微软高管详解微软云许可证政策变化
查看评论  发表评论2011年05月23日 09:28分         作者：胡杨编译     来源：网界网摘要：从7月1日开始，微软客户将能够使用自己当前的许可证协议把服务器应用程序从内部数据中心迁移到云计算服务，而且在7月1日之后签署的合同将提供同样的好处。 标签：微软  云计算  windows 【CNW.com.cn独家译稿】从7月1日开始，微软客户将能够使用自己当前的许可证协议把服务器应用程序从内部数据中心迁移到云计算服务，而且在7月1日之后签署的合同将提供同样的好处。但是，微软称之为“许可证移动性”的东西将仅提供给为“软件保证计划”支付额外费用的客户。软件保证计划的费用比许可证的费用高出近一倍。此外，虽然许可证移动性将适用于服务器应用程序，但是，它不影响服务器操作系统本身。下面是这些变化的细节以及这些变化可能对你产生的影响。换句话说，客户将得到SQL Server、Exchange、SharePoint、Lync、系统中心和Dynamics CRM等软件方面的好处。但是，要在云服务中运行一个windows服务器实例的客户不能使用自己当前的许可证。虽然许多客户确实在云服务中运行Windows服务器实例，但是，微软官员马克·克罗夫特(Mark Croft)称，Windows服务器许可证一般是由托管公司提供的。微软全球许可证产品管理主管克罗夫特称，这里的想法是，在Windows服务器水平上，基础设施托管公司已经提供这个结构和一些水平的高级的虚拟化。我们认为，这个基础设施层主要是这个托管公司的环境。最有价值的情况是让人们随处迁移自己的工作量。采用亚马逊的弹性计算云(微软Windows Azure的最大竞争对手)，客户只需为访问Windows实例按小时付费，不必担心从微软购买许可证。但是，Exchange、SQL服务器等那些服务器应用程序是客户在内部运行的应用程序，并且要把这些应用程序迁移到Rackspace等云服务中。克罗夫特称，没有许可证移动性，没有购买新的许可证就把工作量迁移到云服务中客户是违反规定的。要遵守规定，你就要让托管公司代表你购买这些许可证。克罗夫特称，从7月1日开始，客户能够利用他们已经拥有的现有的内部安装的应用程序，把这些应用程序安应用到托管的基础设施。当然，托管公司仍然负责从托管费中收取这些应用程序。但是，我们通过允许这种移动性从这个成本等式中取出了一个重要的部分。据在《网络世界》微软子网上发表博客文章的许可证顾问辛西娅·法伦(Cynthia Farren)称，除了提供购买软件保证的刺激因素之外，适用于云应用程序的许可证移动性将使云计算成为机构的更方便的选择，肯定会增加利用这个机会的机构的数量。然而，法伦表示，我希望看到许可证移动性也扩大到Windows服务器操作系统。微软在今年3月预览的最终用户许可证变化并且在本月举行的一年一度的Tech-Ed北美会议上进一步讨论了这个问题。微软与云托管公司之间还有另外一个许可证协议，也就是SPLA(服务提供商许可证协议)协议。微软在今年1月下调了大多数SPLAWindows服务器许可证价格，并且宣布在7月份提供更优惠的价格和减少对工作量的限制。微软在10月份将进一步调整最终用户和服务提供商许可证。根据产品、用户数量和客户的谈判技巧，客户许可证价格有很大差别。不过，7月1日是微软下一财年的开始和当前这个财年结束的时候。这是用户在谈判合同的时候让销售人员做出让步的好时机。Exchange Server 2010标准版的标价是700美元。企业版的标价是4000美元。法伦表示，作为一个一般的规律，增加软件保证不会把许可证的价格提高一倍，不过，会显著增加这个成本。适用于服务器的软件保证一般是一个许可证成本的25%乘以三年，并且是一个应用程序许可证成本的28%。因此，带软件保证的三年期服务器合同是这个许可证成本的175%。带软件保证的三年应用程序合同是这个许可证成本的184%。克罗夫特称，带软件保证的企业协议通常适用于拥有250个以上用户和设备的企业客户。因此，没有批量许可证协议的小客户如果决定把工作量从内部数据中心迁移到一个云服务中就必须再次付费。这显然是吸引用户升级的一个胡萝卜。但是，软件保证确实还有其它好处，例如，在三年时间里保证可以升级到新版本产品。当问到微软为什么不把许可证移动性的好处扩大到较小的客户的问题时，克罗夫特称，我们认为他们应该是一个软件保证客户。云计算并不是影响微软许可证政策的唯一的增长的技术。服务器虚拟化的普及已经说服微软通过所谓的“数据中心版”Windows服务器许可证提供没有限制的虚拟化权限。这个许可证价格更高，但是，不限制能够安装在物理主机上的虚拟机的数量。更多的变化将实现虚拟化和云环境中的更多的移动性是合乎情理的。但是，如果这会影响微软的话，微软不会走得太远。克罗夫特称，我们目前没有任何计划要进一步修改移动性。我们将从企业客户的观点继续密切观察这个应用。还有许多客户应用了解的其它一些许可证变化。这个企业协议将扩展到Office 365、Windows Intune和Dynamics CRM等软件，使一些微软的云服务有资格提供批量许可证。系统中心顾问(System Center Advisor)和Windows Thin PC也在增强软件保证。系统中心顾问是一项云服务，用于评估服务器配置以避免出现问题。Windows Thin PC是用于瘦客户机的简装版和更安全版本的Windows 7。Windows Thin PC在今年推出了测试版，将在本季度末广泛提供。 本文转载自企业级IT信息服务平台-网界网-CNW.com.cn
原文地址：http://www.cnw.com.cn/news-international/htm2011/20110523_225106.shtml You are viewing Insider content. Browse other Insider articles

Microsoft's cloud licensing changes: what you need to know

Take your Microsoft server apps to the cloud with license mobility

By Jon Brodkin, Network World
May 18, 2011 05:05 PM ET

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Starting July 1, Microsoft customers will be able to use their current license agreements to move server applications from internal data centers to cloud computing services, and contracts signed after that date will offer the same benefit.

But what Microsoft calls "license mobility" will only be available to customers who pay extra for Software Assurance, which can nearly double the cost of a license. Also, while the license mobility will apply to server applications, it won't affect the server operating system itself.

Here are the details of the changes and how they might affect you.

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Starting July 1, Microsoft customers will be able to use their current license agreements to move server applications from internal data centers to cloud computing services, and contracts signed after that date will offer the same benefit.

But what Microsoft calls "license mobility" will only be available to customers who pay extra for Software Assurance, which can nearly double the cost of a license. Also, while the license mobility will apply to server applications, it won't affect the server operating system itself.

Here are the details of the changes and how they might affect you.

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In other words, customers will gain the benefit for SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, System Center and Dynamics CRM. But customers who want to spin up a Windows Server instance in a cloud service would not be able to use their current licenses.

Although numerous customers do run Windows Server instances in cloud services, Microsoft official Mark Croft said the Windows Server license is typically provided by the hosting company.

"The idea here is that on the Windows Server level, infrastructure hosters already provide the fabric, if you will, and some level of sophisticated virtualization," says Croft, director of product management for worldwide licensing. "The infrastructure layer, we think, is very the much the hoster environment. The most valuable scenario is to let people move their workloads around."

With Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud - the largest competitor to Microsoft's Windows Azure - customers simply pay Amazon on a per-hour basis for access to Windows instances, and don't have to worry about purchasing a license from Microsoft.

But those server applications - Exchange, SQL Server etc. - are ones that customers have running internally and may want to lift up and move to, say, the Rackspace cloud service. Without license mobility, a customer that moves a workload to a cloud service without purchasing a new license would be out of compliance, Croft says. "To be in compliance, you would have gone to the hoster and have the hoster buy those licenses on your behalf," he says.

But starting July 1, "customers can just take those existing on-prem investments they already have and simply deploy them on a hosted infrastructure," Croft says. Of course, "the hoster is still in charge of how they want to cost out that hosting fee. But we've taken a major element out of the cost equation by allowing this mobility."

In addition to providing incentive to purchase Software Assurance, license mobility for cloud applications will "make cloud computing an easier decision for organizations which will absolutely increase the number who take advantage of it," according to licensing consultant Cynthia Farren, who blogs for Network World's Microsoft Subnet.

However, Farren adds that "I would like to see this extended to the Windows Server OS as well."

Microsoft previewed the end-user licensing changes in March and discussed them further this month at the annual Tech-Ed North America conference. 

Microsoft has separate licensing agreements for cloud hosters, known as SPLAs (service provider license agreements). Microsoft lowered the price for most SPLA Windows Server licenses in January, has announced more affordable packages and an easing of workload restrictions for July, and could make further adjustments to both end-user and service provider licenses in October.

Prices vary widely for customer licenses, depending on the product, number of users and the customer's skill in negotiating. July 1, by the way, is the start of Microsoft's next fiscal year, and the end of the current fiscal year is a good time for customers to wring concessions out of salespeople while negotiating contracts.

List pricing for Exchange Server 2010 Standard Edition is $700 and the Enterprise Edition is $4,000.

As a general rule of thumb, adding Software Assurance will not quite double the cost of a license but will add substantially to it. Software Assurance for servers is typically 25% of the cost of a license, multiplied by three years, and 28% of the cost of a license for an application, according to Farren. A three-year server contract with Software Assurance is therefore 175% of the license cost, and a three-year application contract with Software Assurance is 184% of the license cost.

Enterprise agreements with Software Assurance are usually applicable to customers with 250 or more users and devices, Croft says.

Smaller customers without volume licensing agreements therefore have to pay again if they decide to move a workload from an in-house data center to a cloud service. It's obviously a carrot to get customers to upgrade, but Software Assurance does come with other benefits, such as guaranteed upgrades to new versions of products for three years.

When asked why Microsoft isn't extending license mobility benefits to smaller customers, Croft says "we think they should be a Software Assurance customer."

Cloud computing isn't the only growing technology that is affecting Microsoft license policies. The spread of server virtualization convinced Microsoft to offer unlimited virtualization rights through the so-called "Datacenter Edition" Windows Server license, which costs more but doesn't limit the number of virtual machines that can be installed on a physical host.

It stands to reason that more changes are coming to enable greater mobility across virtualization and cloud environments, but Microsoft won't go too far if it starts to affect profit margins.

"We don't have any plans on record" to make further mobility changes, Croft says. "We're certainly going to be keenly watching the adoption from an enterprise customer point of view."

There are also a few other changes to Microsoft licensing agreements that customers should be aware of. The Enterprise Agreement is being expanded to Office 365, Windows Intune and Dynamics CRM, making several Microsoft cloud services eligible for volume licensing.

Software Assurance is also being bolstered with System Center Advisor, a cloud service for assessing server configurations to avoid problems, and Windows Thin PC, a stripped-down, more secure version of Windows 7 designed for thin clients. Windows Thin PC was launched in beta this year and will become widely available by the end of this quarter.  

Follow Jon Brodkin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jbrodkin

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.