Licensing

• To license System Center, license the servers or clients (non-server OSs) being managed. No additional licenses are needed for management servers or for SQL Server technology used in System Center.
  • Server OSs being managed use core-based licensing.
  • Clients (non-server OSs) being managed use either user-based or operating system environment (OSE)-based licenses.

Editions

• Server OSs can be licensed with either Standard (for managing non-virtualized or lightly virtualized servers) or Datacenter (for managing highly virtualized servers) licenses. The only difference between the editions is the number of operating system environments (OSEs) that you can manage when all physical cores on the server are licensed. Datacenter edition allows for the management of any number of OSEs (virtual machines or Hyper-V containers) when all physical cores on the server are licensed. Standard edition allows for the management of up to two OSEs (virtual machines or Hyper-V containers) when all physical cores on the server are licensed. Datacenter and Standard edition both allow for the management of any number of Windows Server Containers.
  • System Center Server Management components are part of an integrated offering to create and manage private cloud environments and are not available separately. They are available only as part of System Center Standard and System Center Datacenter server management licenses. These are the System Center components licensed by either the Standard or Datacenter editions:
    • Configuration Manager
    • Data Protection Manager
    • Endpoint Protection
    • Operations Manager
    • Service Manager
    • Virtual Machine Manager
• Client (non-server) OSs can be licensed for the individual System Center components.
  • These System Center components are licensed for all UW-owned non-server OSs under our Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions:
    • Configuration Manager
    • Virtual Machine Manager
    • Endpoint Protection
  • These System Center components are available for purchase for the management of non-server OSs:
    • Data Protection Manager
    • Operations Manager
    • Service Manager

Software Assurance (SA)

• System Center licenses are only available with software assurance.

How many licenses do I need to buy?

• Only buy licenses for the machines being managed.
  • For Server OSs, each license SKU available for purchase licenses two physical cores on the server being managed. All cores must be licensed. Microsoft requires a minimum of eight license SKUs per server, which would license 16 cores. This is consistent with the Windows Server model.
  • For Client OSs, each license SKU licenses either one OSE or one user.
• Licensing by virtual machine - this is a new option for licensing that Microsoft now offers as of October 2022. You can find full information about this program at this link: https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/129462

System Center licenses can be purchased on the Software Order Form.