SBS 2011 Premium Add-on

bremen1874 · 2 Apr 2011 at 00:44

I’ve got a PE2900 III running SBS 2003 Premium. It’s stuck with the 4GB memory limitation and it’s really struggling.

I’m considering buying a new server running SBS 2011 with the Premium Add-on (OEM).

I’d like to keep the PE2900 (2 years of warranty left) and use the Server 2008 R2 license that comes with the Premium Add-on.

Is it possible? Presumably the additional Server 2008 R2 license will be OEM which would normally require that it’s supplied with the hardware?

Dogers · 2 Apr 2011 at 17:04

Not sure what the premium add on is, but if you're buying a new server with it, then it has to be used on that new server, as it's OEM. If that server dies, your license goes up in smoke. You should be able to buy Software Assurance for it which will upgrade it to a full license, but you'd have to check with someone who knows licensing better than I (try some well known third party distributor companies - not sure if I can mention them here!).

You'd also have to check if your 2900 can run a 64bit OS, too.

bremen1874 · 3 Apr 2011 at 02:28

The Premium Add-on adds SQL Server and an additional Server 2008 R2 license to SBS 2011.

There’s a significant difference between OEM and Retail licensing costs for SBS 2011 with the Premium Add-on (£1,000+). Because of this it would make sense to go down the OEM route with a new server.

If the additional Server 2008 R2 license (and SQL Server) could be used on the existing (and still very capable) PE2900 III then there’s a much better chance that I’ll be able to get the necessary budget authorised.

Dogers · 3 Apr 2011 at 09:00

After a bit of reading, it sounds like you get a second Windows 2008R2 license to go with the SQL license, so as long as that 2900 can run 2008R2, you should be okay. I'd nab a Linux live CD that's 64bit and see if that runs - if so, you should be fine for 2008R2. Alternatively, if you have the time and bandwidth, grab the 2008R2 evaluation version and see if it will boot and offer to install!

bremen1874 · 3 Apr 2011 at 14:42

There's no issue with the hardware. Dell has Server 2008 R2 listed as a supported operating system.

It’s running a single E5420 Xeon, with seven 73GB 15K SAS drives on a PERC6. With a bit more memory it’d be more than capable of handling anything I’d need it to do.

The only question is whether the terms of the OEM version of the SBS 2011 Premium Add-on licence would permit the use of existing hardware (for the second server).

I’ll have chance to speak to my normal licensing people during the week. I just posted the question on the off chance that someone on here already knew the answer.