Direct from the Source: End-User Licensing and Auditing

Licensing for public IM on Office Communications Server is really done on an honor system, and through auditing. The public providers get paid based on the number of people using the system, so you should assume they each have their own auditing systems and will identify rampant licensing violations. The details on how Microsoft and the public providers monitor this isn't fully defined, but user counts at every URI using public IM are auditable by the public providers. This sidebar describes a query tool administrators can use to view IM usage data within their organizations.

Querying for Public IM Usage Statistics

Use the public Internet connectivity usage query script Picstats.sql to report statistics related to public IM use—for example, the average number of public IM users on your deployed users' contact lists. This tool is part of the Office Communications Server Resource Kit Tools installation, and you can see a schematic presentation of the data provided by this tool in the "Sample Query Output" section later in this sidebar.

To start public Internet connectivity usage query script Picstats.sql, do the following:

The syntax for this query script is as follows:

osql.exe -E -S <sqlserver>
tc -d rtc -i picstats.sql

Here <sqlserver> represents the Microsoft SQL Server instance to connect to. The -E flag instructs OSQL to attempt to connect by using Windows Authentication. The default value is to the rtc instance on the local computer.

Note that you must be logged on to an account that is in a role that is allowed to run the query script Picstats.sql. For more information, refer to the Readme file in the Office Communications Server Resource Kit Tools installation folder OCS 2007 Resource Kit Tools, on the companion CD.

Sample Query Output

The following is an example of a valid query script Picstats.sql command:

osql.exe -E -S pool-be.contoso.com
tc -d rtc -i picstats.sql

The query script Picstats.sql returns three rows of data based on the contact list information stored within the SQL server associated with your Office Communications Server pool. For more information, see the following sample output and the description following it.

PIC Domain   Min Contacts/User   Max Contacts/User    Avg Contacts/User  StDev
Contacts/User
__________   _________________   _________________    _________________
___________________
AOL          1.00                102.00               17.07              13.73
Yahoo!       1.00                4.00                 1.80               1.30
MSN          1.00                96.00                16.79              13.56

Users with at least one PIC Contact               Total Enterprise Users           %
with at least one PIC Contact
___________________________________               ______________________
   _______________________________
   1000                                           2674                         37.40


Min PIC %/User      Max PIC %/User                Avg PIC %/User           StDev PIC
%/User
______________      ______________                ______________
   ________________
0.00                100.00                        33.52                    34.27

The first row in the output shown provides the minimum, maximum, average, and standard deviation in contacts per user for each of the three providers.

The second row provides the number of users with at least one public IM connectivity (PIC) contact, the total number of enterprise users, and the percent and count of users with at least one PIC contact.

The third row is similar to the first row, but it provides a summary number rather than a breakout per provider. This row provides the minimum, maximum, average, and standard deviation in total contacts per user.

Public IM Connectivity Monthly Subscription Licenses

Public IM connectivity monthly subscription licenses are available on a per-user, per-month subscription and are an addition to the Client Access License (CAL). Similar to all online services models, PIC has two licensing components associated with its use: a Services Subscription license (SSL) and a User Subscription license (USL). One PIC SSL is required per company agreement, and one PIC USL is required per user accessing any or all of the public IM service providers.

Pricing for public IM connectivity includes access to all three public IM service providers: Microsoft Network (MSN), America Online (AOL) and Yahoo!. Besides the normal costs that are associated with providing this service, Microsoft pays each provider (MSN, AOL, and Yahoo!) royalties on a per-user, per-month basis.

There is no single or two public IM service provider license available. PIC is sold on a per-user, per-month service agreement; PIC service licenses can be added to a current customer's select, enterprise, or government agreements.

There is no minimum license requirement. Customers can also add licenses at any time. There is no refund or reimbursement for PIC licenses that are not used. PIC service licenses can be added to a current customer's select, enterprise, or government agreements. Customers can pro-rate the months left on their agreements, adding PIC service licenses, but the termination of PIC service must co-terminate with the customer's agreement. For example, if a customer has 17 months left on its current agreement, it has the option to buy 17 months of PIC service.

Microsoft offers volume licensing solutions that scale to meet the needs of small, medium, and enterprise businesses and organizations. Licensing programs provide volume pricing and are designed to save organizations time and money by making the purchase and management of multiple software licenses easier. To view licensing terms, conditions, and supplemental information relevant to the use of products licensed through Microsoft Volume Licensing Programs, visit the Microsoft Volume License Services Web site at http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidOCS?clid=1033&p1=provision.