Licensing SBS 2011 And The Second Server Under SPLA

With the change in the product structure for SBS 2011 we have seen the way we license SBS under our Service Providers Licensing Agreement change as well.

With SBS 2008 we had a SKU for SBS 2008 Standard and SBS 2008 Premium as per the product’s structure.

With the advent of the SBS 2011 Premium Add-on things have changed both in the way things are licensed and the costs for products licensed.

• T72-01694: SBS 2011 Standard SAL
• Per user licensing for SBS 2011 Standard.
• 2XG-00481: SBS 2011 Premium Add-on SAL
• Per user licensing for the Premium Add-on
• P73-03408: Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard SAL
• Per user licensing for Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
• 6WC-00002: Windows Remote Desktop Services SAL (RDS access)
• For users accessing desktop OS VMs via RDP and SBS 2011 RD Gateway.
• For users accessing a Remote Desktop Services on the hosted SBS network.

If our hosted client has no need for SQL then we will be licensing both SBS 2011 Standard and Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.

For example, customers that only utilize Microsoft Office via RD RemoteApps would be licensed in this manner.

In relationship to the cost difference between the SBS 2008 Standard SKU and the SBS 2008 Premium SKU, the SBS 2011 Premium Add-on SKU is _a lot more expensive_ than the SBS 2008 Premium SKU.

To demonstrate using fictitious numbers:

• SBS 2008 SPLA licensing structure:
• SBS 2008 Standard SAL: $30/MTH
• Licenses one user to access SBS and its features.
• SBS 2008 Premium SAL: $45/MTH
• Licenses one user to access both SBS and the second server and their features. Included SQL access if needed.
• Difference between STD and Premium: $15/MTH/User
• SBS 2011 SPLA Licensing Structure:
• SBS 2011 Standard SAL: $30/MTH
• Licenses one user to access SBS and its features.
• SBS 2011 Premium Add-On SAL: $45/MTH
• Licenses one user to access the Premium Add-On second server and SQL only.
• Cost to license both SBS STD and Premium Add-On: $75/MTH
• Net increase in Premium feature access for the 2011 version: $30/MTH/User

While the actual price of each SKU is relatively low, that price change is way more than we can absorb for our existing SBS Premium hosted clients so we will unfortunately need to pass that cost on to them.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

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