Forum Discussion
Could any one explain Exchange Server SE Licensing Model?
I have the following M365 licenses in my education tenant:
- Microsoft 365 A5 without Audio Conferencing (Student Use Benefit)
As per my understanding, each user requires an A3/A5 license to access their mailbox on an Exchange Server (Exchange SE). Since A3/A5 licenses already include Exchange Online, do we still need to assign these licenses to each on-premises user, or is this only for compliance purposes?
For example, if we have 100 on-premises users, must all 100 users be assigned A3/A5 licenses in Microsoft 365?
Reference articles are below.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Assigning the M365 A3/A5 license is mandatory for compliance, even if the mailbox is fully on-premises.
There is no separate “Exchange SE User CAL”, your cloud suite license is the entitlement. The license simply grants the user rights to use Exchange Server SE.
2 Replies
Assigning the M365 A3/A5 license is mandatory for compliance, even if the mailbox is fully on-premises.
There is no separate “Exchange SE User CAL”, your cloud suite license is the entitlement. The license simply grants the user rights to use Exchange Server SE.
See also, https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/product/CALandMLEquivalencyLicenses/all. Note, there is no assignment of these licenses to on-prem users. You simply need to ensure that you have purchased enough licenses to cover on-prem mailboxes.
The EUR that come with MA3 and MA5 provide the server licenses, as well. But if you go that route, only users with MA3/MA5 licenses can access the server (although external users can send email through it).
