Get Started with Azure in Open Licensing

Azure pricing is specific to the services consumed. Detailed pricing for Azure services can be found at Azure pricing.

Azure is priced on a consumption basis by the specific service being used. For example, Azure Backup pricing is different from basic Azure storage, as it includes additional capabilities such as backup compression, data encryption, and the network bandwidth required to restore backups.

Azure in Open Volume Licensing offers a new option for customers to purchase Azure Services from their Microsoft Partner. Customers purchase Azure SKUs through the Open, Open Value, or Open Value Subscription Volume Licensing Programs. Azure in Open purchases are valid for 12 months after activation and must be activated within five years of the purchase date.

The SKUs are provided in the form of an Online Service Activation (OSA) Key that a reseller purchases from a distributor and sells to a customer. The full purchase will be issued on a single OSA key unless otherwise specified at the time of purchase.

When an order is processed the OSA key can be obtained from the Volume Licensing Service Center and activated in the Azure Account Portal.

Before August 2014, there were two options for customers to purchase Azure, either on the Azure website or as part of an Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft. With this change, Azure will now be available through another familiar licensing option that offers the benefits of Microsoft Volume Licensing.

One major benefit of purchasing Azure via Open Licensing is the ability for customers to work with the same resellers that they may purchase from currently under the Open Volume License Programs—enabling them to take advantage of the services and expertise they offer as well as help with managing their account.

If you are looking for a reseller to help with purchasing Azure in Open, visit Microsoft Pinpoint.

Azure in Open is available in countries that have Open Volume Licensing program partners and that offer Azure Direct. Go here to see if Open volume licensing is available in your country.

In the Azure Marketplace, customers in Open licensing can transact all bring-your-own-license(BYOL) offerings and will need to associate a new subscription with a credit card for usage-based offerings. Some Azure services can be purchased through Open Licensing as per user licenses on an annual term, separately. Azure Active Directory Basic and Premium and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) are examples of a per user license that are purchased annually and separately.

Some services aren’t available in all Datacenter locations. You can check to see what services are offered in each Datacenter here.

Azure Government is a government-community cloud specifically designed for needs of the US Government and is on a physically isolated datacenter and network located in the continental United States. Currently Azure in Open cannot be used to procure services from the Azure Government Cloud.

No. The Azure in Open program does not offer any rollover benefits to future periods. Customers have a “use or lose” deadline that expires 12 months after the date of activation. If a customer has activated multiple OSA keys at different times, each key will have a separate expiration date based on the each key’s individual activation date.

Associating an Azure in Open subscription with an EA will forfeit any unconsumed Azure in Open credits. Prior to associating an Azure in Open account with an EA, please review relevant Azure EA documentation. To avoid any potential forfeiture of credit, it is recommended that customers consume all credit on an Azure in Open subscription prior to adding the account to their EA.

The management portal is used to configure and use Azure services. The usage and billing portal is used to track Azure subscriptions to view usage, consumption and balance information. This is also where you can update account details. The preview portal combines this information and can be used interchangeably with the other portals. Access all three at Microsoft Azure Portal.

Customers use the Microsoft Azure classic portal to handle the administration of domains, end users, subscriptions, and co-administrators. Customers can also elect to have a Microsoft partner manage their account on their behalf, or manage it with a partner.

Customers who created an Azure account prior to July 14, 2014 under any offer type (including Azure trials and Office365) should create a new Azure account using a different email address to create an Azure in Open subscription.

To manage a customer account, resellers must work with their customers to be added as a co-administrator on the account. This is set up in the ‘settings’ section of the management portal. Resellers can then logon to each customer portal to monitor and manage the account.

In addition to logging into your account to view balance and consumption, you will be automatically sent an email notification when any of your tokens balance reach 30% of their initial value. Using the Billing Alerts feature, you can also create up to five configurable alerts that will notify you via email when the remaining subscription credits reaches the configured amount. Each alert can be sent to two email addresses. The alerts are created at the subscription level and can be accessed in the usage and billing portal under the 'alerts' tab and are described in detail below.

Azure in Open Billing Alerts:

• Token Credit Remaining: Remaining token balance is less than or equal to 30% of the initial token balance.
• Token Expiry: 30 days until token expiration date. After the expiration date, any unused credit will be lost.
• Subscription Credit Remaining: Total subscription credits remaining is less than or equal to the configured amount.

If an Azure in Open subscription reaches a zero balance the services will be suspended. The data will be retained for 90 days and once funds are added to the subscription the services can be reinstated, however there could be some services that would need to be redeployed.

Customers can either contact their partners directly or submit a support case online through the Microsoft Azure classic portal. Subscription and billing issues do not require a support contract. However, technical/break-fix issues will require an Azure support plan which can be purchased with a credit card. For Microsoft support, please use the following links:

• Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center.
• Microsoft Azure subscription or technical issues.

Each Azure workload is different and needs to be evaluated by the Billing Support team to determine if the move can be supported.