Other Licensing Notes in this series:
Virtualizing IE6
Upgrade Paths for Virtualization
Nov. 22, 2010
By Paul DeGroot
Principal Consultant
Pica Communications
This article represents the opinion of the author and is not endorsed by Microsoft.
Software Assurance and Virtualization
For most practical purposes, especially for large organizations that want to deploy virtual desktops in some quantity, Software Assurance (SA) is Microsoft's chosen licensing vehicle. The core problem that it solves is this: where do I get the exra OS license I need for a virtual operating system environment (OSE)? SA solves that problem at lower cost and with greater flexibility than most of the other available options.
First, let's review some basics about purchasing SA on the desktop:
- SA is an add-on to a license, which can be an OEM, retail, or volume upgrade license. (Microsoft does not sell full desktop OS licenses through volume licensing programs.)
- SA must be purchased at the time that the underlying license is purchased, with the exception of OEM and retail licenses, where the customer has 90 days from the date of the license purchase to add SA to it.
- SA is an subscription, and it nominally costs 29% per year of what the customer paid for their desktop OS software. However, the desktop is an exception in several respects and 29% is the least a customer might pay; in some scenarios (such as OEM licenses and Enterprise Agreement renewals) it can hit more than 45% per year of what the customer paid for the license.
- SA has the same term as the volume agreement under which it is purchased, with the exception of Select Plus, where SA is always purchased for three years. (Select Plus does not have an agreement term.) When the agreement or SA term expires, SA rights expire as well but can be renewed.
- Some volume licensing programs (Enterprise Agreements, Open Value) require the purchase of SA with every license. Subscription licensing programs (Enterprise Agreement Subscription, Open Value Subscription) also include all SA virtualization rights and benefits for the term of the subscription.
When assigned to the desktop (applied to the physical desktop device, to be specific), SA offers the following virtualization rights:
- Remotely access, from the licensed device, up to four OS instances running in virtual OSEs on a server (the customer does not need to separately purchase licenses for the server-based OSEs as long as they are accessed only from devices with "active SA coverage" on the OS)
- Run up to four instances of the OS in virtual OSEs on the licensed device
- Run two instances of the software on the licensed physical device
- Purchase the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (DOP), which includes licenses for Microsoft's App-V and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) virtualization products.
This article represents the opinion of the author and is not endorsed by Microsoft.
Paul DeGroot is principal consultant at Pica Communications, which provides training and consulting services related to Microsoft licensing.
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