SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part IV: Scenario Examples

For Part IV in my SharePoint 2010 Licensing mini-series, I have put together several different licensing scenarios and detailed the requisite licensing for each.   SharePoint is very flexible in both licensing and capability.  As with any large company, understanding exactly which licenses you need can be quite perplexing!  Hopefully this will shed some light on different scenarios to help you get your SharePoint 2010 environment licensed correctly.

The previous posts in this mini-series include explanations of the different products involved with SharePoint 2010:

As a SharePoint consultant and architect, I get a lot of questions about “What SharePoint licenses do I need?”.  These example scenarios detail the products that you will need to purchase specific to SharePoint 2010.  For simplicity, these scenarios are limited to Windows, SQL, and SharePoint licenses. These examples do not detail antivirus software, backup software, management software, or any other ITC-type software packages.  Also, this page is specific to SharePoint 2010 only.  A later post in this series will describe example scenarios for other options as well, such as FAST Search for SharePoint, Office Web Applications, Project Server 2010, Microsoft Online, and more.

Scenario A. SharePoint Foundation 2010 Intranet Site on a single Stand Alone Server. Corporate, internal-only use for 20 employees. For this environment, this would be a single server configuration running only SharePoint Foundation 2010 on the included SQL Server 2008 Express (which would automatically be installed during the SharePoint Foundation install).

  1. Windows Server 2008  Standard Edition License
  2. Windows Server 2008 CAL, 20-pack

That’s it!  All you need is Windows Server and CALs for your users.  If you have an existing Windows shop, you likely already have the Windows CALs, so all you would need is another Windows Server.  Furthermore, for a 20 user environment, you could just run SharePoint 2010 on an existing, under-utilized server and thus would need no new licenses to install and run SharePoint.

Scenario B. SharePoint Foundation 2010 based Internet Site (Public Facing or External Facing).  Public facing assumes anonymous access, and external facing assumes that the sites are not for Staff-only.  This means this could be an Extranet, working with clients, vendors, customers, members, volunteers or any other non-staff.  Again, this example will be installed as a Stand Alone Server. For Internet facing sites, you don’t need any CALs at all.

  1. Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition License
  2. Windows Server 2008 External Connector License

Scenario C. SharePoint Server 2010 Intranet Site.   I would consider this a very small site.  Stand Alone Server. Corporate, internal-only use for 20 employees. All employees only using Standard Edition functionality. Single server configuration running only SharePoint Server 2010, Standard, on the included SQL Server 2008 Express.

  1. Windows Server 2008  R2 Standard Edition License
  2. Twenty (20) Windows Server 2008 CALs
  3. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Standard
  4. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Standard Edition

Scenario D. SharePoint Server 2010 Intranet Site. This one is a little larger environment running on a two Server Farm. This site would still be corporate-only use for 20 employees, two (2) server configuration with a web server running SharePoint Server 2010 and a database server running SQL Server 2008 (or 2005).  For this sample configuration, all 20 employees will utilize SharePoint 2010 Standard features, while only 10 of these employees will utilize SharePoint 2010 Enterprise features.

  1. Two(2) Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Licenses, 1 WFE (web front end) and 1 database server.
  2. Twenty (20) Windows Server 2008 CALs
  3. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (must have appropriate service packs and patches, of course)
  4. Twenty (20) Microsoft SQL Server 2005 CALs
  5. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
  6. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Standard Edition  (1 for each user, since SharePoint 2010 CALs are additive)
  7. Ten (10) SharePoint 2010 2010 CALs, Enterprise Edition (for only the users that will be using Enterprise features)

Scenario E: SharePoint Server 2010 Intranet and Extranet Site(s). This example assumes a single farm consisting of both public facing Internet site and a Corporate use site for 20 employees.  This would be a two (2) server farm with a web server running SharePoint 2010 and a database server running SQL Server 2008.  For this sample configuration, all 20 employees and the anonymous users (or authenticated non-staff users) will utilize Enterprise features.  NOTE: In addition to the SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, this environment requires a SharePoint Server 2010 license and appropriate CALs because there are STAFF-ONLY sites running in addition to the other sites.

  1. Two(2) Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Licenses, 1 WFE and 1 database server.
  2. Twenty (20) Windows Server 2008 CALs
  3. Two(2) Windows Server 2008 External Connector Licenses
  4. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition – Processor License (no CALs required)
  5. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites
  6. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
  7. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Standard Edition
  8. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Enterprise Edition

Scenario F: SharePoint 2010 Standard, Internet-Only Site, two (2) server configuration with web server running SharePoint Server 2010, Standard, and database server running SQL 2008.

  1. Two(2) Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Licenses, 1 web and 1 database server.
  2. Two(2) Windows Server 2008 External Connector License
  3. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition – Processor License (no CALs required)
  4. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard

Scenario G: SharePoint 2010 for an Internet-Only Site running on a five (5) server farm configuration running SharePoint 2010, Enterprise, and SQL 2010.  For this sample configuration, there are 2 SQL, 2 SharePoint 2010 WFE, and 1 SharePoint 2010 backend (Index).

  1. Five(5) Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Licenses, 2 WFE, 1 SharePoint App/Search, and 2 database server.
  2. Two (2) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition – Processor Licenses (no CALs required)
  3. Three (3) Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites,  Enterprise
  4. Five (5) Windows Server 2008 External Connector Licenses – that’s right!  All 5 servers require an external connector.

Scenario H: SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Internet, Intranet, and Extranet Sites, on a five (5) server farm configuration running SharePoint 2010 Enterprise and SQL 2008.  For this sample configuration, all 20 employees will utilize Enterprise features on this farm consisting of 2 SQL, 2 SharePoint 2010 WFE, and 1 SharePoint 2010 backend (Index).   Again, this environment assumes that there are STAFF only sites running, therefore all Staff require CALs.

  1. Five(5) Windows Server 2008  Standard Edition Licenses, 2 WFE, 1 Search/App, and 2 database server.
  2. Two (2) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition – Processor Licenses (no CALs required)
  3. Five (5) Windows Server 2008 External Connector Licenses
  4. Three (3) Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise
  5. Three (3) Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
  6. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Standard Edition (required for Enterprise staff access because SharePoint CALs are additive)
  7. Twenty (20) SharePoint 2010 CALs, Enterprise Edition

By John Stover

John Stover Bio.

16 comments

  2. Samantha – thanks for pointing out my typo! You are correct – EVERY server accessed by external users needs a WINDOWS EXTERNAL CONNECTOR license.

  3. In scenario B volunteers appear to be classed as non-staff. Is this correct? I have been told that volunteers are classed as staff and would need Windows CALs. It would be great for charities with large numbers of volunteers if Windows CALs were not required.

  4. Could you please describe the licensing required for a scenario where an internet facing SharePoint Foundation 2010 site is hosted on Windows Web Server 2008 R2? The database server used would be SQL Server 2008 Express R2. Internal and external users will require authenticated access to web applications. Does such a configuration allow hosting applications built using SharePoint Designer? If I understand correctly, Windows Web Server 2008 R2 does not require anonymous access or client licenses, making this the lowest TCO solution for working with SharePoint 2010 foundation for multiple users.

  5. We are looking to set up a SharePoint Foundation 2010 Intranet Site on a single Stand Alone Server. Corporate, internal-only use for 75 employees, but DB might exceed the 4GB cap on SQL express. What would the licensing implication be for us to use SQL 2008?

  6. hello
    i have a question- regarding scenario B
    What if i want to creata a internet site , and install shp 2010 foundation on a standalone server with windows SBS 2008 and sql 2008 express ?
    ( i know that EC is for w2008 server editions excepting Web and SBS edition )

  7. You should, of course, check with your Microsoft licensing rep to find out what the right answer is. However, at a glance I interpret the licensing lingo the same way that you have: SBS2008 can run SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SQL Express in a public-facing capacity without the need for the Windows External connector license.

    Of course, architects everywhere will look down their nose at this solution for any of the following reasons:
    – running SharePoint and SQL on a single server! SBS at that!
    – running anything public facing on SBS! SBS should be locked down!
    – Small Business Server is a domain controller! You shouldn’t install things on domain controllers!

    All that aside, I am a realist and currently support clients that are running SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. It works great for them!

  8. Hi John, I have a question about Scenario H, can this be deployed on 2 or 3 server farm? if so – how would the licensing and software be setup?

    Thanks

  9. John,

    I must say this is a very informative blog post and is long overdue. So many people are confused with regards to what they need licensed and what domain impacts the license version. The confusion also includes the misconception of SharePoint server versions. Since 2007 there hasn’t been a Standard Edition vs. Enterprise edition; there is only one code base SharePoint Server (or MOSS). The farm administrator can enable enterprise functionality and at the web application and then the organization needs to acquire SharePoint Server Enterprise CAL’s for the users within that enterprise enabled web application.

  10. Pingback: SharePoint 2010 Licensing « amavs

  11. The primary purpose i’m looking at using sharepoint is to publish Infopath documents to the intranet to be rendered in the web browser for user input. My company has an 2000 employees. Do i need to buy the Sharepoint Enterprise user CALS License for 2000 employees? Since i’m using only the infopath forms services, Sharepoint standard license don’t apply (pls correct me if i’m wrong). Out of the 2000 employees, at any point of time only 1 or 2 users will be acessing the infopath documents to submit information! Sounds too expensive to use sharepoint infopath forms services to publish and render infopath documents!

    Do i have any other choice?

  12. Dear John,

    I have one query regarding the Scenario A. Do we need to have Sharepoint CAL as well for the foundation or the windows server CAL will be enough to run intranet for 20 users.

    Thanks,
    vkm

  15. Hi John,
    This is a really informative article. Once quick question. I have an authoring farm which is used by internal users to create content. The content is deployed to a seperate internet farm with FIS licences. What licences does the authoring farm require? It’s only accessed by internal users, but the content will eventually be accessed by the general public.

  16. Hi,

    If i were to use Sharepoint Foundation, is there a limitation in terms of the product functionality (eg – Document Managment, No.of sites that can be created, workflow management etc.,)

    Appreciate if you could please advise.

    Regards
    sa.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *