EBC Licensing Services

You can obtain Microsoft Windows Server or Microsoft server application licenses from Equinix within your EBC environment or when purchasing the Managed Physical Server service. You can also use your own Microsoft licenses for Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft server applications or third-party software.

When you use your own licenses, you are responsible for correct license administration that meets the supplier’s requirements. In addition, you are obliged to cooperate with Equinix on license audits.

Licensing

The table below indicates options for the various EBC service variants.

	EBC Flex (Multi-tenant Compute)	EBC ST (Single-tenant Compute)	EBC Core	Managed Physical Server	EBC Flex Compute(Multi-tenant) Legacy Product	EBC Dedicated Compute(Single-tenant) Legacy Product
Apply user’s own Microsoft Windows Server licenses*
Apply user’s own Microsoft server application licenses*

Options

EBC Flex / EBC Flex Compute

When you choose EBC Flex or EBC in the shared compute variant and use Microsoft operating systems and/or Microsoft server applications, your Microsoft server application licenses can be applied only under certain conditions. This is because Microsoft applies some restrictions in its license terms to shared environments.

Equinix is obliged to deploy Microsoft SPLA *2 (Server-Provider License Agreement) based Windows Server licenses within a shared (multi-tenant) computing environment. Your licenses for Windows Server and Office (including Office 365, Project and Visio) cannot be applied in this scenario.

In certain cases, it is possible to apply your own licenses for Microsoft server applications such as SQL and Exchange. The use of Equinix-supplied SPLA‑based licenses for Microsoft server applications is always possible on the EBC Flex platform or the EBC Flex compute variant.

Using your own licenses with the use of SPLA is possible in the following cases –

• You want to apply a license for a Microsoft server application: Dynamics 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, SQL, System Center or other Microsoft applications for which you are entitled to License Mobility.

• You have a Volume Licensing agreement with valid Software Assurance (SA) purchased from Microsoft for server applications use.

• You have sent a complete License Verification form to Equinix for License Mobility and have obtained permission from Microsoft.

• You have provided a license plan to Equinix, that states how your own licenses are applied within the EBC compute platform.

• You bear responsibility for correct license administration compliance.

If the Windows Server operating system is used within the EBC Flex or EBC Flex Compute environment, these licenses will be automatically charged for, based on monthly (pay-as-you-go) usage. As a result, you will remain compliant in terms of Windows Server license usage. Invoicing of usage is based on the total number of vCPUs allocated to the Windows VMs.

Calculation Example

There are 10 Windows VMs with 2 vCPUs each. Every month you are billed for 20 Windows Server licenses in the Standard edition.

The payment of SPLA licenses for Microsoft SQL Server is based on a fixed agreed number of Core Packs, with each Core Pack giving the right to use 2 vCPUs. The minimum order quantity for SQL Server is 2 Core Packs per VM in the Web, Standard or Enterprise version. For changes in the required number of Core Packs, you can contact your Equinix account manager.

The Windows Server and Microsoft server application licenses are supplied under the terms of the Microsoft SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement). By making use of these Microsoft products (own and SPLA), you are obliged to comply with SPLA use conditions. These conditions require that you cooperate in the auditing/reporting of actual consumption and remain responsible for any problems with license compliance.

EBC ST / EBC Core / EBC Dedicated Compute

If you opt for any of the three variants, EBC ST, EBC Core or EBC dedicated compute, Microsoft operating systems and/or applications and customer owned Microsoft licenses can be used with restrictions.

The use of Equinix-supplied Microsoft SPLA-based licenses for Windows Server and Server applications (such as SQL and Exchange Server) is possible within the dedicated (single-tenant) compute environment. If you do not use Microsoft SPLA-based licenses purchased through Equinix within the dedicated (single-tenant) compute environment, then your own licenses for Microsoft Windows Server and server applications can be applied.

If you choose to purchase Windows Server licenses based on SPLA, your own licenses for Windows Server cannot be applied. If you intend to purchase Office (including Office 365, Project and Visio), you are requested to contact Equinix to discuss the options.

Utilizing your own licenses with the use of SPLA is possible under certain conditions.

The use of your own licenses without SPLA is possible if you do not purchase SPLA licenses for your EBC dedicated compute environment, in addition to some cases as listed below.

These are –

• You want to apply a license for a Microsoft server application: Dynamics 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype For Business, SQL, System Center or other Microsoft applications to which you are entitled to License Mobility.

• You have a Volume Licensing agreement with valid Software Assurance (SA) purchased from Microsoft for server applications use.

• You have sent a completed License Verification form to Equinix for License Mobility and have obtained permission from Microsoft.

• You bear responsibility for correct license administration compliance.

Invoicing is based on the total number of cores of the Windows Server (SPLA) licensed hosts in the cluster(s) or Virtual Data Centers.

Managed Physical Server

If you opt for the Managed Physical Server service and use Microsoft operating systems and/or applications, your own licenses can be applied in some cases compliant with Microsoft license term restrictions.

The use of Equinix-supplied Microsoft SPLA *2-based licenses for Windows Server and server applications (such as SQL and Exchange Server) is possible on a Managed Physical Server. If you choose to purchase Windows Server licenses based on SPLA, your own licenses for Windows Server cannot be applied. If you intend to purchase Office (including Office 365, Project and Visio), you are requested to contact Equinix to discuss the options.

Utilizing your own licenses with the use of SPLA is possible under certain conditions.

If you do not apply Microsoft SPLA-based licenses purchased via Equinix to your Managed Physical Server, your own licenses for Microsoft Windows Server and server applications can be applied.

Using your own licenses without SPLA is possible if you do not purchase SPLA licenses for your single-tenant compute environment, in addition to some cases.

Billing is based on the total number of cores in your Windows Server (SPLA) licensed hosts.

Metering and Measuring

To fulfill our obligations under the SPLA and to respect the confidentiality of user data, a software inventory scanner is used.

This scanner collects the installed Microsoft products and sends the information to Equinix via a secure connection. In this way we can ensure correct reporting to Microsoft, according to Microsoft guidelines.

You are required to provide monthly usage reports on Equinix delivered licenses if you opt not to use the software inventory scanner.

Only the data that is necessary for reporting license usage will be exported to Equinix management system.

Relations and Dependencies

The Licensing service has a relationship with the following Equinix Managed Services –

• Equinix Business Cloud (EBC) Compute: standard-platform service

• Equinix Managed Physical Server: standard managed physical server for delivering compute and storage

See Support for related information.