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For The User

A blog for SharePoint users. If you are a SharePoint administrator or developer, feel free to read on but be warned I'll be covering stuff that may seem pretty basic to you. It's been my experience that getting started with and getting the most out of SharePoint as an end user isn't always an intuitive process. My goal is to provide information and content in the hopes of smoothing your path to becoming a master SharePoint user.

The Ecstasy and Agony of MOSS's Enterprise Functionality and Licensing

NOTE: Updated 10/29/2007 with corrections Tongue Tied

With the release of MOSS 2007, Microsoft and the SharePoint blogging community have spent a good chunk of time and effort touting several great features that are completely new to SharePoint.  The three most prominent features are so important that they can almost be considered applications on their own, except that they have to run within a SharePoint site to be used.  These three features are:

  • Excel Services - allows for the presentation of Business Intelligence and raw data within a SharePoint site
  • Business Data Catalog (BDC) - allows for the integration of business data from external sources into SharePoint
  • InfoPath Forms Service - allows for InfoPath forms to be hosted, viewed, and created in a SharePoint site without requiring software on a local workstation

Sounds great, right?  Believe me, these features are great.  They can give you and your fellow users the ability to do things with data in SharePoint that otherwise isn't possible.  Or at least it's not possible with the same kinds of opportunity for collaboration, integration, and security all in one central location.  And they put this power in your hands, allowing you to enhance your use of business data without always having to involve your IT department every time you want to take a step forward.

But here's the thing: these features are not cheap.  They're not included in the Standard license for MOSS 2007.  They are only available in the Enterprise or Internet-Facing Licenses.  Let me run down approximately what these licenses will cost although I'm going to warn you, it may start to get a little frustrating...

NOTE: pricing of Microsoft server software products is subject to change and/or discount.  You should always work with your Microsoft sale representative to determine your actual costs.

Let's assume you have a simple MOSS environment, with a single server and your SQL databases hosted remotely on a different server (keep in mind that I am excluding SQL licensing costs from these numbers).  The Standard license of MOSS for that server costs approximately $4,500.  In addition to that server license, you must also buy a Client Access License (CAL) for each authenticated user who will be logging into your server for approx. $94.  With the Standard License, all users must be authenticated; you can not allow anonymous users to use your site.  If you decide to expand your MOSS farm with an additional server at a later date, you must purchase another server license for $4,500 but do not need to buy more CALs (I can't remember for sure, but CALs may need to be renewed on an annual basis, at their full price).

But let's assume that you've heard all sorts of great stuff about the BDC and are all fired up to use it to integrate data from your ERP system into a SharePoint site.  You have two license choices that allow you to install and enable the BDC on your MOSS server: Enterprise or Internet-Facing.  I'll start by covering the Enterprise license, be ready for some sticker shock.  Per server, the Enterprise License costs approx. $58,000.  So if you have two MOSS servers in your farm, that's $116,000 for the MOSS licenses.  Additionally, there is an The Enterprise CAL adds approx. $75 to the price of the Standard CAL, for a total of about $169 per user.  If you only want to host InfoPath forms for consumption via authenticated users, a license is available for about $4,400 per server and a $54 CAL per authenticated user.

<Retraction> I initially misread the Enterprise Search Server license and its entry in the MOSS Pricing link below, thinking that it was also required to enable the Enterprise feature set.  For that I wholeheartedly apologize.  This does change my thinking, somewhat, on MOSS's licensing situation.  The Enterprise feature set is now much more affordable without that per server charge of over $50,000.  Whew!  But, the additional cost per user is still nothing to scoff at, especially for larger organizations.  Finally, as a very weak defense of my point Wink, I would suggest that my error does point out how difficult it is to comprehend the licensing options available for MOSS.  I've read these things over numerous times before and never realized my mistake.  Thank you to everyone who commented on the issue, I really do appreciate the assistance. </Retraction>

By comparison, the Internet-Facing license seems almost reasonable Wink.  Per server, this license will cost approx. $41,000, and the good news is that it does not require a CAL to be purchased...sort of.  The thing that's not readily apparent with the Internet-Facing license is that only anonymous users do not require a CAL.  If you are going to have any authenticated users with specific accounts accessing your MOSS site, you must purchase an Enterprise CAL for them.  The other requirement of this license is that some portion of your site must be accessible via the Internet and open to anonymous users.  So you cannot purchase the MOSS Internet-Facing license and then lock it down behind a firewall; in that case you must buy the Enterprise License.  Finally, there is a license for Forms Server for Internet Sites, it costs about $22,000 per server and specifically geared towards hosting InfoPath Forms for consumption via the Internet by anonymous.

I'm going to include some links regarding this topic below that I found to be useful sources, I highly encourage you to check them out for more information about how MOSS licensing.  If you note any discrepancies in this post, please do not hesitate to let me know.  This post reflects my best understanding of what has become a very difficult aspect of using MOSS.

Links:

Comments

 

gregc said:

I think you need to take another look at the MOSS 2007 Pricing link you provided (office.microsoft.com/.../FX102176831033.aspx).  If you read carefully, there's only one price for a server license (approx. $4,500).  The price you just listed for Enterprise is only for Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Enterprise Search (like the Google search appliance) which requires no authentication.  The difference between SharePoint Standard and Enterprise is the CAL you buy - not the server license.

October 26, 2007 10:45 AM
 

John Stover said:

I'm curious about where you found the $58,000 Enterprise server license?  It's not listed on any of the links that you've shown, and this is not the licensing model that I've understood.  As I understand it, if you want enterprise features, there are two routes:

1. MOSSFIS (Internet sites license)

2. MOSS Server + Standard CAL + Enterprise CAL.

I've not seen any listing for a MOSS Server Enterprise (other than the Search-only license).   Please advise.

Thanks,

John Stover

October 26, 2007 11:57 AM
 

Paul Elton said:

I think you've misinterpreted the "Enterprise Server" price, this is actually a standalone Search Server which is CAL free. My understanding of the two levels of MOSS (Standard & Enterprise) is purely on the CAL being used. A Standard CAL give MOSS Standard, ADDD an Enterprise CAL for all users and you have MOSS Enterprise ... I think!

October 26, 2007 12:47 PM
 

John said:

Are you sure about the $58,000 server license cost for the Enterprise Edition of MOSS? From the pricing link you provided, I see that's the cost for the Enterprise Search (no CALs needed), but it looks to me that there is only one version and cost of the actual Office SharePoint Server software. I knew there was additional CAL cost to turning on the Enterprise features, but if there is additional server license cost also, that is news to me.

October 26, 2007 2:37 PM
 

ferringer said:

Thanks everyone for the help with my error.  Hopefully my update corrects the problem, please let me know if there's anything else I need to change or remove!

John

October 29, 2007 4:09 PM
 

gregc said:

I completely agree with you.  MS hasn't exactly made the licensing model easy when it comes to SharePoint.

November 13, 2007 5:56 AM
 

Mohan said:

may be the best way to use for internal department use would be to go in for WSS and use the API to develop the feature set for you.

January 10, 2008 12:10 AM
 

Jonas said:

If you want BDC functionality in WSS 3.0 and MOSS standard edition you should look at MashPoint.

community.bamboosolutions.com/.../mashpoint-how-does-it-work.aspx

/Jonas

June 10, 2008 10:55 PM
 

ferringer said:

Jonas --

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely have to check out your tool, it sounds interesting.

John

June 11, 2008 11:40 AM
 

Eric G said:

I completely agree also.  As someone that has been making do with the previous version of InfoPath and FrontPage Data Views, I was ecstatic to here about Forms Server and BDC.  But when we found out that for our 6500 person company the CALs come to over $1mil before discounts all opportunity went out the window.  Microsoft got too greedy.

September 16, 2008 10:19 AM

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About ferringer

John is a Solutions Architect for Apparatus, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN, with over four years of experience administering and supporting SharePoint technologies and has spent over nine years working in the technology consulting industry. He is a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in the installation and configuration of Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007. Previously he was a Senior Consultant for Accenture, where he designed and developed custom applications, managed small teams, and trained new resources in both technical and procedural practices.

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Posts (c) their respective authors. Everything else (c) 2007 SharePoint Experts