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

I work with Hyper-V a lot. Recently I have been doing some work that required audio support inside the virtual machines (VMs) on my Windows Server 2008 R2 computers. Here’s the procedure you can use to enable audio support inside the VMs.

1. Login to the virtual machine.

2. Run the Services Console (Start, Run, services.msc).

3. Configure the Windows Audio service to start automatically and then start the service.

4. Go to Start, Administrative Tools, Remote Desktop Services, Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

5. Double-click RDP-Tcp in the Connections section.

6. Click Client Settings tab.

7. Clear the boxes Audio and video playback and Audio recording and then click OK.

8. Your audio should now work in the VM.

I recently ran into a situation where I wasn’t able to start virtual machines on a newly installed Windows Server 2008 R2 computer. After a little research I ran into the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2517374:

You cannot start virtual machines on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and on which a CPU is installed that supports the AVX feature

Here’s the scenario. I installed Windows Server 2008 R2 on a computer with an Intel CPU that supported the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) feature. I installed the Hyper-V server role and then imported a virtual machine. However, when I tried to start the virtual machine I received an error indicating that the virtual machine failed to initialize. I enabled hardware assisted virtualization in the BIOS but that didn’t help. I then found the KB251374 article and discovered that Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn’t support the AVX feature. Luckily, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds the support for AVX. Because my server was a brand new installation, I hadn’t installed SP1. As soon as I installed SP1 I was able to start the virtual machine.

The KB article also documents a workaround where you can force compatible CPU flags by setting a WMI property. However, the workaround has two issues that makes it a pain in the neck. I recommend you install SP1 rather than messing with a problematic workaround.