1. What features of SharePoint do I need?
SharePoint has three levels of functionality, each with a set of corresponding SKUs:
- Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Edition
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition
|
Product |
Description |
Features |
Licensing Notes |
|
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) |
Windows SharePoint Services is an enabling technology that is included in Windows Server 2008. It enables the creation of web sites for information sharing and document collaboration, integrating with the Microsoft Office System and serving as a platform for application development. |
Provides the infrastructure for collaboration and a foundation for building web-based applications. |
Free download for Windows Server customers. Organizations using WSS must be properly licensed for Windows Server. |
|
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Edition |
Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to deliver enterprise-scale capabilities. It provides a consistent, familiar framework for lists and libraries, site administration, and site customization. Any features that are available in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are also available in Office SharePoint Server 2007. |
Provides a single, integrated platform from which employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, find organizational resources, search for experts and corporate information, manage content and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed decisions.
Core capabilities:
- Collaboration
- Portals
- Enterprise Search
- Enterprise Content Management
|
Standard vs. Enterprise functionality licensed via Office SharePoint Sever Client Access Licenses (CALs). |
|
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition |
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition expands on the Standard edition, providing advanced information and data management capabilities such as web-based forms and real-time business intelligence with PerformancePoint, and Excel Services.
|
Everything in the Standard Edition, plus:
- Business Process / Forms
- Business Intelligence
- Business Data Catalog
|
Standard vs. Enterprise functionality licensed via Office SharePoint Sever Client Access Licenses (CALs). |
Additionally, for customers who only want Enterprise Search capabilities, two additional products are available (more information at www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch):
|
Product |
Description |
Features |
Licensing Notes |
|
Microsoft Search Server Express |
Deliver Search to your organization quickly and easily for free with Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express. |
- Familiar, web-search style interface
- Seamless connectivity to existing information and business systems
- No-preset document limit
- Balance of control and simplicity
Supports an unlimited number of Web front-end servers, but only one application server. |
Free download. Limited to one-box deployment configuration. |
|
Microsoft Search Server 2008 |
Microsoft Search Server 2008 offers an enterprise-ready search solution that empowers your people to find the information they need and allows your IT Pros to deploy a search solution that integrates with the variety of business systems you already have.
|
Everything in Microsoft Search Server Express, plus:
- High availability and load balancing
|
Licensed per-server. No Client Access Licenses (CALs) are required. |
For a complete list of features across editions, download the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 products comparison.
2. Am I providing SharePoint to internal users (i.e., employees) or external users (i.e., suppliers, customers, vendors, anonymous Internet users)?
In general, SharePoint has two different licensing models to accommodate two different classes of users:
- Server/CAL: For internal users
- “For Internet Sites”: For external users
| Licensing Model |
Use Cases |
Licenses |
|
Server / CAL |
- For internal users (i.e., employees)
- Can also be used for external users if the external users are countable and CALs can be assigned to specific users
|
Both server licenses and Client Access Licenses (CALs) are required.
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: For each running instance of the server software
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Client Access License Standard Edition: For each user or device that accesses a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.
And, if the Enterprise features are required:
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Client Access License Enterprise Edition: For each user or device that accesses the Enterprise Edition features of a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.
Additional notes on the Server/CAL model:
- CALs can be purchased on either a per-user or per-device basis.
- CALs for the Enterprise Edition are additive. In other words, to access the Enterprise Edition features, a user/device must have both a CAL for Standard Edition and a CAL for Enterprise Edition.
- CALs must be of the same or later version of the server licenses.
- Despite the fact that there are two levels of functionality (Standard and Enterprise), there is only one server SKU. Upon installation, the administrator must decide whether to activate the Enterprise features of each server.
- In a multi-tier environment in a single farm, all servers must be of same edition (i.e., Standard or Enterprise)
|
|
“For Internet Sites” |
- External users (i.e., suppliers, customers, vendors, anonymous Internet users), whether anonymous or authenticated
- Note that this licensing is not based on features used or whether a user is anonymous/authenticated
- All features of SharePoint are available via SharePoint Server for Internet Sites
- This license can be used for both anonymous and authenticated users.
|
Only server licenses are required:
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites: For each running instance of the server software that is used by the external users
Additional notes on the licensing of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites:
- No CALs are required for users licensed via Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites
- The ”For Internet Sites” license is for external users only (anonymous Internet users or authenticated extranet users). Internal users can only use this license if all content, information, and applications are also accessible to external users. If the server has content/information/applications that are for internal-use only, then those users require CALs, and the servers they use require licences for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites can be used for authors who are creating content for external consumption (i.e., server/CAL licensing is not required for the authors if authoring is the extent of their use of SharePoint)
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites must be licensed on all servers (staging, application, index, front-end) which participate in the exposure of content to external users.
|
Relative to the feature tiers described in question #1 above (“What features of SharePoint do I need?”), the licensing is as follows:
| Product |
Internal Users |
External Users |
|
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) |
License according to Windows Server guidelines |
License according to Windows Server guidelines |
|
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Edition |
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 (for each running instance of the software)
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Client Access Licenses (CALs; for each user/device accessing a server)
|
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites (for each running instance of the software)
Notes:
- External users may also be licensed via the server/CAL model if if the external users are countable and CALs can be assigned to specific users
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites licenses both the Standard and Enterprise features
|
|
Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Edition |
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 (for each running instance of the software)
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Client Access Licenses (CALs; for each user/device accessing a server)
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Client Access Licenses (CALs; for each user/device accessing a server)
|
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites (for each running instance of the software)
Notes:
- External users may also be licensed via the server/CAL model if the external users are countable and CALs can be assigned to specific users
- Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites licenses both the Standard and Enterprise features
|
3. How many servers will be running SharePoint?
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is licensed via per running instance. A server license (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites—see question #2 above for details on the differences between these SKUs) is required for each running instance of the server software.
When using Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites for licensing external-facing scenarios, a server license is required on all servers whose intent or purpose is to participate in the exposure of content to external users, regardless of the farm configuration or whether or not users are directly accessing that server (staging, application, front-end, or index). A typical exception is for servers in a development/test environment, as they are typically covered by MSDN licensing. The underlying logic in this is that all servers supporting a specific solution must be licensed similarly (i.e., in the CAL/Server model or the per-server “For Internet Sites” model), and this is independent of the order in which information moves through servers.
To accommodate topologies in which the same server farm is supporting both internal and external users, both types of server licenses (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites) can be assigned to the same servers and use the same running instance of the software
4. How many users or devices will be accessing SharePoint?
Microsoft offers two options when purchasing Client Access Licenses (CALs): a device-based CAL ("Device CAL") or a user-based CAL ("User CAL"). With a Device CAL, an Office SharePoint Server 2007 is required for every device that accesses an Office SharePoint 2007 Server, regardless of the number of users who use that device. With a User CAL, an Office SharePoint Server 2007 is required for every user that accesses an Office SharePoint 2007 Server, regardless of the number of devices that are used.
A customer can choose the model (per-user or per-device) that makes sense given the organization’s needs. For example, purchasing User CALs might make more sense if the organization has a need for employees to have roaming access using multiple devices. On the other hand, Device CALs may make more sense if the company has multiple-shift workers who share devices.
Whatever a customer chooses, all CALs for that customer must be of the same type, User CALs or Device CALs.
5. Am I licensed for the Microsoft products on which SharePoint depends?
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 runs on top of Windows Server and SQL Server and does not include licenses for those products. Consequently, you will need to make sure you have the appropriate prerequisite licenses for Windows Server and SQL Server.
Windows Server is typically licensed via the CAL/Server model. For complete and current information on the licensing of Windows Server see the Windows Server 2008 licensing page.
SQL Server has two primary licensing models: CAL/Server and per-processor. For complete and current information on the licensing of SQL Server, see the SQL Server 2008 licensing page.