Alexander’s Blog

When I am teaching classes, my students sometimes ask me questions about licensing for various Microsoft products. Back in the NT days, it was relatively easy to tell students how the licensing worked because there were only a few options. In recent years, it seems easier to get a PhD in Nuclear Physics then to try and understand licensing for Microsoft products. In fact, the licensing has become so complicated to understand that I doubt if even Microsoft sales people have all the answers to our questions.

Luckily, Microsoft has this Volume Licensing portal which is very helpful. Microsoft deserves credit for creating this Web site full of useful information. Consider it a Microsoft licensing encyclopedia. Besides other great information, it also includes an online Microsoft Licensing Advisor (MLA). This advisor is a wizard that walks you through your particular scenario and gives you a quote.

SharePoint Licensing

SharePoint licensing is a bit more complicated because it involves Windows Server and SQL Server in addition to SharePoint Server. If you are looking for SharePoint licensing, this SharePoint Licensing Q&A is a great resource.

Another good resource for SharePoint is a third-party tool called SharePoint Price Calculator from Bamboo Solutions. This is not a licensing tool but it helps you figure out the total cost of SharePoint and its related products, such as Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

SharePoint 2010 can be used to set up intranet, extranet, and Internet sites.

Intranet sites are licensed using a Server/CAL (Client Access License) model. SharePoint Server 2010 is required for each running instance of the software, and CALs are required for each person or device accessing a SharePoint Server.

Extranet and Internet sites are licensed using a Server-only model—no CALs are required.

Here are some additional details from Microsoft’s Web site.

SharePoint Server 2010: Intranet Scenarios

Client Access License

The Standard CAL delivers the core capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

• Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites
• Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform
• Content: ECM for the Masses
• Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People (excludes FAST Search)
• Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (excludes Access Services and InfoPath Services)

For more details on the specific features in the Standard CAL, see Edition Comparison.

Enterprise Client Access License

The Enterprise CAL delivers the full capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

• Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites
• Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform
• Content: ECM for the Masses
• Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People includes FAST Search)
• Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (includes Access Services and InfoPath Services)
• Insights: BI for Everyone (includes PerformancePoint Services, Excel Services, and Visio Services)

Note that the Enterprise CAL is additive: To access the Enterprise edition features, a person/device must have both the Standard CAL and Enterprise CAL. For more details on the specific features in the Enterprise CAL, see Edition Comparison.

SharePoint Server 2010: Internet/Extranet Scenarios

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard

SharePoint for Internet Sites, Standard, delivers the core capabilities of the SharePoint 2010 Standard CAL for use on an Internet or extranet site. This server license is designed for small and mid-sized companies, and deployment is limited to a single domain and related subdomains. A domain is a combination of a public domain (such as .com, .net, .org) and a second-level, proprietary domain (such as MyCompany, MyOrganization, MyClub). Examples of valid domains are MyCompany.com, MyOrganization.net, and MyClub.org. Subdomains are any URL prefixes to the left of the second-level domains.

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise

SharePoint for Internet Sites, Enterprise, delivers the full capabilities of the SharePoint 2010 Enterprise CAL for use on an Internet or extranet site. This server license also includes the rights to FAST Search for use in Internet or extranet scenarios. You can deploy a single server license of SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise, as a SharePoint server or a FAST Search server—but not both concurrently.

If you don’t find answers to all your questions on Microsoft’s Web site, you can contact Microsoft in United States at 800-426-9400. In Canada, contract Microsoft representative at 877-568-2495.

Summary of Resources

1. Volume Licensing Portal
2. Microsoft Licensing Advisor
3. SharePoint Licensing Resources
4. SharePoint Licensing Q&A
5. SharePoint Price Calculator

Microsoft SQL Server licensing provides the option to purchase SQL Server 2008 R2 under a Server/CAL licensing model with a server operating system license and incremental Client Access Licenses (CALs), or a Per Processor license model.

NOTE: The following table provides guidance on estimated Open NL level pricing for U.S. and Canadian editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 offered in the Volume Licensing program. These prices were posted on Microsoft’s Web site on March 1, 2011. For current pricing information please visit Microsoft’s Web site.

* SQL Server Datacenter and SQL Server Web are offered in the VL Channel Only

- Unless otherwise noted, all editions are licensed in the Volume Licensing (VL) and Retail Full Packaged Product (FPP) sales channels.

- Estimated prices are provided in US dollars and are representative of Open NL level pricing for a company purchasing a small number of licenses via volume licensing distribution partners in the United States.

- Software Assurance prices are annual estimates for comparative purposes only.

- Actual reseller pricing may vary.

- To find the Microsoft Web site for your country/region, visit the Worldwide sites page.

The other day I was installing the AdventureWorks sample database for SQL Server 2008 R2 SR1from CodePlex. When I executed the AdventureWorks2008R2_SR1.exe file the installation wizard started as normal.

On the next screen, the Installation Instance box was empty.

I was logged in with an account that was a member of the Administrators group. I use this account (SP_Admin) to manage SharePoint Server 2010 on a Hyper-V image that we use to teach SharePoint 2010 classes for my company. I tried a few additional things, including enabling FILESTREAM for Transact-SQL access for the default SQL instance (SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Server Services -> SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) -> Properties -> FILESTREAM tab -> Enable FILESTREAM for Transact-SQL access) but nothing worked.

I realized that the account that had the sysadmin server role was the Administrator account on the server which runs Active Directory, SQL Server 2008 R2 and SharePoint Server 2010. I had a couple of choices. I could have logged in as the Administrator account and installed AdventureWorks, or I could give the SP_Admin account the sysadmin role for the SQL Server. I decided to take the easy rout since this is not a production server and added SP_Admin to the sysadmin server role. After that I was able to see the Default instance in the installation wizard and the path was pointing to the correct location.

I was able to successfully install AdventureWorks sample databases that we use in our SharePoint 2010 Bootcamp demos.

My students are always asking me where to get the evaluation copies of various Microsoft products. I’ve put together a list of some of the latest software evaluation downloads. My goal is to try and keep this list updated but frankly it is going to be challenging because Microsoft is known for changing the URLs without any redirection. Here is a list of either free or trial editions of some of the popular Microsoft products. A typical Microsoft evaluation software includes a 180-day trial but some are limited to 60 or 90 days.

1. Exchange Server 2010 (120-Day Trial)
2. Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 (180-day Trial)
3. Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 (180-day Trial)
4. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (180-Day Trial)
5. Office Professional Plus 2010 (60-day Trial)
6. Project Professional 2010 (60-day Trial)
7. SharePoint Foundation 2010 (Free)
8. SharePoint Server 2010 (180-day Trail)
9. Small Business Server 2008 (60-day Trial)
10. SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (180-day Trial)
11. SQL Server 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)
12. System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 (180-day Trial)
13. System Center Essentials 2010 (180-day Trial)
14. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)
15. Visio Premium 2010 (60-day Trial)
16. Windows 7 Enterprise (90-day Trial)
17. Windows Server 2008 R2 (180-day Trial)

WARNING! I should warn you that sometimes when you download a trial software you may think that you are opting out of receiving phone calls and e-mails from Microsoft but you are not. For more information read my blog post: When Microsoft Says No, It May Mean Yes.

Microsoft offers more free products to consumers than any software manufacturer I know. And I am not talking about free evaluation software, I am talking about free tools, utilities and various products and services. Besides software, Microsoft offers these free TechNet and MSDN labs. These are a series of guided, hands-on labs which can be completed in 90 minutes or less. SharePoint Foundation 2010, which I included in the above list for convenience, is a free product from Microsoft. In the past, it was known as Windows SharePoint Services (WSS).

Last Updated: May 27, 2011

Have you ever received a warning message when installing SQL Server 2005 that indicates that you do not have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed, even though you have and it is working perfectly fine? I ran into a similar situation when I was installing SQL Server 2005 Enterprise x64 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 edition. Here’s what the warning message looked like. Notice that the warning is related to the IIS Feature Requirement and ASP.NET Version Registration Requirement.

If you don’t have all the components required by SQL Server 2005 on the server, you will get the above warning message. There are a couple of IIS 6 compatibility components that must be installed, such as IIS Metabase Compatibility and IIS 6 WMI Compatibility. These are both listed in the section IIS 6 Management Compatibility that’s located under Mangement Tools section. You can install these components by going to Roles, Add Role Services in the Server Management console in Windows Server 2008.

You may also have to start the ASP.NET State Service. You can verify that all the required services have started in the Server Manager console by clicking on Web Server (IIS) under Roles. Look in the System Services section to verify that all required services have started. If not, go to Services console (Start, Run, services.msc) and start the services.

This KB article describes the issues in more detail. Although, the KB article mentions the Server Core edition of Windows Server 2008, you may experience this issue on other versions of Windows Server 2008 as well. In my case I was using Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64.

After you add the two services that I’ve mentioned above, the installation should continue smoothly and you should see the following screen indicating success for all the installed features.

Don’t forget to install the latest Service Pack for SQL Server 2005 before using the SQL Server. At the time of writing, SP3 was the latest version.

Missing SQL Server Management Studio

While configuring SQL Server, another issue that you may run into is that you may not find the SQL Server Management Studio after the installation. Whether it’s the lack of knowledge (I admit I am not a SQL Server expert) or poor design and documentation on part of Microsoft, this has been a source for confusion and frustation for lots of people all over the world. Different techniques work for different folks. Check out Pete Orologas’ blog for various solutions. I ran SqlRun_Tools.msi from the source CD (Tools\Setup folder) and installed the SQL Management Studio. When you double-click the file to run the executable, the SQL Management Studio is located under Client Components, Magement Tools. I also installed the Connectivity Components and all the features listed under Documentation, Samples, and Sample Databases.

Hopefully these tips will help you get your SQL Server 2005 up and running with all the necessary features included.