Best Practices for Administering MSDN Subscriptions

[This report was edited after initial publication. See notes in italics below.]

MSDN subscriptions provide a flexible user-based method for licensing Microsoft software and services for the development, testing, and evaluation of applications that rely on those products and services. However, proper administration of MSDN subscriptions is necessary if an organization wants to avoid overbuying or buying the wrong edition and may lessen the time and manpower required to show compliance in the event of a license compliance check.

MSDN Administration Overview

Beyond the requirement to administer MSDN to comply with the subscription licensing rules, proper administration of MSDN subscriptions can provide the organization with several benefits. Only through proper and ongoing administration can the organization ensure it has only the number of MSDN subscriptions it needs, and that it is getting the full benefit of each subscription. With proper administration the organization will be in the best position to minimize the disruption of a license compliance check and get credit for the MSDN subscriptions that the organization owns and is using properly. Most importantly, with proper administration, the organization should minimize the risk of violating or appearing to violate the MSDN licensing rule against production use, and any subsequent negative affect on the organization.