About System Center

System Center delivers a simplified datacenter management experience to keep you in control of your IT—whether on-premises, in the cloud, or across platforms. It builds on the experience and depth of the previous versions, and you can take your management capabilities even farther with Azure security and management capabilities, giving you visibility and control of data and applications that live across multiple systems from a single solution.

How to Buy

System Center can be used to manage server Operating System Environments (OSEs) and/or client OSEs. Server management licensing maximizes your private cloud value while simplifying purchasing. All server management licenses (server MLs) include the same components and the ability to manage any workload.

Server and Client Management Licenses

System Center server MLs are available in two editions, which are differentiated by virtualization rights only:

• System Center Datacenter: Ideal for managing highly virtualized servers and licensed under the Management servers* (core-based) licensing model.
• System Center Standard: Ideal for managing lightly virtualized or non-virtualized servers and licensed under the Management servers* (core-based) licensing model.

*All physical cores on the server must be licensed, subject to a minimum of 8 core licenses per physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses per server.

There are three types of Client Management Licenses:

• Per User ML: A User Management License permits management of any OSE accessed by one user.
• Per OSE ML:  An OSE Management License permits management of one OSE accessed by any user.
• Device ML: A device Management License (Core CAL or Enterprise CAL Suite) permits management of any OSE on one device.