Quick Answer : SharePoint Server vs SharePoint Online

Customer Ask Me

Many Many customer ask me, I need SharePoint but Online or On-Premise. To help your user/customer to make decision, I am writing to provide some questions as below.

1.       Could all user access public internet when use SharePoint?

a.       If not, that indicates some user cannot access public internet (only can access local intranet). They should choose SharePoint server because SharePoint online need to be accessed from internet.

b.      If yes, both is ok.

2.       Is there any critical data which must be stored in their local server due to some business reason?

a.       If yes, please choose SharePoint server.

b.      If not, both is ok.

3.       Does end customer need some deep customization such as farm solution, BCS to connect other business system via ODBC, modify search index before generate?

a.       If yes, choose SharePoint server.

b.      If not, both is ok.

4.       Is there SharePoint specialist to maintain the SharePoint product environment?

a.       If not, recommend choose SPO because it require a little maintain workload.

b.      If yes, both is ok.

5.       Does end customer have more budget once?

a.       If not, please choose SPO because it’s charged by usage.

b.      If yes, both is ok.

6.       If the answer of all of above question is both. Recommend choose SPO because it has many benefit based on cloud service.

 

I hope everyone understand, I only have 10 minutes to answer. No technical and buzzword. :)

Good Luck :)

OneDrive for Business in SharePoint Server vs. SharePoint Online

image from : http://hansbrender.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/onedrive-vs-onedrive-for-business-unterschied-grundlagen/ 

Customer Ask Me

1. Please Compare OneDrive for Business in SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online

2. Compare the investment cost between both, They have 250 users.

This is the awesome question, I put some opinion in below.

1.       There is no specific difference for OneDrive for Business between SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online.

We just need to share the difference between SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online, as the One Drive for Business will follow the same limitation, i.e. if there is limitation for SharePoint Online, then it applies to One Drive for Business in SharePoint Online too.

Here is the information you need to check.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/sharepoint-server-help/what-is-onedrive-for-business-HA102822076.aspx

SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limits

http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/sharepoint-server-help/redir/HA102694293.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA102822076&anc=Toc351114840

2.       Some other key point need to take care in different SharePoint Edition and SharePoint Online Plan.

SharePoint Foundation 2013 customers have limited OneDrive for Business functionality. SharePoint Foundation 2013 customers can use OneDrive for Business to sync SharePoint document libraries with a shared computer and access documents offline. But SharePoint Foundation 2013 users do not have a Personal Site, so they do not benefit from a OneDrive for Business personal library with 25 gigabytes (GB) of online storage. (or 1 TB)

 Kiosk accounts have limited OneDrive for Business functionality. Kiosk customers can use the OneDrive for Business folder sync client application to sync team site document libraries with a shared computer and access documents offline. But kiosk accounts do not include a OneDrive for Business Personal Site, so they do not benefit from a OneDrive for Business personal library with 25 gigabytes (GB) of online storage. (or 1 TB)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sharepoint-online-service-description.aspx

Generally I do not recommend you compare the cost directly because there are more thing hard to calculate, e.g. train the people to manage SharePoint Server and IT environment, but for Online you need only a little effort to manage the online environment.

Here is I share some ideas for your reference.

SharePoint Online:

Monthly/Yearly  subscription fee*250

$2.50 user/month  with annual commitment Purchase additional storage for $0.20 per GB

Very little administrative efforts, but the user need to pay for the storage, default 25GB, more storage more money.

https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/plans/

In a quick summary, generally there is no big difference for One Drive for Business in SharePoint or SharePoint Online except the limitation for the server/plan themselves. E.g. SP Foundation has limited function, or Kiosk accounts have limited OneDrive for Business functionality. And the One Drive for Business needs to follow SharePoint Online limitation too.

Thank you Support Team and Good Luck :)

Microsoft VDI & Microsoft App-V :: The Final Battle!!

Many customers ask me, What's the suitable solution between Microsoft VDI & App-V.As per our discussion with support team, We summarized below

Microsoft App-V Solution

Application Virtualization from Microsoft enables software to be as instantly available and easy to use as electricity. Application virtualization transforms applications into centrally managed services that don’t conflict with other applications. App-V software is provided with Software Assurance license as a part of MDOP.

v  Integrated Platform

o    Virtual applications work like installed applications

o    Virtual applications use Windows standards

o    No dedicated drive letter required

v  Flexible Virtualization

o    Multiple App-V applications can share the same virtual environment

o    Designed to support highly integrated applications

o    Preserve existing investments in App-V

v  Powerful Management

o    New web-based management interface

o    Optimize for VDI with one management workflow

o    Rich PowerShell scripting allows automation and customization

Microsoft VDI Solution

Microsoft RDS provides three deployment choices so customers can have the flexibility to deploy the right type of VDI desktop for their users, all from a single platform. Customers can host either:

Licensing for Virtual Desktops

=====================

·         Windows for virtual desktops is licensed by access device. In the case of a primary work device, Software Assurance (SA) is recommended if the device uses Windows Pro, or else Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) is recommended if it is a thin-client or a non-Windows device. If the device is a secondary work device then a Companion Subscription License (CSL) is recommended.

·         When purchasing a VDA license you get product key that can only activate client operating systems and must be hosted on a client operating system (Product key group: Volume license for Windows 8).  The reason it must be hosted on a client OS is that the KMS key must be able to active the KMS host and we would not want a customer to be able to buy a client license and get a key that can activate a server OS.

·         Thin Clients can be used to access Virtual Desktops in the servers. For enabling this, customer needs VDA license & VDI + RDS in case he is using Microsoft technology as connection broker for desktop delivery to Thin Clients or he can use Citrix/VMware and buy only RDS instead of VDI+RDS.

Option 1: Choosing Licensing components for Windows Server 2012 R2 Session Based Desktops

===================================================================

Licenses required:

·         Software’s

ü  Windows Server 2012 R2

ü  Windows 7 or Windows 8 OS – Licensed per device to access the RD Web Access

NOTE: Licenses from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and full packaged product (FPP) licenses does not permit the flexibility that VDI requires.

·         Licenses

ü  Windows Server/Client CAL – Licensed per device/user

ü  RDS CAL – Licensed per device

Option 2: Choosing separate Licensing components for RDS CALs, SCCM CML, etc for VDI environment

=======================================================================

Licenses required:

·         Software’s

ü  Windows Server 2012 R2

ü  Windows 7 or Windows 8 OS – Licensed per device

NOTE: Licenses from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and full packaged product (FPP) licenses does not permit the flexibility that VDI requires.

·         Licenses

ü  Windows Server/Client CAL – Licensed per device/user

ü  Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) – Licensed per device

NOTE: VDA License is only required if your Windows 7 does not have Software Assurance or you have Thin Client OS

ü  RDS CAL – Licensed per device

ü  RDS External Connector – Optional

NOTE: Licensed per server for Volume Licensing customer who needs to provide access for customer’s partners/external vendors who are not a part of the customer’s employees

ü  SCCM CML for SCVMM Management – Optional

NOTE: You may use VMM under your VDI suite license to manage, at any one time, up to four virtual Client OSEs in which software you are using remotely from your VDI licensed device is running. Those virtual OSEs may be on up to four different VDI hosts. You may not manage OSEs that are not on VDI hosts 

Option 3: Choosing license “VDI Suite” for VDI environment

==========================================

Licenses required:

·         Software’s

ü  Windows Server 2012 R2

ü  Windows 7 or Windows 8 OS – Licensed per device

NOTE: Licenses from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and full packaged product (FPP) licenses does not permit the flexibility that VDI requires.

·         Licenses

ü  Windows Server/Client CAL – Licensed per device/user

ü  Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) – Licensed per device

NOTE: VDA License is only required if your Windows 7 or Windows 8 does not have Software Assurance or your have Thin Client OS

ü  VDI Suite which includes (RDS CAL, Configuration Manager CML for SCVMM) – Licensed per device

NOTE: An RDS CAL that’s restricted to deploying VMs only (no session virtualization) & a CML (Client Management License) for System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) restricted to VMM use only.

ü  RDS External Connector – Optional

NOTE: Licensed per server for Volume Licensing customer who needs to provide access for customer’s partners/external vendors who are not a part of the customer’s employees

ü  MDOP Suite - Optional

Good Luck :)