Microsoft announced the new licensing model for System Center 2012. There are some huge and very interesting changes. I’m gonna point out tho most important ones here …

• There will be no more “single product licenses” for servers, System Center 2012 is an “all or nothing” decision where the server licenses cover the following System Center products:
  • System Center Service Manager
  • System Center Configuration Manager
  • System Center Operations Manager
  • System Center Orchestrator
  • System Center Virtual Machine Manager
  • System Center App Controller
  • System Center Data Protection Manager
  • System Center Endpoint Protection

• No more licenses for Management Servers are needed, the only components that need licenses are managed endpoints (like systems monitored with SCOM agents or systems managed with SCCM agents)

• All needed SQL Server licenses for System Center use are included.

• There will be only 2 types of licenses for server components:
  • System Center Standard Server Management License – for physical servers or servers with max. 2 VMs
  • System Center Datacenter Server Management License – for unlimited VMs
  • Both suites contain the exact same server product licenses
  • Both suites are licensed per processor and every license covers 2 processors

• For client management licensing there are 3 different offers:
  • System Center Configuration Manager
  • System Center Endpoint Protection
  • System Center Client Management Suite (SCOM, SCCM, SCO, SCDPM)

• A transition path exists for existing licenses.

If you need more information about the new licensing model, check out this link –> http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/SystemCenter2012.aspx

Have fun!
Marcel