microsoft - MSDN and Partner Program

[andy.scott]

MSDN Subscription licenses can be used in production and any other non-test environment as long as it is owned by your company.

Action Pack licenses are for internal use (by the company that owns them) only.

Technet licenses are for testing only.

One point is that MSDN is per user, see here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/subscriptions/cc150618.aspx

 

[andy.scott]

Hi,

Sorry, just to confrim...

We can use the MDSN licenses to up the amount to server licenses as long as the MSDN subscription is owned by the company??

If thats right, how many can we use?

I can get one from the partner program but I need another 4. Is that too many to get from the MSDN subscription?

Sorry for all the question but the partner website really isn't clear.

MSDN and partner licenses are very different; MSDN is always per user.

If you can get one from the Partner program, get the other 4 from there too; don't use MSDN.

 

[Goksly]

No - you should be using the downloads in a test environment only.
MSDN/Technet is not a way of getting free licenses.
It's a way of being able to create vast test environments without the need to splash out on licenses before you have time to test everything.

Surely its different based on what you are using it for? For example, one of the items on the MSDN is visual studio - now I don't use that with test environments. I might build something with it and deploy to a test environment... but I use it to develop at home and at work. So surely the MSDN key covers that:

MSDN subscriptions are licensed on a per-user basis. One person can use the software to design, develop, test, or demonstrate his or her programs on any number of devices. Each person who uses the software this way needs a license.

So I use the same keys at home and work for windows 7 / sql server / visual studio. Thought that would be legit?

 

[andy.scott]

Surely its different based on what you are using it for? For example, one of the items on the MSDN is visual studio - now I don't use that with test environments. I might build something with it and deploy to a test environment... but I use it to develop at home and at work. So surely the MSDN key covers that:
So I use the same keys at home and work for windows 7 / sql server / visual studio. Thought that would be legit?

It's a can of worms, indeed!

If you have a PC that is solely for development use and you have an MSDN suscription, you could run Windows and Visual Studio on that. If you use that PC to do anything else, such as play a game, MSDN does not cover you for that OS any more but would for VS. This is my understanding of it, which maybe wrong!