OEM Windows Server licensing and SLIC - issue with motherboard replacements.

[tfboy]

First post here although I've been following AT for some several years

For those of you who also work in corporate environments with servers and purchase licences OEM where the manufacturer has SLIC information in the server's BIOS for automatic activation, I wonder if you could share any experience you have.

I've been dealing with one of the main hardware vendors (Dell, IBM, HP,... take your pick, I don't want to name them) where we purchased over 100 servers for installation at a customer's site. A load of them were purchased with OEM WS2008 licences and were automatically activated with the SLIC ACPI tables present, vendor's certificate and SLP product keys.

Fast forward a year on, and one server has had a motherboard failure. The server is under a support agreement with the vendor and so we've had the motherboard replaced.

The issue now is that the replacement motherboard doesn't have the SLIC tables present so the OS is no longer activated. It would be possible to activate with the PID key of the COA, but I'd like to avoid that as it means manual phone-to-MS processes which will have to be repeated if ever the OS is re-installed (it happens quite frequently).

My debate with the vendor is why the replacement doesn't contain the correct information in the BIOS as they can track by serial number and confirm the server was purchased with OEM licence, etc. They claim that as they are super vigilant, extra consciencious, then only the factory has the ability to inject the relevant information; their Support teams do not have the tools nor authority to do it.

So we're at a stalemate and it looks like they won't be able to do anything.

I wonder if other manufacturers deal with this in any better way. I do find it bothersome that out of over 100 servers, one will be "different" and require additional phoning to MS to activate, etc, when all the other servers run normally. Should another server have a motherboard failure, then we'll have the same issues.

I understand that an OEM licence is locked to that tin and cannot be transferred, but we're talking about replacing a faulty motherboard on the same tin, for a server that is under a support contract by the manufacturer themselves.

Anyone else in a corporate environment managing / maintaining servers have any experience they can share?

 

[Dug]

I know it's too late now, but you should always buy servers bare and get volume licensing.

You are running into one of many problems with OEM licensing and you don't have a way around it. Along with the strict ties to the hardware, you also won't be able to create a vm of that server down the road. If you want to you'll have to buy an open license for that server anyway.

But you are spinning way too many cycles on something that takes 5 minutes. Calling MS activation once is no big deal, and hopefully you aren't reinstalling the OS all the time. Even if you had to in five years, it's only another 5 minute call.

 

[therealnickdanger]

One of my Windows licenses always gives me problems, but I've carried it forward across several builds. Each time I call Microsoft Activation, I sit through the automated robot and wait for it to tell me the license doesn't work, then talk to a human who authenticates it in seconds. They're really good at helping legit customers with activation, I wouldn't worry. Yes, it's one more step, but it's going to save you a lot of money.