Licensing Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM) in an educational institution.

Question

We are an educational institution and have deployed Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (Current Branch) on-premises.

Our current scenario is:

• All managed client devices/users are licensed with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 (Education)

SCCM and WSUS are installed on the same Windows Server

SQL Server is installed locally and used only for SCCM and WSUS

SQL Server was installed using Evaluation media (180 days)

We have reviewed Microsoft documentation, but we have not found a fully conclusive explanation specific to educational licensing, especially regarding the distinction between client licensing and server licensing.

Our questions are:

Client licensing: With Microsoft 365 E3/E5 (Education) assigned to all managed devices/users, is any additional license required to manage those clients with SCCM in production?

Server licensing: From a server perspective, is any additional license required for the SCCM server itself (for example, System Center licenses), or are SCCM usage rights already covered when all managed clients are licensed with E3/E5?

SQL Server usage: Is SQL Server Standard included for exclusive use with SCCM/WSUS in this scenario, and does it require converting the Evaluation installation to Standard using a valid product key?

We want to ensure full licensing compliance before moving this deployment to production.

Thank you in advance.We are an educational institution and have deployed Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager on-premises.

Our current scenario is:

All managed client devices/users are licensed with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 (Education)

SCCM and WSUS are installed on the same Windows Server

SQL Server is installed locally and used only for SCCM and WSUS

SQL Server was installed using Evaluation media (180 days)

We have reviewed Microsoft documentation, but we have not found a fully conclusive explanation specific to educational licensing, especially regarding the distinction between client licensing and server licensing.

Our questions are:

Client licensing:
With Microsoft 365 E3/E5 (Education) assigned to all managed devices/users, is any additional license required to manage those clients with SCCM in production?

Server licensing:
From a server perspective, is any additional license required for the SCCM server itself (for example, System Center licenses), or are SCCM usage rights already covered when all managed clients are licensed with E3/E5?

SQL Server usage:
Is SQL Server Standard included for exclusive use with SCCM/WSUS in this scenario, and does it require converting the Evaluation installation to Standard using a valid product key?

We want to ensure full licensing compliance before moving this deployment to production.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Hello Juan Pablo Gutierrez Faravelli,

Thank you for posting your question on the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand you are asking about licensing Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM/MECM) in an education environment. Below is a clear explanation based on your setup.

1. Client Licensing

Question: Do we need additional licenses for SCCM clients?

Answer: No.

Microsoft 365 E3/E5 Education already includes equivalent subscription rights for SCCM Client Management Licenses (Client ML). As long as all users or devices are assigned Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 Education, you do not need to purchase any additional SCCM client licenses.

2. Server Licensing (SCCM Server)

Question: Do we need server licenses for SCCM?

Answer: Yes.

Microsoft 365 E3/E5 only covers client licensing and does not include SCCM server licenses. The server running MECM must be licensed with System Center Standard or System Center Datacenter (per-core licensing). Client licenses from Microsoft 365 do not replace server licenses.

3. SQL Server Licensing (SCCM / WSUS)

Question: Is SQL Server included, and do we need to convert the Evaluation edition?

Answer: Yes.

SQL Server Standard is included with SCCM only for SCCM-related workloads, including WSUS. However, SQL Server Evaluation cannot be used in production and must be converted to a licensed, non-expiring edition using the product key provided with your System Center license.

Recommended next steps for you:

1. Verify all clients are assigned Microsoft 365 E3/E5 Education 
2. License the SCCM server with System Center Standard or Datacenter
3. Convert SQL Server Evaluation to SQL Server Standard using the System Center key
4. Keep documentation for licensing compliance

I hope this helps in your situation. Feel free to let me know if you have another update.

Sincerely,

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment”.   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Client licensing: With Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 (Education) assigned to all managed devices/users, you do not need an additional license to manage those clients with SCCM in production. Configuration Manager is included in the Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 plans, which provides the necessary rights to manage the clients.

Server licensing: The SCCM server itself requires an active Software Assurance agreement or equivalent rights to use Configuration Manager. Since your managed clients are licensed with E3/E5, you should verify if your institution's licensing agreement covers the SCCM server usage rights. If you have an active Software Assurance or equivalent subscription, you should be compliant.

SQL Server usage: SQL Server Standard is not included for exclusive use with SCCM/WSUS in your scenario. You will need to convert the Evaluation installation of SQL Server to a full Standard version using a valid product key to ensure compliance. The evaluation version is only valid for 180 days, after which you will need a proper license for continued use.

It's important to confirm these details with your licensing agreement or your Microsoft account representative to ensure full compliance before moving to production.

Answer 3

Hi @Juan Pablo Gutierrez Faravelli

SCCM licensing can be a bit tricky. In the licensing documentation, there is a statement like “Configuration Manager includes SQL Server technology…”, which is often misunderstood. This statement does not mean that SQL Server is included at no cost.

What it actually means is that Configuration Manager components can run on SQL Server without requiring additional SQL Server CALs. However, the SQL Server engine itself must still be properly licensed.

In other words, you do need a SQL Server Standard (or Enterprise) license for the SQL Server used by SCCM.