MSDN - Is this legal?

subbass · 9 Sep 2014 at 18:44

Hi,

At work there is a third party who provide a software service bundled with a server and MS Server OS installed using a license from MSDN. I was told user CALs are bundled because they are part of the MS network...whatever that means. I'm guessing they have a MSDN account??

Information was relayed to me about Office could also be installed on the desktops because of the same reason (What!?)

I figured this account manager from this company was talking through their backside. I'm pretty sure that licenses from MSDN are not allowed for production use and only for development.

Am I 200% right that a MSDN server OS cannot be used in a production environment?

meandu229 · 9 Sep 2014 at 19:05

Yeah Im pretty sure of this, we use MSDN license on VMs to test addons and such against but our actual office needs a different license.

#Chri5# · 9 Sep 2014 at 21:51

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/cc150618.aspx

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. An MSDN subscription also allows the licensed user to evaluate the software and to simulate customer environments in order to diagnose issues related to his or her programs.

My understanding is no production use either. It's not licensed via SPLA instead?

Caged · 9 Sep 2014 at 21:53

The only thing that can be used in production is OEM, Retail, or Volume Licensing. SPLA is an edge case and prohibitively expensive if it's not being used by a service provider.

There is no way of legally licensing the users or devices that access that server other than CALs.

#Chri5# · 10 Sep 2014 at 09:35

Slightly nitpicking, but SQL Server has the option of Per Core licensing, which removes the need CALs.

wasc · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:57

Caged said:
The only thing that can be used in production is OEM, Retail, or Volume Licensing. SPLA is an edge case and prohibitively expensive if it's not being used by a service provider.

There is no way of legally licensing the users or devices that access that server other than CALs.

With SPLA, you need to own the hardware the licenses are installed on, so if the licenses are SPLA, it wouldn't be legal unless the company supplying the license is renting the computer to you but retains ownership.