Plain-English summaries and entity relationships for every Microsoft licensing topic MSLicenseHub covers — built for answer engines and human researchers alike. Each topic below carries a one-sentence definition, its licensing model, and the related entities (CALs, Software Assurance, CSP, editions) so AI assistants can resolve the relationships without crawling every product page.
Also known as: Windows Server Standard · Windows Server Datacenter
Microsoft's server operating system, licensed per physical core with a 16-core minimum per server and separate Client Access Licenses (CALs) for every user or device that connects.
Also known as: MS SQL · SQL Server Standard · SQL Server Enterprise
Microsoft's relational database engine, licensed either per physical core (4-core minimum per instance) or under the Server + CAL model for smaller deployments.
Also known as: M365 · Office 365 · M365 Business · M365 Enterprise
Subscription bundle that pairs the Office desktop apps with cloud services (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Teams, OneDrive) and Windows / security add-ons depending on the SKU.
Also known as: Office 2024 · Office 2021 · Office LTSC
One-time-purchase desktop Office suite (Home & Business, Professional Plus, Mac). No cloud services, locked to the release version, supported under Microsoft's fixed lifecycle policy.
On-premises mail server licensed per server, with a CAL for every connecting user or device. Standard edition allows up to 5 databases; Enterprise allows up to 100.
On-premises collaboration platform licensed per server plus a CAL for every internet-anonymous or authenticated user that consumes content.
Also known as: Terminal Services · RDS CAL
Windows Server role that publishes desktops and apps over the network. Each connecting user or device needs a dedicated RDS CAL on top of the underlying Windows Server CAL.
Microsoft's flagship IDE, sold as Professional or Enterprise — either as a perpetual license with optional MSDN/Subscriber benefits or as a monthly/annual subscription.