External Connector License for TFS 2010

Question

Hi Everyone,

I want to know two things about "External Connector License".

1. What is its cost?

2. If i purchase it then end users all over the globe can access the TFS from internet ? OR an "External Connector License" is subject to each External Entity (i.e an organization or a company)?

I have read the licesing of TFS 2010 but these informations seems to be not present. Please provide some information along with Microsoft links etc which can guide me on this.

Thanks

Nitin

Answer 1

Team Foundation Server CAL Requirements

A Team Foundation Server CAL is required for users (or devices) who:

·         Directly access Team Foundation Server or SQL Server 2005.

·         Indirectly query or write data to Team Foundation Server or SQL Server 2005 through another software application or device.

A Team Foundation Server CAL is not required for users who:

·         View static Team Foundation Server data that has been manually distributed outside of the server software.

·         Receive Team Foundation Server reports through e-mail and do not indirectly access the server to refresh, create, or update data.

·         Receive printed Team Foundation Server reports.

 

External Connector:

You can buy an external connector license to allow any number of external users to access and use one of your licensed copies of the server software. External users are users that are neither your or your affiliates’ employees, nor your or your affiliates’ on-site contractors or agents.

 

. If you license Windows Server 2003 on a Server/CAL basis with an option to license an external connector, each licensed Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation user also requires a Windows Server 2003 CAL with an option to license an external connector, as appropriate.

source: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1FA86E00-F0A3-4290-9DA9-6E0378A3A3C5&displaylang=en&displaylang=en

For pricing idea:
http://www.best-price.com/product/visual-studio-team-foundation-2008-open-gov-external-connector-sa/775771986/1/

http://www.howardcomputers.com/accessories/detail.cfm?id=S6213639

Ideally it should some where be around 10k $,but pricing, licensing really depends upon the requirement, availability, customer organization's scenario and many other factors, in my mind it wus around 10k$ and i found two links regarding that.

Now i think you need to connect yourself to MSFT local office.

 

---

Jibran Jamshad, Technology Consultant, Microsoft Innovation Center - Pakistan. MCT, MCPD, MS - S/W Eng Melbourne Uni. Blog - http://geekdeck.com

Answer 2

Jibran, i am not clear with your explanations.

The information that you have given in your post, is from visual studio 2010 licensing document. I have read that.

But the two questions were not clear to me and hence i posted these queries.

Hope to see some relevant information in next posts.

Thanks

Answer 3

I think too much info made you confused. to be simple

1) Exact licencing cost can only be given to you by MS Sales Team of your region / country. I posted a few links which were the online prices and the actual prices may vary around 10% + - .

2) Yes your external connector licence would cover each and every kind of user accessing your TFS over the web.

---

Jibran Jamshad, Technology Consultant, Microsoft Innovation Center - Pakistan. MCT, MCPD, MS - S/W Eng Melbourne Uni. Blog - http://geekdeck.com

Answer 4

 

Well, Jibran, i appreciate your help but its not that i am confused. The more questions i have, the more clarity i will get on this part and hence i am posting the queries.

Questions:

Is there any limitation of no. of users accessing TFS over the web?

What if 1000 of users access TFS over the web concurrently? Will that make it slow?

Just a normal case:

If my organization has thousands of users who might need an access to TFS, then instead of buying individual CALs for them, wouldnt it be a cheaper deal if i purchase External Connector license for my organization and tell every user to access TFS over the web.

Lets do a small calculation:

1. CALs within organization: 1000 (users) * 500 (CALs cost) =  5,00,000 USD

2. External connector license: Approx. 10K USD

Please provide some official information too for above that an organization can also have External connector license for its internal employees.

 

 

Answer 5

yes you are right :) , infact you have explained to yourself and I totally agree with the above proposition. That is the reason why large units sign EA (Enterprise Agreements) to blanket thoousands of users across globe, rather than worrying for individual or workgroup licencing options.

Regards

---

Jibran Jamshad, Technology Consultant, Microsoft Innovation Center - Pakistan. MCT, MCPD, MS - S/W Eng Melbourne Uni. Blog - http://geekdeck.com

Answer 6

Thanks.

Just last 3 queries:

1. Is there any limitation of no. of users accessing TFS over the web?

2. What if 1000 of users access TFS over the web concurrently? Will that make it slow?

3. Any microsoft official website stating information for 1 and 2.

I will close this post and will give points to you as you were indeed quick on this post.

Thanks again

Answer 7

Nitin - Limitation, not from the licensing aspects, but yes technically ofcourse. Now you need to study the TFS deployment guide / manual which will tell you that how many users under a certain hardware can have concurrent access on a single TFS. If your users exceed that threshold than you need to have dual server deployment (having multiple TFS) or scale out deployment (Having TFS on 1 machine, and backend SQL Server on another).

For the deployment the best guide from MS is available on the following link:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2d531219-2c39-4c69-88ef-f5ae6ac18c9f&displaylang=en

Try this and feel free to open other threads incase you face any difficulty while chalking out deployment plan!

Cheers!

---

Jibran Jamshad, Technology Consultant, Microsoft Innovation Center - Pakistan. MCT, MCPD, MS - S/W Eng Melbourne Uni. Blog - http://geekdeck.com