SCCM Licensing

[smarties11]

Hi,

 

We are looking to move to SCCM as our deployment solution for Windows 10. We have used fat images and Ghost over the years but are taking a new OS rollout as an opportunity to move to a zero-touch, thin deployment system.

 

As I understand it, the client CALs are included with the EES desktop pack and therefore we don't need to licence client endpoints.

 

We won't be using SCCM for server deployment, but we may use it for WSUS. Do I therefore need to license all physical/virtual servers with a server endpoint license? Or can I get away with licensing just the SCCM server?

 

Lastly, does the server endpoint license cover just ConfigMgr or the whole System Center suite?

 

I've spoken to our the company who provide our EES agreement however we've got a new account manager and they aren't quite as clued up on MS licensing as our old one was, so I just want to make sure I know what is required before ordering.

 

Thanks!

[sparkeh]

So from your description it certainly *sounds* like you only need the sccm server licence. The device cals are included in the desktop pack and you aren’t managing servers.

 

The configmanager licence will allow you to use sccm only.

 

However, seek other opinions as well [emoji3]

[Norphy]

If you’re going to be using ConfigMgr to manage updates on the server rather than plain WSUS, you will need to buy a System Center license for your servers.

 

If you buy a data centre license for your virtual hosts, this will cover each VM that’s on the host.

[smarties11]

Thanks for the clarity. I'll see how expensive the licenses are but in that case it might make more sense to handle server updates independently of ConfigMgr. We only have around a dozen servers.

[Norphy]

You do get a lot more flexibility when you manage updates through ConfigMgr, much better scheduling etc. And if you buy a System Center license you can use the entire suite on the machines including Operations Manager and Data Protection Manager (the latter is a mixed bag admittedly).

 

However, if you don't care about any of that and think that WSUS is good enough for your needs that's fine too.

[smarties11]

Thanks! Do you know how much a System Center licence is in comparison to just a ConfigMgr one?

 

And also at what point it makes economical sense to buy Datacentre licenses for either System Centre / ConfigMgr as opposed to indvidual server licenses? Our two virtual hosts run 6 VMs each so wasn't sure whether to ask for 2 datacentre licenses or individual licenses for the 12 VMs

[Norphy]

Thanks! Do you know how much a System Center licence is in comparison to just a ConfigMgr one?

 

There's no such thing as a ConfigMgr license, just a System Center one. If you want ConfigMgr to manage your servers, you need to buy a System Center license. However, ConfigMgr CALs and the right to run it on one server is usually included in desktop CAL bundle with EES so you have the right to run ConfigMgr on your clients without having to buy additional System Center licenses.

 

And also at what point it makes economical sense to buy Datacentre licenses for either System Centre / ConfigMgr as opposed to indvidual server licenses? Our two virtual hosts run 6 VMs each so wasn't sure whether to ask for 2 datacentre licenses or individual licenses for the 12 VMs

 

A System Center Standard license will cover the host plus two VMs. If you want to cover all of your VMs, you would need six System Center Standard licenses. As to which would make more economic sense, I'm afraid that's a question you'll have to ask your favourite MS reseller.

 

System Center licenses are licensed per core, not per server. MS sell them in bundles of two and you have to buy at least 8 bundles of two per server as MS seem to assume your servers don't have less than 16 cores. The last time I got a quote, a 2 core System Center Standard license was £7.41, a Datacenter license was £20.39.

 

For Standard, to cover a single 16 core server, that would be about £60 for the host plus two VMs. To cover the remaining four VMs, you'd have to buy two more of these bundles for an extra £120 so £180 per server to cover all of your VMs. £360 for both servers.

 

For Datacenter, you'd pay approx £163 to cover the host and all of its VMs. So it'd cost you less and you'd get the flexibility to add more VMs when you need to. £326.24 to cover both servers.

 

***These prices were got about 18 months ago, don't take them as gospel now***

Edited March 12, 2018 by Norphy

[smarties11]

Hi Norphy,

 

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately our incumbent EES supplier have given us a new account manager who isn't really up to speed like our old one was. They had told me that I needed a ConfigMgr license rather than a System Center one, so I had assumed you could buy the individual components or the whole bundle.

 

From what you are saying it seems our best bet then is to buy System Center data centre licenses for our VM Hosts, standard licenses for our three physical servers and then we'll be covered for the whole System Center suite including Ops Manager and DPM?

 

I didn't realise the server licenses were so cheap!

[Norphy]

Microsoft have a habit of changing their licenses but as I understand it, what I've told you is correct. It might be worth going to another EES supplier to get a second opinion, I'm by no means an expert on MS licensing.

 

From what you are saying it seems our best bet then is to buy System Center data centre licenses for our VM Hosts, standard licenses for our three physical servers and then we'll be covered for the whole System Center suite including Ops Manager and DPM?

 

That's exactly what my organisation has done, albeit with more licenses because we have more servers. You will be covered for the entire System Center suite under those circumstances.

[smarties11]

Fab, thanks Norphy, appreciate your help.

 

I will be going to at least another two suppliers for comparison quotes but just wanted to ensure our incumbent quote was correct first for a benchmark otherwise it gets messy. I had that problem when the server 2016 licensing model came out, our incumbent (a different company to now) quoted and then I was getting mixed messages about the requirements from other suppliers!

 

Will be interesting to take a proper look at DPM (I know the opinions vary on this product) as we are currently using Backup Exec for our virtuals and physicals and the renewal for that is this summer. I had been looking at Veaam but it's twice as expensive based on one suppliers quote!

[Norphy]

My opinion on DPM isn't printable. Lets just say that it and I fell out entirely when it decided it wanted to stop backing things up at all. The college I worked for at the time switched over to ArcServe UDP which I liked a lot. The MAT I'm working for now uses Veeam which is also pretty good but on balance, I still prefer ArcServe.

 

In a fight between DPM and BUE, well... No, I'm not going there.

[smarties11]

Haha! That doesn't inspire me with confidence. To be fair, our Backup Exec licensing is only £1k a year and my experiences with it are generally quite good. Veeam is definitely faster and does a lot of nice things that BE doesn't, but BE does the job for now.

[markwilfan]

I use infrastructure cals to licence servers. They include the os licence and system centre licence

 

Costs me about 90 quid per physical server to licence with the infrastructure Cals with this part

 

9GA-00330

 

Microsoft EDU CORE INFR SRV STE STD

 

And 400 quid per datacenter with this one

 

9GS-00160

 

Microsoft EDU CORE INFR SRV STE DAC

 

I think that's pretty good value tbh