Microsoft licensing and IT test servers [duplicate]

Solution 1:

Licences obtained through Technet (or MSDN) are the most common way of doing this. These licences are aimed at use for just that. They cannot be used in live production environments, but are there for testing, training and development. Whether you consider testing, as testing an application, or testing an infrastructure setup.

I believe Technet subscription does not allow you to use your licences for development and test of applications, where as MSDN does.

If you cannot afford a Technet or MSDN subscription, most Microsoft server software is available for a limited time based trial, often more than enough to test, or train for a specific purpose. Microsoft even provide pre-setup virtual machines for this sort of thing, for products like Exchange and OCS.

Solution 2:

One other great program they have is the Action Pack. $300 a year for most of the mainstream software they produce. Check it out here. You need to be a registered member, but that is free.

Solution 3:

As a student, I have access to various versions of Windows Server through both Dreamspark and MSDNAA. Obviously I can't use these licenses at work, so I install them at home into virtual machines and test different configurations that way. It's good for learning how to use server roles that you might not have had experience with before, like RRAS or Hyper-V.

• https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-ca/academic/default.aspx