Licensing Microsoft environments on Alibaba Cloud

by Christoph Kung Forum: Allgemeines

Let's face it - while the strongest growth in the Cloud Market is new SaaS- and Web-Services built on Microservices architecture, the biggest chunk of the IT market is still Gartner Mode I Enterprise IT. And Microsoft is a key player in this space.

So when moving your Mode I workloads to Alibaba Cloud, what are some key licensing considerations to keep in mind?

1) Using Microsoft licenses from Alibaba Cloud

Whenever you're ordering a virtual machine ("ECS instance"), or a managed database, there's plenty of images to choose from. This way, you can easily choose a Windows Server image and use it e.g. to operate your AD or other core workloads.
The same is true for managed databases from our Relational Database Service (RDS). Besides MySQL, EnterpriseDB and others, you can choose a managed Microsoft SQL Server environment, both with SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Enterprise.

While they come at a cost, note that these are Core-Licenses under the Microsoft SPLA agreement. Therefore, you do not have to licenses further User-CALs for your internal users. This is especially advantageous if you completely shift towards Alibaba Cloud - no more licensing users for Windows Server CALs.


2) Bring-Your-Own-License with License Mobility

Alibaba Cloud is a certified Microsoft License Mobility Partner. The advantage for customers is that you can bring existing licenses covered under Software Assurance to Alibaba Cloud at no additional cost. Just make sure that under the Product Terms (the applicable Microsoft licensing terms) these licenses are eligible for "License Mobility".

For seasoned experts, there is even a logic to what licenses are eligible, and which aren't. In short: Licenses tied to the hardware (e.g. Processor, or the new Windows Server Core licenses, BizTalk Servers) are not eligible. Licenses tied to users generally are (Exchange, Sharepoint, Skype for Business, SQL Server/CAL, Core...). Desktop application licenses (Office... ) are generally not allowed to be moved to any server environment. There are exceptions (for VDI, Terminal Services), but they generally do not apply to normal Cloud environments.


3) the Hack: Using Dedicated Infrastructure to BYOL everything.

Alibaba Cloud also offers two options of using dedicated physical infrastructure: "ECS on Dedicated Host" and "Elastic Baremetal Service" are two options where your OS will run on hardware that is dedicated to your use. This allows you to bring every Microsoft license you want, regardless of type, under the same conditions as they are running on-premises. You could even build your own VDI environment with Office 365 on our EBM service. It's even better, as you can combine it with 3D graphics cards to enable even CAD applications. How cool is that?!

Side-Note: On our Elastic Bare Metal Service, you can even install your own VMware vSphere environment or install Oracle Databases (while maintaining full license compliance). That really makes Alibaba Cloud a great choice for Mode I classical Enterprise IT scenarios!