We have recently migrated from Exchange 2010 on-premises to Exchange Online.  It was our understanding at the beginning of our migration, that Microsoft allowed for the deployment of Exchange on-premises, post-migration, to be used for relaying purposes and andministration.  In fact, the consultant with which we worked during our migration, recomended the deployment of at least one on-premises Exchange 2013 server following migration.  We were informed that we could use a free hybrid license, and key, as long as no mailboxes were hosted on the on-premises server, or servers in a high-availability deployment.  Recently, our consultant informed us that this is no longer the case.  Microsoft apparently no longer allows for the use of the free hybrid license key on-premises, even if only used for adminnistration and relay.  Could someone confirm this for me?  Does Microsoft no longer allow the use of the free hybrid license and key when an on premises server, or array of servers, is / are used solely for the purposes of relaying from on premises resources to Exchange Online / Office 365?

Thanks,

Patrick M. Sullivan

Nobody participating in these forums is qualified to quote licensing terms on behalf of Microsoft.  Please contact your Microsoft representative or reseller, and/or check out the Microsoft Exchange licensing page:

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx

Having said that, I'm not aware that the terms of the hybrid license have changed.  You're welcome to go here and see if you can get one based on your Office 365 licensing.

http://aka.ms/hybridkey

Hi Patrick,

Here is an official article provided answers to common questions about licensing Exchange (including Hybrid environment):

https://products.office.com/en-us/exchange/microsoft-exchange-licensing-faq-email-for-business

If you want to know about the license requirement for your scenario, I suggest we can contact Microsoft directly for details:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/existing-customer/activation-centers.aspx

Contact Microsoft:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus?wa=wsignin1.0

Regards,