Microsoft announce that the next version of SQL Server will be SQL Server 2017. It’s currently at the Community Technology Preview stage and when released will be available on Windows, Linux and Docker. Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2pVaZiQ.
Microsoft Relationship Sales
Microsoft announce the Microsoft Relationship Sales solution. This links Dynamics 365 Sales with the LinkedIn Sales Navigator so that you can see LinkedIn information on Dynamics leads, contacts and accounts. It will be available from July 2017 and will cost $135 per user per month. Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2pSfaLS.
Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter
The April 2017 Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter is out. There’s just one item of licensing interest: there was a minor update to the Services Provider License Agreement on 16 April, 2017 when the definition of a Reciprocal Service Provider was included.
Sign up for this free newsletter here: http://bit.ly/2gbk5iR.
Per Core Licensing Volume Licensing Brief
There’s an updated (April 2017) Per Core Licensing Volume Licensing Brief from Microsoft which gets things up to date for Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Core licensing. Find it in the Core Infrastructure section in our Licensing Guides emporium here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
Windows 10 S
Microsoft announce Windows 10 S – a flavour of Windows 10 Pro that is, in Microsoft’s words, “optimised for security and performance”. It does this by working only with apps from the Windows Store and having Edge as its default browser. You can pay to switch to Windows 10 Pro through the Windows Store at any time, but you can’t then go back to Windows 10 S.
This FAQ gives you a good overview: http://bit.ly/2pB32Pt.
Windows Server BYOL Marketplace Images
One way of deploying Windows Server virtual machines in Azure using the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit is to use a Marketplace image.
This is where you can find the available Bring Your Own Licence (BYOL) images and choose your ideal virtual machine configuration: http://bit.ly/2pLqPKo.
Azure StorSimple in CSP
Azure StorSimple became available through CSP in February 2017.
A reminder of what StorSimple is: a hybrid storage solution which can be deployed as a physical device or a virtual appliance, where active data is stored on-premises and cool data is pushed to the cloud.
It’s currently just the StorSimple Virtual Array that’s available through CSP and there’s an excellent article from Microsoft that explains all: http://bit.ly/2oQTnDT.
If you’ve got a particular question you may find your answer in the useful FAQ here: http://bit.ly/2oY5ayO.
Azure Hybrid Use Benefit
The Azure Hybrid Use Benefit lets you use your Windows Server licences with active SA to license Windows Server within an Azure VM – but how do you know that a VM is configured to make use of this benefit? It’s a question we get a lot and the answer is (of course) PowerShell – you can find a useful article here: http://bit.ly/2ob9rBO.
April 2017 Volume Licensing Newsletter
The April 2017 Microsoft Volume Licensing Newsletter is out. Its main focus is Premium Assurance – the ability to add six extra years of product support to Windows Server and/or SQL Server.
So, if you want to find out more about Premium Assurance or access useful resources, read and subscribe to this free newsletter here: http://bit.ly/2omKXBm.
Downgrade Rights Volume Licensing Brief
There’s an updated (March 2017) Downgrade Rights Volume Licensing Brief from Microsoft. The main update is for Windows Server 2016 with useful tables showing downgrade and down edition rights with the all important reminder of which use rights govern a deployment.
Find this updated Volume Licensing Brief in our Licensing Guides emporium – in the Desktop or Core Infrastructure section: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.