS or application) must be dedicated to a single customer. For example, a SAN device that is not running any Microsoft software may be shared by more than one customer; whereas, a server or SAN device that runs Microsoft software may only be used by one customer.”

So ask yourself “is this running Microsoft software on this device?”

SQL Virtualization

SQL virtualization boils down to five options

1) License per virtual machine (if nothing is running physical)

2) License the physical cores on the host and report SQL Enterprise. (allows you to run unlimited VMs)

3) License both physical and virtual (if reporting Standard or Web and it’s running both physically and virtually)

4) Report SQL Business Intelligence (BI) which is licensed per user and can access multiple servers (physical and virtual)

5) Report SQL Standard per user.  Same story as BI.

Don’t forget about license mobility within server farms.  A server farm by Microsoft’s definition consists up to two datacenter located within 4 hours of each other.  So if you have a datacenter in Seattle and another datacenter in New Jersey; that does not qualify.  Likewise if you are in Europe; the datacenter must be “within the European Union (EU) and/or European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

One benefit of license mobility within server farms is it will allow a qualified VM to migrate from one host to the next within the same server farm without adding additional licensing costs.  You have to license the machine with the most processors or cores to be compliant.  In the Service Provider Use Rights (SPUR) it shows you if the product is license mobility within server farms eligible.  Pay attention to this use right; there’s a lot of service providers who are reporting license mobility without license mobility.

Hope this brings some clarity.  If  you have additional questions contact me at blaforge@splalicensing.com

Thanks for reading,

SPLA Man

 

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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SPLA Audit Support

27 May

If you are facing a SPLA audit or concerned you are underreporting or perhaps even overpaying for licenses, please reach out to blaforge@splalicensing.com.  I am happy to make suggestions or review your report. This is not a solicitation,  I do this as a hobby. (Some people take up golf, for some reason I took up SPLA). 

Thanks,

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on May 27, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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Why SPLA?

19 May

In most articles I reviewed best practices, updates, and licensing guidance as it pertains to the SPLA program.  As cloud solutions evolve, the licensing becomes more complex.  That’s why I thought we should take a step back and take a moment to review the basics of the program.  I am a big believer in order to fully understand a licensing program, you really should start at the beginning.  Too many times we jump headfirst and start worrying about “how do we license SQL in a virtual environment” or “why no VDI darn it!”  So let’s all take a deep breath, relax, and let’s understand what it is we are actually trying to accomplish. 

What is a license?

I think we can all make a reasonable assumption to the answer to this question.  Again, we are starting at the basics and moving up from there.  The SPLA Man definition of a license is essentially your right to use something.  You buy a book, you need to purchase the right to consume the author’s material.  You buy a software license, this gives you the right to install it and use it.  In the case of Microsoft, you did not write the code for Microsoft Exchange, so you need a license to use Exchange/email.  There’s all sort of examples of a license, but I think you get my point. 

So if you buy a license, who get’s to use it?  In most instances, it’s you.  Why buy something and give someone else the right to use it?  If you buy a computer from HP and the PC comes with a copy of Office and Windows 8, the Office and Windows 8 gives that device a license.  Those license come preinstalled live and die with the machine – this is called Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM for those taking notes).  If you read the little booklet that comes with your computer it will define this not so clearly.  That booklet is called a EULA (End user licensing agreement). 

Volume Licensing

Now let’s say you’re an owner of a company and have 50 employees.  You set up a CRM server to deploy to your 50 employees.  In this model, they would need a server (CRM Server License) plus 50 client access license to access that server.  Since it’s for internal employees, you would use volume licensing.  (greater discount than going to a retail shop and purchasing the licenses one at a time)

Outsourcing

Let’s say you lost the instruction booklet on ‘how to deploy CRM” and frustrated because you already purchased the licenses.  You need help.  Not only did you lose the instructional booklet you don’t have the budget to purchase the hardware to run CRM nor the bandwidth to manage anymore.  You look at third party options.  You call Brett’s Hosting who can deploy CRM on your behalf while leveraging your license purchases.  If you purchased the licenses with software assurance those licenses could potentially qualify for license mobility (CRM does).  The service provider can dedicate a VM for CRM and host the VM on shared hardware. Windows would still need to be reported under SPLA (since Windows is not part of license mobility) This can be more cost effective for both parties.  If you did not purchase those licenses with software assurance, you can still bring those licenses into your datacenter BUT Brett’s Hosting would have to dedicate the hardware and the VM to one customer.  What’s dedicated?  Microsoft defines dedicated as “Any hardware running an instance of Microsoft software (OS or application) must be dedicated to a single customer. For example, a SAN device that is not running any Microsoft software may be shared by more than one customer; whereas, a server or SAN device that runs Microsoft software may only be used by one customer.” (source: Microsoft Desktop Virtualization Guide – Check it out here)

Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA)

This leads to the last option and the entire point of this blog – SPLA.  Why would a service provider use or need SPLA licenses?  You know those 50 CRM licenses you purchased for your internal employees?  You guessed it, those can only be used for internal employees.  Why?  There’s a little blurb in the Product Use Rights (PUR) that states “No Commercial Hosting” If you have a customer that does not own the licenses, but they want to access your server – That’s SPLA.  Anytime your hosting Microsoft software on BEHALF of a third party, that’s SPLA.  Let’s say you have a website in which you sell products out to the entire world;  Would you need SPLA?  Short answer…no.  Why?  You have a website that you deploy in your own datacenter that you use to run your business, not someone else’s.  If you went to a third party and asked them to host a website for you that will allow your customers to access, the service provider would use SPLA.  Clear as mud?  Exchange might be a better example.  If you don’t have the bandwidth to manage Exchange in house anymore, you can go to companies such as Rackspace to provide email for you.  They will charge you “X” amount of dollars for email per month.  To access Rackspace’s Exchange server you would need a license.  That license is called SPLA.  All service providers that host Exchange, would require SPLA (unless you bring your own licenses such as the outsourcing example above).

That’s licensing 101 in a nutshell. Stay tuned for licensing 200.  Ugh.

Thanks,

SPLA Man

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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200 Level SPLA Licensing Questions – Answered

14 May

Starting a new series on this blog “top licensing questions” Here’s a list of some often unanswered questions…answered!  In many instances it’s tough to go into great detail or specific customer scenarios via a blog.  Please email me at blaforge@splalicensing.com for specific scenarios.  Keep in mind, blogging is my hobby and I am relaying information from experience.  You should refer to the SPUR for specific/audit questions. (It’s a great read).  Microsoft has the final say. I am interested in feedback and/or ideas for new posts; let me have it!

1. Does a service provider need to report an extra Exchange SAL for non-authorized users, such as a conference room?

A mailbox that represents a room is defined as a resource mailbox and does not require a SAL.

2.  Can I use the same server I use internally to host software via SPLA?

No. Regardless of the licensing program, the license is always assigned to the hardware/VM.  If you choose to assign two licenses from two different programs to one hardware, some of the use rights will contradict each other.  SPLA is designed for external consumption whereas internal licensing is designed for your own employees.  Good news – SPLA allows 50% of what you are hosting externally to be used internally.  Let’s say you host 50 exchange licenses, you can use up to 25 internally.  These are not free, just reported under your SPLA. (Instead of reporting just 50 licenses, you would report 75).  Check SPUR for more details.

3.  Can I install Office on a device without reporting Windows desktop?

No.  This would fall under the managed PC use case.  There is an addendum that would allow you to rent out a desktop to third parties; to do this via SPLA, there is a “managed PC” addendum.  This would require you to license the desktop OS via an OEM license and report Windows 7/8 via SPLA (as well as Office if Office is installed).  Ugh.  Only other option would be to report Exchange “plus” Skus which includes Outlook.  (no other Office components) or install Office on a server and report Windows, RDS, and Office. (RDS & Office by user- Windows by processor)

4.  What are the rules of licensing additional users under License Mobility for Software Assurance? Can a service provider license additional users with SALs?

No. In License Mobility for SA scenario, the end customer has to maintain CALs in their perpetual licensing program to access the application servers. It is not possible to license additional users with SALs, because that would mean mixing/matching licensing for one Product.  Keep in mind that under license mobility – end customer’s are in essence transferring those licenses into your data center.  They can only transfer back after 90 days. To quote the mobility brief (download a copy here ) You may move your licensed software from a third party’s shared servers back to your servers or to another third party’s shared servers, but not within 90 days of the last assignment. Check mobility addendum.

6. What happens if my customer claims to have SA on these licenses but in actuality…they don’t.  Am I on the hook?

Yes. You are responsible for your own hosted offering.  I would ensure you have documentation of all customer owned licenses AND make sure this is part of your agreement with your customer.  You may get audited, but that does not stop you from auditing your customer.

7. Where do I report my SPLA licenses?

Contact the SoftwareONE SPLA team 1-800-444-9890 or SPLA.US@softwareone.com

Stay tuned for more questions but more importantly – answers to these questions!

Thanks for reading,

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on May 14, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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Disaster Recovery Rights for SPLA

30 Apr

Spring.  The time of year in which flowers bloom but storms loom. (I will not quit my day job by the way).  Those reading this article that live in the middle of the United States, you would probably agree with that statement.  Sometimes it may take a storm for organizations to start thinking about their own disaster recovery plans.  Maybe it’s time to get ahead of the storm; that’s why I thought I would spend time reviewing DR, industry best practices, and licensing scenarios.

In previous editions of the SPUR, you were allowed to temporarily run a backup instance on a server dedicated for DR with the following exceptions:  The server must be turned off except for limited testing and DR, may not be in the same cluster, and you may only run the backup instances and production instances at the same time only while recovering from a disaster.

I never understood the rule “the server must be turned off.”  If it’s turned off, how is backing up anything?  Secondly, what is meant by “limited testing?” How much time does it allow you test? Two days…a week…a month?

In the new SPUR, it brings clarity to some of those questions.  From the April SPUR:

“The disaster recovery server can run only during the following exception periods:

  • For brief periods of disaster recovery testing within one week every 90 days
  • During a disaster, while the production server being recovered is down
  • Around the time of a disaster, for a brief period, to assist in the transfer between the primary production server and the disaster recovery server

In order to use the software under disaster recovery rights, you must comply with the following terms:

  • The disaster recovery server must not be running at any other times except as above.
  • The disaster recovery server may not be in the same cluster as the production server.
  • Windows Server licenses are not required for the disaster recovery server if the following conditions are met:
  • The Hyper-V role within Windows Server is used to replicate virtual OSEs from the production server at a primary site to a disaster recovery server.
  • The disaster recovery server may be used only to
  • run hardware virtualization software, such as Hyper-V,
  • provide hardware virtualization services,
  • run software agents to manage the hardware virtualization software,
  • serve as a destination for replication,
  • receive replicated virtual OSEs, test failover, and
  • Await failover of the virtual OSEs.
  • run disaster recovery workloads as described above
  • The disaster recovery server may not be used as a production server.
  • Use of the software on the disaster recovery server should comply with the license terms for the software.
  • Once the disaster recovery process is complete and the production server is recovered, the disaster recovery server must not be running at any other times except those times allowed here.”

If I had a hosting company that specializes in DR solutions, I would have my customers purchase their licenses outright with Software Assurance from their reseller (like SoftwareONE).  I would make sure they deploy it on premise and I would set up a secondary server in my datacenter. Now comes the fun part – how to license the solution!

Let me provide an example.   Let’s say your customer is a law firm and email is extremely important to their business.  They cannot lose email for one minute, let a lone a day.    The customer would like the greatest discount long term but very concerned that if a disaster does happen, they won’t be prepared.  (this is when you come to the rescue).  You have a solution that will allow them to run their Exchange on premise by purchasing Exchange with Software Assurance from volume licensing (greater discount over SPLA long term), and you as the service provider can run Exchange in your datacenter using the SAL for SA SKU.  Never heard of the SAL for SA SKU?  You’re not alone.  This SKU is available for certain applications (Lync, SharePoint, Exchange – check SPUR for availability) and allows the service provider to host the application in a shared (virtual & physical) environment.  More importantly, the cost is extremely attractive AND your customer can still run it on premise.  This is NOT license mobility.  License mobility allows you to run it in a shared hardware but dedicated VM.  It also requires the customer to transfer those licenses out of your datacenter only (not on premise).

Here’s the criteria for reporting SAL for SA for those home gamers.

SALs for SA

“SALs for SA may be acquired and assigned to users who have also been assigned a qualifying Client Access License (“CAL”) with active Software Assurance (“SA”) acquired under a Microsoft Volume Licensing Program or who uses a device to which a qualifying Device CAL with active Software Assurance coverage has been assigned. You may not acquire SALs for SA for more than one user for any given qualifying CAL. Use rights for SALs for SA are identical to their corresponding SALs, as defined in this document. The right to assign a SAL for SA to a user or device expires when the Software Assurance coverage for the qualifying CAL expires.”

Be careful if you decide to go down this route. You have to ensure when reporting SAL for SA that the customer has active SA for the licenses you are reporting.  If they don’t, both you and your customer are out of compliant.  This comes up all the time during audits.  “I swear they own these licenses Mr. Auditor!”  Secondly, make sure the products are SAL for SA eligible when discussing with your client.

In summary, pay attention to the new DR rights mentioned above; consider SAL for SA as an alternative; and last but certainly not least, maybe reconsider your vacation to the Midwest until the Fall – flowers bloom, storms loom.  Hit me up at blaforge@splalicensing.com  if you want to learn more about SAL for SA or anything hosting related.

Thanks for reading,

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on April 30, 2014 in Disaster Recovery

 

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More SQL 2012 Questions…..ANSWERED

27 Mar

Q. “When am I supposed to report SQL core licenses?”

A. When you sign a new SPLA or you deploy SQL 2012 you will be forced to license by cores

Q. “If we leverage SQL Server Enterprise, are we able to launch multiple VM instances of database across the enterprise?”

A. SQL 2012 Enterprise allows unlimited virtual instances.  In order to this with the 2008 version you would of had to license Datacenter edition.  (way expensive btw).  SQL 2012 does allow license mobility within server farms as well.  Check out the SPUR for details.

Q. “Does SQL 2012 Enterprise edition allow for downgrade rights?  In other words, can I have 2008 SQL servers and 2012 SQL servers running virtualized on the same host?”

A. Yes, as long as you are reporting SQL 2012 cores, you can run 2008 and prior.  Keep in mind, it has to match version.  For example, if you license Standard, you cannot run Enterprise.  If you license Enterprise, you can run Enterprise or Standard. 

Q. Can I just license the virtual, not the physical machine?

Yes. SQL does allow you to license just the virtual machines.  You would report the number of cores you assign to the server. (minimum of 4 cores). 

Q.  Can I license SQL Enterprise by user?

A.  No. Unfortunately SQL Enterprise can only be licensed by core.  SQL Standard and SQL Business Intelligence SKU can be licensed by user.

Thanks,

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on March 27, 2014 in Uncategorized

 

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VDI for SPLA?

26 Mar

If I received a dollar for every time I’m asked this question you and I can both retire!  Things are changing in the world of data center outsourcing, but for some reason this is still stuck in the mud.  Why no VDI today?

1) I have no idea

2) See answer 1

I wrote about this topic earlier, but my hunch is it has something to do with the OEM manufactures.  OEM is a big piece of Microsoft business, and they protect it.  (Although Surface kind of muddies that theory).  As an example of this, if you were to “lease” a desktop to an end customer, you would first need a OEM license pre-installed and use SPLA and/or volume licensing as an upgrade license.  So even under a rented desktop model, OEM is still a requirement.  If everyone used VDI and dummy terminals – OEM manufactures would be left out of the game.  (at least in volume)

The only thing that would change this model is if they received a very high number of requests to offer this through Azure.  Look at what happened with Remote Desktop Services (RDS).  RDS was never part of license mobility.  Azure comes along and before you know it- RDS has mobility rights! Check it out here

That being said, Microsoft can make the rules of their own game, and even know Microsoft can do it does not mean the service provider/partner community can do it.  Office 365 is a prime example of this.  Under O365, you can take Office and install it on up to 5 PCs. Try that under SPLA and you have to license every PC with a separate Office license, use Windows 7/8 upgrade license, have a OEM on the machine that you own, and sign a rental addendum.  That’s why I wrote “office needs mobility rights”

One new capability in the latest SPLA agreement is you can install software on customer owned hardware.  BUT guess what?  That does not apply to PCs.

I’m not sure if this will ever change.  Every conference that I’ve attended the past 10 years partners ask the same question – “Can I provide VDI under SPLA?” I don’t like the word “no” but unfortunately, the answer is “no.”

Would love to hear about your thoughts on the topic.  Have you tried Windows server and RDS as an alternative?  What about dedicated environments for VDI?

Thanks for reading,

SPLA Man

 
7 Comments

Posted by on March 26, 2014 in VDI

 

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New VMWare Products for VSPP

21 Mar

VMware announced March 20th a new product lineup for the VSPP program.  You can read the full article here.  You can also check out the product use rights http://www.vmware.com/partners/partners.html?06980000000bpky

Here’s what’s new (courtesy of VMware)

  • vCloud Automation Center — vCloud Automation Center gives your business the agility it needs with the control your IT requires thanks to a flexible solution automating the delivery of IT services.
  • vCenter Operations Management Suite — vCenter Operations Management Suite automates operations management with its patented analytics, working alongside an integrated approach to performance, capacity and configuration management.
  • vCenter Log Insight — vCenter Log Insight delivers automated log management through aggregation, analytics and search while providing operational intelligence and enterprise-wide visibility in dynamic hybrid cloud environments.
  • IT Business Management — IT Business Management Suite gives CIOs the transparency they need to make the right decisions when transforming, and aligning, IT with the business.
  • vSphere Data Protection Advanced — vSphere Data Protection Advanced is a fast, reliable backup and recovery solution featuring built-in backup data replication for virtual machines and mission-critical applications within a simple, integrated management system.
  • Horizon DaaS Platform — Designed for Service Providers, the new Horizon DaaS Platform delivers Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service to any user, anywhere on any device.

You can reach out to sales@softwareone.com to learn more!

Thanks!

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on March 21, 2014 in VM Ware VSPP

 

Hosting Summit Recap

21 Mar

Here are a few highlights and announcements from this year’s hosting summit.

Thanks for reading!

SPLA Man

 
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Posted by on March 21, 2014 in In My Opinion

 

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New April 2014 SPUR

03 Mar

Check it out – http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=3&DocumentTypeId=2

 

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2014 in Uncategorized

 
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