Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance for Microsoft Windows Server Applications on AWS

Microsoft has announced a new benefit, called License Mobility through Software Assurance, which allows Microsoft customers to more easily move current on-premises Microsoft Server application workloads to Amazon Web Services (AWS), without any additional Microsoft software license fees. This benefit is available to Microsoft Volume Licensing (VL) customers with eligible server applications covered by active Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) contracts. Not only will license mobility make the transition easier for existing SA customers, it provides customers who prefer to purchase perpetual licenses the ability to continue doing so while still taking advantage of the efficiencies of the cloud.

How to Sign Up

All customers using License Mobility through Software Assurance must complete a license verification process and Microsoft will verify that the customer has eligible licenses with active Software Assurance. Microsoft will provide confirmation to the customer and to the service provider that the customer has completed this verification process. The customer may deploy their application server software prior to the verification process being completed; the customer is responsible for managing true ups and renewals as required under their agreement.

To start the verification process and review additional details on License Mobility through Software Assurance, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/license-mobility.aspx.

For guidance on filling out the form please go to the Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance Customer Verification Guide. Please use: microsoft@amazon.com as the Service Providers email address as required by the form.

Eligibility Requirements:

To take advantage of this benefit, the following conditions must apply:

1. The server applications must be on the following list of eligible products:
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Microsoft SharePoint Server
• Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition
• Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Lync Server
• Microsoft System Center Server
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server

To view a full list of eligible server application products, see the ‘Software Assurance Benefits’ section in the Microsoft Product Use Rights (PUR) at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/product-licensing.aspx

This section of the PUR also contains additional restrictions that apply to customers’ participation in the License Mobility through Software Assurance program.

For more detail on Microsoft License Mobility for SQL Server, go to:
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/sql/

2. All Microsoft Server application products migrated to AWS through the License Mobility through Software Assurance program must be covered with active Software Assurance (SA).


3. Eligible Volume Licensing programs include the Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Subscription Agreement, and Microsoft Open Value Agreement, where Software Assurance is included, and other Volume Licensing programs where Software Assurance is an option, such as Microsoft Open License or Select Plus.


4. The customer must maintain appropriate Client Access Licenses (CALs) with Software Assurance in their Volume Licensing agreement for accessing the application servers.


5. Does not include the Microsoft Windows Client operating system, Desktop application products (e.g. Microsoft Office), and Microsoft Windows Server operating system. AWS customers will need to continue to run their applications through Windows-based instances on Amazon EC2).


6. In order to comply with Microsoft’s “server farm” rules, licenses deployed in a specific AWS Region cannot be moved to another AWS Region for 90 days. For more information, please refer to the Microsoft Product Use Rights (PUR) at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/product-licensing.aspx

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