SBS On Ramp Session 3: Understanding SBS 2003, Sales Options and Licensing - Questions and Answers

This session was presented by Eric Ligman on April 6th.

You can view the recording of this session in its entirety HERE

 

If you are asking yourself, "Is this session worth watching, even if I read through these Q&As?" here are the average ratings given to the session by the hundreds of attendees who saw it live. The rating scale is 1-9 with 1 being lowest and 9 being highest:

 

1) I will be able to apply the knowledge and skills learned in this event to my job: 8.09

2) The material presented was appropriate to my needs: 8.06

3) This training will improve my job performance: 7.89

4) The presenter was effective: 8.04

5) Everything considered, I was satisfied with this seminar: 7.91

6) Of all of the attendees, 97% or them said they would recommend this event to others

 

These are the Questions and Answers from the Understanding SBS 2003, Sales Options and Licensing Live Meeting sessions I gave.


Question: I missed yesterday's meeting. When will the recorded version be available?

Answer: The sessions will be available within 48 hours


Question: When is Eric moving back to Chicago? We miss him!!!!!

Answer: Although I miss Chicago as well, there are no current plans to relocate (again) in the near future. I will be back to visit from time to time.


Question: When might we start seeing the leads?

Answer: If there are leads in your area, you should start seeing them toward the end of April.


Question: If I make up session 2 by seeing the recording (and of course I am here today), will I qualify for leads?

Answer: Yes. Also, please make sure you use the same email alias when you register and log in to webcasts.


Question: If I make up session 2 by seeing the recording (and of course I am here today), will I qualify for leads?

Answer: Yes. Also, please make sure you use the same email alias when you register and log in to webcasts.


Question: Do printers count as devices for CALs?

Answer: No. Printers are not client devices; therefore, they do not require CALs.


Question: Does someone coming in over the Internet to access the SharePoint site (as normal Internet user, not accessing Email, etc.) need a CAL?

Answer: If they authenticate, they need a CAL. If they access SharePoint anonymously, they don't need a CAL


Question: Does someone coming in over the Internet to access the SharePoint site (as normal Internet user, not accessing Email, etc.) need a CAL?

Answer: If they authenticate, they need a CAL. If they access SharePoint anonymously, they don't need a CAL


Question: Can you use terminal services on SBS2003?

Answer: Terminal Services is installed in Remote Admin mode. You cannot install it on the SBS server in Application mode. You can install it on a member server; however, the SBS cal does not include a Terminal Services CAL, so you would need to also acquire a Terminal Services CAL to access the Terminal Server.


Question: When choosing between User CALs and Device CALs, should we just choose the one that requires less licenses?

Answer: Yes, make the selection that best meets the needs of your client. Be sure you count the total number of Devices and Users though when making the calculation. For instance, if a User has a PC, a laptop, and a Pocket PC that they use to access the Server, then that would be three separate Device CALs that would be needed. In this scenario, a User CAL would probably be a better fit than a Device CAL.


Question: If you have users who are only using Outlook Web Access (OWA), do they need a license?

Answer: Yes. Anyone authenticating into SBS needs a CAL. OWA authenticates in.


Question: Does the Administrator count as a user for counting CALs

Answer: SBS includes two admin CALs that can be used specifically for administering the Server (not to be used in lieu of an SBS CAL for standard client access purposes) and these 2 Admin CALs are not counted toward your first 5 or others that you buy.


Question: What is the process for converting a SBS device CAL to a user CAL?

Answer: If you have Software Assurance for your Windows Small Business Server 2003 CALs, you can switch between User CALs and Device CALs, or vice versa, when you renew your Software Assurance. If you do not have Software Assurance for your Windows Small Business Server 2003 CALs, then you cannot switch. If you have a Small Business Platform SKU Agreement for your company, then the SBS CALs you receive through that can be User CALs or Device CALs and can be switched whenever you choose throughout your Agreement.


Question: Would I need an SBS CAL for each mailbox if a user wanted to maintain separate mailboxes?

Answer: No, SBS is licensed by physical User or physical Device, not by mailboxes. So, if you had a single physical User that had 5 separate mailboxes, you would simply need 1 SBS User CAL for that physical User. Note that we are referring to physical users, not User log-in names in AD.


Question: How would the server know that all those logins for John Smith are 1 user? (From the John Smith Example slide showing a single physical user logging in as Johns, John_Smith, JSmith, etc.)

Answer: The server would not be able to differentiate that all of these separate login names are a single physical user; however, from a licensing perspective, you would only need 1 User CAL for Mr. John Smith (physical user), regardless of how many login names he uses.


Question: Don't Windows Servers come with standard 5 user license?

Answer: If you purchase a Windows Server through Retail Box Product, then yes, it will have 5 Windows Server CALs in the box; however, as a business, you should be acquiring your Windows Server licenses through a Volume Licensing program such as Open License. When you purchase Windows Server through Open License, whether Open Business or Open Value, you can purchase a Windows Server separately without any CALs, which would be a perfect fit as a member server in an SBS 2003 domain. SBS Servers always come standard with 5 SBS CALs.


Question: How are discount vendors getting aware with selling OEM software without hardware?

Answer: OEM software must be sold with a “fully-assembled computer system” per the terms of the System Builder Agreement. If you are a system builder, you can acquire OEM software through Authorized OEM Distributors for inclusion on machines you are building. So if an authorized OEM provider sells OEM software to a System Builder, they can do so without a fully-assembled computer system. You can see more about this on our Blog in these two entries:

- OEM Microsoft Office Licensing Changes You Need To Know About!

- OEM Microsoft Windows (including XP Pro and XP Home) Licensing Changes You Need To Know About!


Question: Can we buy a license with Software Assurance (SA)?

Answer: Yes. The Volume Licensing program you would want to utilize for any License + Software Assurance or Software Assurance purchases would be the Open Value Program.


Question: Can OEM product licenses be transferred to a non-profit organizations?

Answer: OEM licenses cannot be separated from the original machine they were acquired with. So, if you are donating your machines to a non-profit organization, any OEM software that came on that PC would have to be transferred to them as well. You could not just donate the OEM software though without the PC.


Question: When purchasing Open Value for a customer who wants to spread payments, who handles the collection of those payments?

Answer: Through the Open Value Program, you would purchase the first-year part # from the Volume Licensing desk at your distributor, you would add your standard mark-up to it, and you would sell it to your customer. Your customer would pay you and you would pay your distributor, just like any other purchase and sale you would make through distribution. For the second year, Microsoft will send a reminder to the distributor, you, and your customer that the second year payment is coming due. At this point, you would purchase the second-year part # from the Volume Licensing desk at your distributor, you would add your standard mark-up to it, and you would sell it to your customer. Your customer would pay you and you would pay your distributor, just like the first year. This would be the same process for the third-year payment as well. You can find more about this on the Open Value Order Process page on the Microsoft Partner site.


Question: Does Open Value require that every license in the company for the product covered must be purchased through Open Value?

Answer: No. You can purchase some or all of your licenses through the Open Value license program. The only time you would need to purchase all of a particular product licenses through Open Value would be if you were to choose a Company-Wide option. For instance, if you chose to take advantage of the Small Business Platform SKU, this is a Company-Wide Agreement; therefore, you would need to purchase one Small Business Platform SKU for every PC in your company. For any software not covered by the Small Business Platform SKU (Visio for instance), you could buy those one at a time through Open Value or any other Microsoft program.


Question: We buy servers from a system house. We typically get SBS pre-installed, can we still take advantage of the Open Value program?

Answer: Yes. You would have two options available to you.

1. You could choose to purchase your SBS licenses through Open Value first and have your System Builder install using your Open Value license instead of an OEM license.

2. You could purchase your SBS licenses OEM as you are now and then add the SBS Software Assurance on the OEM SBS license within 90 days of the OEM SBS purchase as shown in the “Adding SA Demo” we showed.

If you chose option #1 above, your SBS license would be a Volume License SBS, so it would be an electronic license that could never be lost. If you chose option #2 above, then you must be sure to retain all of your OEM proof of ownership components in order to qualify for your Software Assurance license you added to it.


Question: Is there a separate SKU (part #) for adding Software Assurance within the 90 days?