If you use MAK then you can re-image a machine every week and re-activate it - it will still only count as a single hardware profile against the key. With KMS you can re-image every week and it will count against the local KMS server as a single device in a similar manner. The activation frequency is like DHCP in that machines will keep checking in at 1/2 their term and get renewals to keep up-to-date and reduce load on the server.
One nice feature of KMS is that you can put the standard KMS keys into your products and setup deployment points. So we have office 2010 and all its apps setup unattended with the KMS key (you then get 30 days to activate) as well as Windows 7 (it was Vista - remember that product). You then have a while to get the KMS sorted. Mike -----Original Message----- From: Cameron Cooper [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 10 August 2010 19:30 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Volume Licensing Also.. forgot to add... that when you have a KMS host and the key is stored there, MS is only sent the one key. When I looked at our VL on MS's site, it shows two different keys.. the KMS and MAK. The MAK is the only one with a number next to it like this 0/50. _____________________________ Cameron Cooper Network Administrator | CompTIA A+ Certified Aurico Reports, Inc Phone: 847-890-4021 | Fax: 847-255-1896 [email protected] | www.aurico.com -----Original Message----- From: Sam Cayze [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:22 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Volume Licensing Interesting, what a weird way for MS to do this. I wonder what the University that I used to work for will do. They re-imaged their machines every week. -----Original Message----- From: Matthew W. Ross [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:17 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Volume Licensing Yes. But, Microsoft has given me a 500 activations license pool for windows 7. I don't have a count, but we may have 100 actual licenses. Also, their documentation states that it is possible to get more activations with a call to them and an explanation on why you need more (like our case, where we re-image our computers for each new school year). I believe KMS licenses are also counted by Microsoft on the Volume License page. --Matt Ross Ephrata School District ----- Original Message ----- From: Cameron Cooper [mailto:[email protected]] To: NT System Admin Issues [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:08:42 -0700 Subject: RE: Volume Licensing > From what I read, with MAK, once it activates on that computer with MS > it counts towards your VL agreement. If that computer goes down and > either needs to be re-formatted or replaced, and Windows 7 is > reinstalled... does that make another count towards your VL agreement? > > _____________________________ > Cameron Cooper > Network Administrator | CompTIA A+ Certified Aurico Reports, Inc > Phone: 847-890-4021 | Fax: 847-255-1896 [email protected] | > www.aurico.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew W. Ross [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:55 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: Volume Licensing > > We're a MAK shop. And that's only because my first attempt at > installing the KMS server was a dismal failure. It shouldn't have been > difficult, but for whatever reason it wasn't happy with my Windows 2003 R2 server. > Maybe I'll try again later. > > MAK requires that you use the Volume Activation Management Tool > (VAMT), which is currently version 2.0, and activate machines on your > network remotely. The tool works well enough, especially since it can > search for machines, install license keys and activate en-mass. > > > --Matt Ross > Ephrata School District > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Cameron Cooper > [mailto:[email protected]] > To: NT System Admin Issues > [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 > 09:22:02 -0700 > Subject: RE: Volume Licensing > > > > What are the pros and cons of a KMS over MAK? > > > > > > > > _____________________________ > > > > Cameron Cooper > > > > Network Administrator | CompTIA A+ Certified > > > > Aurico Reports, Inc > > > > Phone: 847-890-4021 | Fax: 847-255-1896 > > > > [email protected] | www.aurico.com > > > > > > > > From: Brian Desmond [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:00 AM > > To: NT System Admin Issues > > Subject: RE: Volume Licensing > > > > > > > > I'd just use a KMS assuming you are going to migrate to Win7 and/or > > Office 2010 relatively quickly. > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Brian Desmond > > > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > c - 312.731.3132 > > > > > > > > From: Cameron Cooper [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:01 AM > > To: NT System Admin Issues > > Subject: Volume Licensing > > > > > > > > All, > > > > > > > > We are new to the Volume Licensing through Microsoft and would like > > to know which key (KMS or MAK) to use in our environment for > > migrating to Windows 7 and Office 2010? > > > > > > > > Environment: > > > > - Currently have 60 computers all running Windows XP Pro and > a > > mixture of Office 2003/2007 > > > > - Currently have 5 Servers running Windows Server 2003 and > 2003 > > R2 (which won't be migrated over to Server 2008 R2 yet) > > > > > > > > From what I understand is that KMS is hosted on one machine (server > > or > > computer) and the clients renew their activation with that machine. > > Whereas with MAK, each computer activates to MS. > > > > > > > > _____________________________ > > > > Cameron Cooper > > > > Network Administrator | CompTIA A+ Certified > > > > Aurico Reports, Inc > > > > Phone: 847-890-4021 | Fax: 847-255-1896 > > > > [email protected] | www.aurico.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
