Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?
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I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
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@jaredbusch said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with CDW.. I may hit up my old VAR after all. Thanks for your help
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@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@jaredbusch said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with CDW.. I may hit up my old VAR after all. Thanks for your help
They've never been very good.
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@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@jaredbusch said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with CDW.. I may hit up my old VAR after all. Thanks for your help
The thing to remember is - don't ask them what to buy.. you need to know first.
If you are looking to purchase 70 Windows Server CALs, you should really consider an Open Value purchase. The same goes for your server. You'll have to decide if Software Assurance is for you or not (and really, if you're staying with Windows, it really should be - you want to stay current).
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@dashrender said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@jaredbusch said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with CDW.. I may hit up my old VAR after all. Thanks for your help
The thing to remember is - don't ask them what to buy.. you need to know first.
If you are looking to purchase 70 Windows Server CALs, you should really consider an Open Value purchase. The same goes for your server. You'll have to decide if Software Assurance is for you or not (and really, if you're staying with Windows, it really should be - you want to stay current).
Right. You know what you need, they give you buying options. That's all.
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@dashrender said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@jaredbusch said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I tend to use only one or two VARs. It is too much work to maintian relationships with many.
My preferred for now is CCB. Softmart used to be good, but Connection bought them.
But my clients all buy in small amounts very sporadically.
I have a personal dislike for CDW, so I never chose them.
Yeah I'm not too impressed with CDW.. I may hit up my old VAR after all. Thanks for your help
The thing to remember is - don't ask them what to buy.. you need to know first.
If you are looking to purchase 70 Windows Server CALs, you should really consider an Open Value purchase. The same goes for your server. You'll have to decide if Software Assurance is for you or not (and really, if you're staying with Windows, it really should be - you want to stay current).
Everything is Open Value anymore, has been for a long time. You have to go way out of your way to find anything else.
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@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I'm looking at CDW now. Searched "Windows server 2016" and I get all kinds of results, from $1,312 to $31.99, each one having similar details... What the heck..
This is where a good account rep helps. BTW, on most sites, an account rep can get you better pricing than the web pricing.
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@mike-davis said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I'm looking at CDW now. Searched "Windows server 2016" and I get all kinds of results, from $1,312 to $31.99, each one having similar details... What the heck..
This is where a good account rep helps. BTW, on most sites, an account rep can get you better pricing than the web pricing.
I'm not sure how I feel about this - I asked my account rep to get me the iLo license i needed for a server - after 3 different purchases I still didn't have the correct license I needed.
The same can happen with any licensing. This is why I suggested finding exactly what you want before approaching any company for pricing. Sadly, this is extremely difficult at times. -
@dashrender said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@mike-davis said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I'm looking at CDW now. Searched "Windows server 2016" and I get all kinds of results, from $1,312 to $31.99, each one having similar details... What the heck..
This is where a good account rep helps. BTW, on most sites, an account rep can get you better pricing than the web pricing.
I'm not sure how I feel about this - I asked my account rep to get me the iLo license i needed for a server - after 3 different purchases I still didn't have the correct license I needed.
The same can happen with any licensing. This is why I suggested finding exactly what you want before approaching any company for pricing. Sadly, this is extremely difficult at times.Yeah, and that's where I struggle: trying to figure out exactly what I need, in terms of licensing. I mean, I know what we need as far as products go, but I want to make 100% sure we are compliant with our licenses. My VAR used to help me with this as he's been doing it for a long time.
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One thing that's always fun is when I get a quote from my VAR and a quote form CDW and the price is different.. then it's like pitting against each other to fight for the sale..
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@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
One thing that's always fun is when I get a quote from my VAR and a quote form CDW and the price is different.. then it's like pitting against each other to fight for the sale..
Throw them all into the ring and let them fight it out for your business by lowballing each other. Then you'll see how much margin they have on these licenses (which is plenty). Since it is MS licenses, take the lowest price and run.
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@rojoloco said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
One thing that's always fun is when I get a quote from my VAR and a quote form CDW and the price is different.. then it's like pitting against each other to fight for the sale..
Throw them all into the ring and let them fight it out for your business by lowballing each other. Then you'll see how much margin they have on these licenses (which is plenty). Since it is MS licenses, take the lowest price and run.
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@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@rojoloco said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dave247 said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
One thing that's always fun is when I get a quote from my VAR and a quote form CDW and the price is different.. then it's like pitting against each other to fight for the sale..
Throw them all into the ring and let them fight it out for your business by lowballing each other. Then you'll see how much margin they have on these licenses (which is plenty). Since it is MS licenses, take the lowest price and run.
You could probably get at least $4-5 for admission, maybe $10 for PPV. I'd watch that (as long as it was hobo fight rules where the audience can slip weapons through the fence for them to use).
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@dashrender said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I'm not sure how I feel about this - I asked my account rep to get me the iLo license i needed for a server - after 3 different purchases I still didn't have the correct license I needed.
The same can happen with any licensing. This is why I suggested finding exactly what you want before approaching any company for pricing. Sadly, this is extremely difficult at times.That's rough. Is the account rep usually on their game? My rep is good and if a mistake is made, he does all the leg work.
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@mike-davis said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
@dashrender said in Where/who should I be buying Microsoft Server licensing from?:
I'm not sure how I feel about this - I asked my account rep to get me the iLo license i needed for a server - after 3 different purchases I still didn't have the correct license I needed.
The same can happen with any licensing. This is why I suggested finding exactly what you want before approaching any company for pricing. Sadly, this is extremely difficult at times.That's rough. Is the account rep usually on their game? My rep is good and if a mistake is made, he does all the leg work.
I haven't had a good rep since my original CDW guy was transferred off Healthcare.
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I mostly get my products from NewEgg and CDW. My current CDW rep is pretty good. The best thing about my rep is he admits software licensing is crazy and talks with his team to find me the right licenses every time.
YMMV but I give a +1 lately to CDW. I have been to a couple local events and they admit they will not be the lowest price but are trying to offer better services and side benefits.
After reading many SW/blog posts by SAM, I do watch out for the VAR related issues.
Edit: - As for finding the right MS software licenses on CDW, don't waste your time. If you don't find the correct MS Part-# just ask your rep to find out. As you found out CDW will list every single license from all types of MS contracts (Government, Open Value, Open License, 0-5 users, 100+ users, 500+ users). It is not worth the pain. It is better if you ask your rep, "Can you find me a W2016 Standard License with 16 Cores?" or "Can you find me 20 2016 RDS User CAL's under my Open Value license?"
