Licensing in System Center Essentials 2010
Applies To: System Center Essentials 2010
The following section describes licensing requirements for the Evaluation Edition and purchased editions, and for purchasing additional client and server licenses for System Center Essentials 2010.
Purchased editions of Essentials 2010 are configured to support up to 500 client operating system environments and 50 server operating system environments. During a discovery operation, if the number of discovered computers exceeds the number of managed computers for which you have client licenses, agents are still deployed to the discovered computers; however, those computers will be shown in the Pending Management list in the Administration workspace, and Essentials 2010 does not manage them until you remove agents from other computers to make licenses available for the new computers.
Essentials 2010 Evaluation Experience
The Evaluation Edition of System Center Essentials 2010 is restricted to a 180-day trial period. At any time during the trial period of the Evaluation Edition, you can upgrade to a purchased edition, but if the Evaluation Edition expires, you must uninstall it before installing a purchased edition.
Important
If Essentials 2010 Setup detects that Essentials 2007 is already installed on the management server, Essentials 2010 first displays upgrade options. For more information about how to upgrade, see How to Upgrade System Center Essentials 2010.
When you are ready to convert from an Evaluation Edition to a purchased edition of Essentials 2010, click the banner located at the top of the Computers workspace. You can see a total count of licenses currently being used for servers and clients to help you determine how many licenses you require. Click Purchase Essentials to buy Essentials 2010 online.
Tip
You can find a summary of the current Essentials 2010 license count and a link to purchase additional licenses in the Administration Overview pane.
Essentials 2010 Evaluation Conversion
You can convert from an Evaluation Edition to a purchased edition of Essentials 2010 without loss of data or changes to configuration settings. The installation does not continue unless you have a product key. At any time during the trial period of the Evaluation Edition, you can upgrade to a purchased edition, but if the Evaluation Edition expires, you must uninstall it before installing a purchased edition.
Important
You can install Evaluation Editions of Essentials 2010 in the same domain as Essentials 2007; however, you cannot convert the Evaluation Edition to a purchased edition. If you uninstall Essentials 2007, you can convert the Evaluation Edition to a purchased edition. Or, if you uninstall the Evaluation Edition, you can upgrade to Essentials 2010.
Installing a Purchased Edition of Essentials 2010
Performing a clean installation of the Retail or OEM distribution of Essentials 2010 requires a product key.
You must uninstall any previous versions of Essentials console if you plan to install the Essentials 2010 console on the same computer.
Important
If Essentials 2010 Setup detects that an unsupported version of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is installed, in Control Panel, in Programs, you must uninstall WSUS.
Adding Management Licenses in Essentials 2010
If you have upgraded from an Evaluation Edition or performed a clean installation of Essentials 2010 and require additional client or server licenses, the Administration Overview pane displays the current Essentials license count and a link to purchase additional licenses.
Licensing for Managed Virtual Machines in Essentials 2010
Essentials 2010 is licensed per device. Only physical computers consume server or client management licenses and are required to have a license. However, Essentials is limited to managing up to 50 server operating system environments and 500 client operating system environments. For example, you might have purchased licenses to manage 20 physical servers, are managing all 20 physical servers, and are also managing 30 virtual servers. Because you are managing 50 server operating system environments, you cannot manage any additional physical or virtual servers.
See Also
Concepts
How to Upgrade System Center Essentials 2010
Troubleshooting Your Initial Essentials Setup and Configuration