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Getting to grips with Microsoft's IT Health Environment Scanner

Posted on 19 Nov 2009 at 14:18

David Moss conducts a network health check using Microsoft's free IT Health Environment Scanner

The Standard offering comprises a Management Server based on Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition, as are all these offerings (Server 2003 R2 is available as an alternative, but only until 31 December 2009), plus Microsoft System Center Essentials 2008.

It’s compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3, although that isn’t included. Then there’s a Messaging Server that includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition and Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server (with one year’s subscription included), and finally the Security Server that comes with Forefront Threat Management Gateway, Medium Business Edition (with a one-year anti-malware subscription included).

The Premium Edition includes everything you get in the Standard Edition plus a Database Server based on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition. Looking at the licensing details reveals something old and something new. Something old is a Server Licence – Client Access License (CAL) model that also works with Microsoft Small Business Server 2008.

Something new is that Microsoft offers two kinds of CALs with EBS 2008, but you get the option only if you take the Premium Edition. The two types are: EBS 2008 CAL Suite, for each device or user accessing the network, and EBS 2008 CAL Suite for Premium, which is only for users or devices accessing the premium features of EBS 2008 Premium Edition.

The CAL quantities for both editions are one, five, 20 and 50 packs for either users or devices, and in terms of pricing you need to approach a Microsoft partner in the UK to find out what’s what. I checked the US site and found the following information, which might be useful as a guide. To start with, you can buy EBS Server 2008 Standard Edition for $5,067 (£3,078), and EBS Server 2008 Premium Edition for $6,188 (£3,760).

Additional EBS CALs for the Standard Edition came in at $81 (£49), $405 (£246), $1,629 (£989) and $4,050 (£2,460) for 1, 5, 20 and 50 packs respectively. Additional EBS 2008 CALs for users of devices accessing the Premium Edition came in at $195 (£118), $975 (£592), $3,900 (£2,369) and $9,750 (£5,923) for 1, 5, 20 and 50 packs respectively.