Azure Free Trial
What do I get when I sign up for a Free Trial?
You receive a $200 credit to spend on Azure services during the trial. You can use this $200 however you want, to try out any combination of Azure resources. It enables you to explore our cloud entirely for free.
Do I pay anything during the trial?
No – the trial is absolutely free.
Do I have to pay something at the end of the trial?
No – there is absolutely no obligation to buy anything at the end of the trial.
How do I know how much of the $200 I’ve used and how much I have left?
During the trial, Microsoft displays your remaining trial credits at the top of the management portal. You cannot miss it.
Why do I need to provide a credit card and phone number?
Microsoft uses the phone number and credit card for identity verification. Microsoft wants to make sure that real people are using Azure. Microsoft does not bill anything to the credit card.
Runtime Key (PID)
An alpha-numeric string, located on the COA or on a flyer that comes with the COAs, designated to each Microsoft product that provides a unique identification number. Runtime Keys are used to prove authenticity and flash an Image across a line of embedded systems.
Why is my credit card being charged $1 for signing up for the Free Trial offer?
To ensure a valid credit card, Microsoft will charge your credit card $1 when signing up for the Free Trial Offer. This is only an authorization hold, the charge will be reversed within 3-5 business days.
What happens if I exceed the $200 free trial credit?
If you exceed your $200 free credit, Microsoft will suspend your free trial account. Please contact your Advantech representative to create an Azure CSP account.
What happens with the services I created after the 30-day trial period ends?
When your trial period is over, please contact your Advantech representative to create an Azure CSP account. Microsoft may decommission your services, and you may not be able to use them anymore.
Azure Purchase
Who can purchase Azure services?
Azure is intended for use by businesses that need to build cloud-scale applications and services. However, individuals may also purchase Azure services..
What payment options do I have in purchasing Azure services?
Advantech provides monthly billing for Azure usage. If you need other options, please contact your Advantech representative.
Does Azure support IPv6?
Microsoft has played a leading role in helping customers to smoothly transition from IPv4 to IPv6 for the past several years. To date, Microsoft has built IPv6 support into many of its products and solutions like Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft is committed to expanding the worldwide capabilities of the Internet through IPv6, and enabling a variety of valuable and exciting scenarios, including peer-to-peer and mobile applications. The foundational work to enable IPv6 in the Azure environment is well underway. However, at this time we are unable to give a date when IPv6 support will be generally available. For more information on IPv6 technologies and IPv6 support available in the Windows operating system today, see Microsoft’s IPv6 information site, which includes business, technical, and developer resources: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb530961
How do I optimize my Azure applications around billing charges?
There are several ways to optimize your Azure applications:
- Deploy two or more instances to qualify for the SLA
- Allocate a compute instance of the right size to fit the application's requirements
- Make use of our free inbound data transfers to upload data to Azure
- Allocate compute and storage in the same region. All data transfers within a region are free
- Use a Content Distribution Network (CDN) to reduce costs and improve performance
- Delete any test application immediately after your test concludes. The Azure staging environment is not free. Whenever an application is deployed (even in staging), you will be charged. You can also deploy the application locally using the Azure SDK until you are comfortable deploying it to the Azure cloud.
- Allocate the right sized SQL Database based on your needs.
Virtual Machines Licensing
Windows Server Questions
I know Windows Server is not covered under license mobility. Can a customer bring their own image that has applications and middleware on top of Windows Server?
Even though Windows Server is not covered under license mobility, Volume Licensing customers can still upload their own images containing Windows Server to Azure, if they are bringing it as part of Licensing Mobility for another product that is being brought over. We will charge the Windows Server Virtual Machine rate applicable for such an instance.
Does a customer need Windows Server CALs to connect to a Windows Server image that is running on Azure Virtual Machines?
No. Windows Server CALs are not required for accessing Windows Server running in the Azure environment because the access rights are included in the per-minute charge for the Virtual Machines. Use of Windows Server on-premises (whether in a VHD or otherwise) requires obtaining a separate license and is subject to the normal licensing requirements for use of software on-premises.
What are the System Center license requirements for managing Windows Server 2012 instances running on Azure?
Customers can use the license mobility benefits under Software Assurance to assign their System Center 2012 license to a Windows Server instance running on Azure. A System Center Standard license can be used to manage 2 VM instances; a System Center Datacenter license can be used to manage 8 VM instances.
SQL Server Questions
How do I license SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machines?
If you are an end-customer using SQL Server, you can:
- Obtain an SQL image from the Azure VM marketplace and pay the per-minute rate of SQL Server
- Install or upload your own SQL Server image using the license mobility benefits under Software Assurance
If you are a Service Provider with a signed Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) using SQL Server, you can:
- Obtain an SQL image from the Azure VM marketplace and pay the per-minute rate of SQL Server
- Install or upload your SQL Server Standard image with Subscriber Access License (SAL) reported via your SPLA
How do I license SQL Server within Azure Virtual Machines deployed in an active-passive configuration?
Each of the Azure Virtual Machines deployed requires licensing for SQL Server. To accomplish this, you can do the following for each virtual machine:
- Obtain an SQL image from the Azure VM marketplace and pay the per-minute rate of SQL Server
- Install or upload your own SQL Server image using the license mobility benefits under Software Assurance
When using my license mobility benefit to run SQL Server, how large of a compute instance can I run on Azure with a single SQL Server license?
SQL Server 2012 is licensed per core, which is considered the equivalent to virtual cores in Azure virtual machine instances. The minimum number of cores that can be assigned to a virtual machine instance is 4. This means that Extra Small (A0), Small (A1), Medium (A2), Large (A3), and A6 instances must all be assigned 4 SQL Server core licenses. Extra Large (A4), and A7 instances would need to be assigned 8 SQL Server core licenses.
Other Licensing Questions
Can customers run Microsoft Office and Windows 7 Client on Virtual Machines using License Mobility for Software Assurance?
No. Under the Microsoft Product use Rights (PUR), Office and Windows 7 are not licensed to run on Virtual Machines. In particular, Microsoft Office is classified in the PUR as “Desktop Applications”, which is not included in <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/license-mobility/" target="_blank">Licensing Mobility</a>. More information is available at the site for <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/products.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Product Use Rights</a>.
Can a Visual Studio subscriber run the software licensed under MSDN on Azure Virtual Machines?
Yes, any current Visual Studio subscriber who has activated their subscription may run most of the software licensed under MSDN on Azure Virtual Machines, providing greater flexibility for developing and testing their applications.
