System Center is licensed in exactly the same way as Windows Server. It can be
purchased in the Standard or Datacenter edition. The versions are identical except for
the number of virtual instance rights: two for Standard and unlimited for Datacenter.
It is licensed in two-socket increments for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 and two-
core increments for the 2016 version, which makes it easy to know how many and of
what type of System Center licenses you need for your Windows Server environment.
Typically, it will match your Windows Server licenses, and there are combination
licenses available, such as ECI, which licenses Windows Server and System Center
together.
It is important to note that System Center has been updating functionality throughout
the Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 waves via update rollups (URs), which contain not
only fixed but also new features. An example is a UR with added support for Azure
IaaS in the SCVMM console.
Many organizations also extend System Center to the cloud with Operations
Management Suite (OMS). OMS provides capabilities for on-premises and cloud-
hosted systems that can integrate with System Center. OMS runs in the cloud without
local infrastructure requirements, making it available to manage any workload,
anywhere, and it can take advantage of the huge compute capabilities of the cloud.
Some examples of capability include the following:
Insights into your environment including log analysis from Windows and Linux
systems and trend analysis of systems helping plan resources. This data can be
gained through an OMS agent or through connectivity to Operations Manager.
Automation allowing PowerShell to execute in the cloud
Backup and recovery solutions
Security and auditing through network, host, and audit inspection in addition to
threat analysisLong-term and even day-to-day management capabilities may be available in OMS.
However, today OMS is best utilized with System Center; System Center manages the
day-to-day, while OMS focuses on activities related to analytics and trend analysis.
System Center Configuration Manager
Moving through the products shown in Figure 1.13, I’ll start with System Center
Configuration Manager (SCCM). SCCM provides capabilities to deploy operating
systems, applications, and OS/software updates to servers and desktops. Detailed
hardware and software inventory and asset intelligence features are key aspects of
SCCM, enabling great insight into an entire organization’s IT infrastructure. SCCM
2012 introduces management of mobile devices such as iOS and Android through
ActiveSync integration with Exchange and a user-focused management model. One
key feature of SCCM for servers is settings management, which allows a configuration
of desired settings to be defined (such as OS and application settings) and then