Even thou Microsoft said that it would be easier it was still a bit difficult for me to understand how it worked, but in the end I finally got a good grasp of how the licensing model works so therefore I would like to share it with you. Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 is licensed in the same manner, so therefore it easier to combine both of them.
First of System Center and Windows Server 2012 comes in two editions. Standard and Datacenter
The difference between the two is the the right to virtualize.
Standard allows you to have 2 virtual server OSE
Datacenter allows for unlimited virtual servers OSE
And also remember that each license covers two processors
You also need to remember that there are no differences between Standard and Datacenter, they have all the same functions and they have no restrictions.
If you plan to have implement both these solutions you might want to consider a Core Infrastructure license with contains either Standard ( Windows Server & System Center ) or Datacenter ( Windows Server & System Center) at a reduced price.
Some estimated prices on Server: Datacenter $4,809 Standard $882
and on System Center: Datacenter $3,607 Standard $1,323
Some examples of pricing.
1 physical server, 1 CPU, 1 VM = 1 Standard license
1 physical server, 4 CPU, 1 VM = 2 Standard license (or 2 datacenter)
1 physical server, 4 CPU, 10 VM = 5 Standard license ( or 2 datacenter)
1 physical server, 4 CPU, 20 VM = 10 standard license ( or 2 datacenter would be a lot cheaper to buy datacenter here)
2 physical server, 2 CPU each, 2 VM each = 2 standard license (or 2 datacenter ofc it would be a lot cheaper to buy standard here)
So some other examples (What if I have 1 Datacenter license on Server 2012 and System Center and I have 2 CPU’s and I have Operations Manager installed, what happens if I want to install Configuration Manager on some virtual machines on the server?) Nothing! licensing is based on physical processors not virtual.
So what is the catch, what else do I need to think of ?
For Server you still need a CAL for each user that is accessing the server
For System Center you still need a Client ML(Management License) for each managed device that run non-server OSE’s
And for System Center you have 3 different Client ML
Configuration Manager Client ML ( Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager) (Included in Core CAL)
Endpoint Protection Subscription ( Endpoint Protection ) (Included in Core CAL)
Client Management Suite Client ML ( Service Manager, Operations Manager, Data Protection Manager, Orchestrator) (Included in Enterprise CAL)
So if have 1 server with 2 physical CPU (without virtual machines on that server) and you wish to manage 50 computers using ConfigMgr and have Endpoint Protection you would need
1 Standard Server license, 1 System Center Standard license, 50 Configuration Manager Client ML + Endpoint Protection Subscription (Unless you have an Core CAL in place)