Software Assurance Benefits

Purchasing & Renewing Software Assurance

For information about purchasing and renewing Software Assurance, see “Purchasing & Renewing Software Assurance”.

Software Assurance Benefits

Most SA Benefits are available across each Product Pool, as described in the table below. Active SA for any qualifying Product qualifies Customer for the benefits shown in the table below. Some benefits are awarded based on Customer’s SA spend on a given set of qualifying products within a pool. For these purposes, “SA spend” is not literally Customer’s actual dollars spent, but is an approximation of what Customer has spent on SA coverage for those Products under its Select or Enterprise Enrollment, Select Plus registration or Open agreement (For example, SA only purchases and the SA component of L&SA purchases). For customers under subscription programs, it is an approximation of the total dollars Customer has spent licensing those Products under its enrollment or agreement. Software Assurance Membership (“SAM”) is required for some benefits. Customer’s access and rights to use their SA benefits, generally expires upon expiration of their SA coverage, unless otherwise noted below or in the Product Entries. The benefits are subject to change and may be discontinued at any time without notice. Availability of benefits varies by program, region, fulfillment options and language.

New Version Rights

Customer may upgrade to the latest version of an available Product. If Customer acquires perpetual Licenses through SA, it may deploy new version upgrades for those Licenses after SA coverage has expired, but only to versions released during the active SA coverage. Use of the new version is subject to the License Terms for that version.

Office for the web services and Office Online Server

Users of a device licensed with the qualifying applications may access Office for the web services and Office Online Server for editing documents from the Licensed Device. The Primary User of the Licensed Device may access Office for the web services and Office Online Server for editing documents from any device.

Users must also be licensed for SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business plans to access Office for the web services.

Planning Services

Planning Services have been retired from SA benefits on February 1st, 2021.

Enterprise Source Licensing Program

Customers with 10,000 or more licensed desktops with SA coverage in the systems pool may be eligible to access to Microsoft Windows source code for internal development and support. Academic programs are eligible for the Microsoft Research Source Licensing Program.

Training Vouchers

Training Vouchers have been retired from SA benefits on February 1st, 2021.

Microsoft Workplace Discount Program

The Microsoft Workplace Discount Program provides Customer’s employees the right to acquire Microsoft products or services made available through the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program website(s). Customer’s employees may choose to purchase from either the Online Services or Software option.

Online Services

The threshold requirement for participation in the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program, for purchase of Online Services, is waived for Customers with SAM coverage for the Application pool. Customer’s employees may acquire a single subscription of either Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Personal through the Workplace Discount Program website.

Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions acquired through the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program website may currently be renewed at the then current Microsoft Workplace Discount Program price regardless of employment or Customer’s SAM coverage status.

Software

Customer’s employees, who are users of the licensed qualifying desktop applications identified in the table below may acquire a single License for the corresponding Workplace Discount Program software, to be installed on one device (either a PC or a Mac, specific to the software that is purchased). Academic Select (without SAM), Academic Select Plus (without SAM), and Academic Open programs are not eligible for this benefit.

Workplace Discount Program Licenses expire with termination of employment, termination or expiration of SA coverage for the copy of the corresponding qualifying desktop application that employee uses at work, if the employee is no longer a user of the licensed copy of the qualifying desktop application, or upon the employee’s installation and use of any prior or later version of that qualifying desktop application pursuant to a Workplace Discount Program license.

The terms of use for products and services acquired through the Workplace Discount Program software are between Microsoft and Customer’s employee and are accessed through the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program website(s).

Microsoft assumes no responsibility for compliance with any employment-benefit, tax or reporting obligation that either Customer or its employees may have.

Microsoft may terminate a customer’s participation in the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program, immediately and without notice, in connection with unauthorized access to or licensing through the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program website in connection with that customer’s program code.

For more information on the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program, refer to http://www.microsoft.com/licensing or https://aka.ms/workplacediscountprogram. 

Step-Up License Availability

The Step-Up License must be acquired, and is valid only when acquired, under the same volume licensing agreement and enrollment (if any), under which SA coverage for the qualifying product was acquired. Customer’s right to the use of software under a Step-Up License is conditioned on their having and retaining a License for the qualifying product. Customers’ perpetual rights under the Step-Up License supersede and replace the underlying License for the qualifying product. For more details, refer to the Licensing Brief: Microsoft Step-Up Licenses (https://aka.ms/licensingbrief-stepups).

Servers – Disaster Recovery Rights

For each Instance of eligible server software Customer runs in a Physical OSE or Virtual OSE on a Licensed Server, it may temporarily run a backup Instance in a Physical OSE or Virtual OSE on either, another one of its Servers dedicated to disaster recovery, or, for Instances of eligible software other than Windows Server, on Microsoft Azure Services, provided the backup Instance is managed by Azure Site Recovery to Azure. The License Terms for the software and the following limitations apply to Customer’s use of the backup Instance. Any dedicated Server used for these purposes, that is under the management or control of an entity other than Customer or one of its Affiliates, is subject to the Outsourcing Software Management clause.

Permitted Use of Backup Instances

The backup Instance can run only during the following exception periods:

• For brief periods of disaster recovery testing within one week every 90 days;
• During a disaster, while the production Server being recovered is down; and
• Around the time of a disaster, for a brief period, to assist in the transfer between the primary production server and the disaster recovery Server.

Using the Azure Hybrid Benefit for Disaster Recovery

Customer optionally may use Windows Server under the Azure Hybrid Benefit for backup Instances run and managed on Microsoft Azure Services using Azure Site Recovery. In this case, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Microsoft Azure License Terms governing Azure Hybrid Benefit, Customer will be permitted to concurrently deploy the same Windows Server Standard Licenses on Microsoft Azure Services under Azure Hybrid Benefit for purposes of testing and during recovery (as described in “Permitted Use of Backup Instances” above) and on the Licensed Servers running the corresponding production workloads. Furthermore, Customer may resume running the same production workloads on the Licensed Servers as contemplated in this Disaster Recovery Rights provision, notwithstanding any limitations on License reassignment. 

Requirements for Disaster Recovery Use

In order to use the software under disaster recovery rights, Customer must comply with the following terms:

• The OSE on the disaster recovery Server must not be running at any other times except as above.
• The OSE on the disaster recovery Server may not be in the same cluster as the production Server.
• Use of the software backup Instance should comply with the License Terms for the software.
• Once the disaster recovery process is complete and the production Server is recovered, the backup Instance must not be running at any other times except those times allowed here.
• Maintain SA coverage for all CALs, External Connector licenses and Server Management Licenses under which it accesses the backup instance and manage the OSEs in which that software runs.
• Customer’s right to run the backup Instances ends when Customer’s Software Assurance coverage ends.

Additional Permitted Use of Windows Server

Other than backup instances run on Microsoft Azure Services, Windows Server License is not required for the disaster recovery Server if the following conditions are met:

1. The Hyper-V role within Windows Server is used to replicate Virtual OSEs from the production Server at a primary site to a disaster recovery Server.
2. The disaster recovery Server may be used only to:
   • run hardware virtualization software,
   • such as Hyper-V, provide hardware virtualization services,
   • run software agents to manage the hardware virtualization software,
   • serve as a destination for replication, receive replicated Virtual OSEs, test failover, await failover of the Virtual OSEs, and
   • run disaster recovery workloads as described above.
3. The disaster recovery Server may not be used as a production Server.

License Mobility

License Mobility Across Server Farms

Under License Mobility Across Server Farms, Customer may reassign any of its Licenses which are designated as having License Mobility and for which it has SA to any of its Licensed Servers located within the same Server Farm as often as needed. Customer may also reassign these Licenses from one Server Farm to another, but not on a short-term basis (i.e., not within 90 days of the last assignment). Products used for Self-Hosting may be used at the same time under License Mobility Across Server Farms rights.

License Mobility through Software Assurance

Under License Mobility Through Software Assurance (SA), Customer may move its licensed software to shared servers under any of its Licenses which are designated as having License Mobility for which it has SA, subject to the requirements below. Products used for Self-Hosting may be used at the same time under License Mobility through SA rights, subject to the limitations of the Self-Hosting License Terms.

Permitted Use:

With License Mobility through SA, Customer may:

• Run its licensed software on shared servers;
• Access that software under access licenses and for which it has SA, and under its User and Device SLs that permit access to the Products;
• Manage its OSEs that it uses on shared servers; and/or
• Manage its OSEs that it uses on its servers using software that it runs on shared servers.

Requirements:

To use License Mobility through SA, Customer must:

• Run its licensed software and manage its OSEs on shared servers under the terms of its volume licensing agreement;
• Deploy its Licenses only with Microsoft Azure Services or qualified License Mobility through Software Assurance Partner; and
• Complete and submit the License Mobility verification form with each License Mobility through Software Assurance Partner who will run its licensed software on their shared servers.

Customer may move its licensed software from shared servers back to its Licensed Servers or to another party’s shared servers, but not on a short term basis (not within 90 days of the last assignment). Customer may also move Instances run or OSEs managed under a particular License from shared servers in one Server Farm to its shared servers in another Server Farm, but not on a short-term basis (not within 90 days of the last assignment). OSEs managed under the same License must be in the same Server Farm. Customer agrees that it will be responsible for third parties’ actions with regard to software deployed and managed on its behalf. Except as provided below, the License Terms applicable to the Product together with the License Mobility through SA terms govern its use. The License Mobility through SA terms supersede any conflicting License terms for a Product when License Mobility through SA is used. License Mobility through SA rights also apply to Listed Providers’ Servers that are dedicated to Customer’s use, subject to these same terms and conditions. Some Products, as outlined below, have different use rights for shared servers under License Mobility through SA:

Fail-over Rights

For SQL Server Instances run under License Mobility through SA rights, Customer may run passive fail-over Instances in one OSE on the qualifying shared servers in anticipation of a fail-over event. The number of licenses that otherwise would be required to run the passive fail-over Instances must not exceed the number of licenses required to run the corresponding production Instances on the same partner’s shared servers.

Servers – Self Hosted Applications

Self-Hosted Applications means those Products for which Self-Hosted rights apply.

Despite any terms to the contrary in Customer’s volume licensing agreement including the Product Terms, Customer may run licensed copies of Self-Hosted Applications that interact directly or indirectly with its software to create a unified solution (“Unified Solution”) and permit third parties to use it, subject to the terms below.

Requirements

Customer must have the required Microsoft Licenses and SA for:

• the Self-Hosted Applications run as part of the Unified Solution; and
• all access Licenses used to make the Unified Solution available to External Users.

All Microsoft software used to create and deliver the Unified Solution must be:

• licensed through a Volume Licensing program; and
• eligible for Self Hosting under these License Terms.

Any Server used for these purposes, that is under the management or control of an entity other than Customer or one of its Affiliates, is subject to the Outsourcing Software Management clause.  Customer may also use License Mobility in conjunction with Self Hosted Applications.

Customer’s software must:

1. add significant and primary functionality to the Self-Hosted Applications that are part of the Unified Solution (dashboards, HTML editors, utilities, and similar technologies alone are not a primary service and/or application of a Unified Solution);
2. be the principal service and/or application of the Unified Solution, and must not allow direct access to the Self-Hosted Applications by any end user of the Unified Solution;
3. be delivered to end users over the Internet, a telephone network, or a private network from servers under the day to day control of Customer or a third party other than the end user of the Unified Solution (the Unified Solution may not be loaded onto the end user’s device); and
4. be owned, not licensed, by it, except that its software may include non-substantive third party software that is embedded in, or operates in support of, its software.

All use of the Self-Hosted Applications remains governed by the License Terms for those products. Customer may not transfer Licenses acquired under its volume licensing agreement except as permitted in that agreement.

Extended Security Updates

Customer may purchase Extended Security Updates (“ESU”) coverage for Licenses with SA coverage and equivalent Subscription Licenses.

License Requirements

ESU Coverage is required for each core or server License assigned to the Licensed Server or OSE if using License Mobility, subject to the same license minimums. ESU coverage is not required (nor available) for CALs or External Connector Licenses; however, Customer must have active SA (or equivalent Subscription Licenses) for CALs and External Connector Licenses permitting access to Servers with active ESU coverage.

Coverage Eligibility

For any given Server, Customer may acquire ESU coverage for years two and three of the offering only if Customer also acquired coverage for the preceding year. ESU coverage is not required to be co-terminus with SA coverage or SA equivalent Subscription Licenses; however, Customer must have a minimum of one month of qualifying SA coverage or Subscription License term remaining at the beginning of the actual coverage period for each year of ESU coverage purchased (i.e., during year one, year two or year three).

Use of Updated Software

Except as follows, server software that is updated through ESU coverage may be used only under licenses that have ESU coverage.

1. Customer may continue to use updated software after coverage expires, but only under licenses to which coverage applied.
2. Customer may apply updates provided under their ESU coverage to software Customer licenses and uses solely for development, test and related purposes under corresponding Developer edition licenses or Visual Studio subscriptions.
3. Customer may use updated software under licensed SQL Server, Windows Server, and Windows 7 workloads running on Azure Stack.

Covering Hosted Workloads

Customer may also purchase ESU coverage for workloads running on Authorized Services Providers’ servers under License Included offerings. “Authorized Services Providers” means services providers listed at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/license-mobility.aspx. “License Included” means Customer is licensing Windows Server or SQL Server through the Authorized Services Provider, and is not bringing its own licenses (e.g., BYOL). Customer must acquire ESU licenses for all of the Virtual Cores in a Virtual OSE subject to a minimum of 8 (eight) for Windows Server and 4 (four) for SQL Server.

Azure Stack Workloads

Customer may have access to ESUs for its licensed SQL Server, Windows Server, and Window 7 workloads running on Azure Stack. The requirements to purchase ESU coverage and to access updated server workloads only under CALs with SA coverage are waived solely with respect to SQL Server, Windows Server, and Windows 7 Instances Customer is running on Azure Stack.

Support

Extended Security Updates licenses (ESUs) do not include support unless the customer is covered by one of the following support plans: Pay Per Incident, Unified, and Premier Support for Partners. Support for Products with ESU coverage is limited to the following issues:

• Deployment, installation, and activation of ESU keys, license and updates
• Bugs/regressions introduced with the installation of a security update
• Troubleshooting services and assistance to resolve known and documented issues related to the underlying operating systems.

Support for Products with ESU coverage does not include general technical support and troublesome assistance for the underlying products except as specified above. Issue resolution is not guaranteed.