Greetings, I'm looking to set up a test lab at home. This seems like a good opportunity to get a (better) feel for Hyper-V on Server 2012. I have access to an MSDNAA program that will likely have Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition posted. I could also purchase a TechNet subscription, although I'm not sure if I would be comfortable footing the bill for the 'Pro' subscription, if that would be required for the Datacenter edition. My question is this: If I obtain Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition from MSDNAA, will the licensing work out the same (i.e. unlimited virtual instances on my single processor lab system)? If not, do you offer deals on TechNet Pro subscriptions to students? Your insight would be greatly appreciated! Regards, CM

Hello CM, If your Windows Server is obtained through the DreamSpark program and is used to manage resources or build file servers and application servers, CALs for the number of connections must be purchased. For more details I suggest you refer similar kind of thread (for OS 2008):http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/winservergen/thread/8956c999-86c4-4d3f-a909-f19bc0cb6e34Regards, Ravikumar P

Thank you for the quick response. I had read through that thread and assumed there might be a more affordable way for a single student to set up a personal test lab. My school offers DreamSpark Premium. I'm confused as to why testing products (resource management, file servers, application servers) would not be covered. To clarify what I am looking for - if I want to set up a test domain leveraging various MS products (Exchange, Lync, RDS for app/desktop virtualization, SCOM, etc. all running on Server 2012 where possible) for educational purposes... What would be my cheapest alternative? TechNet Pro?

according to https://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptions/buy/hh44291 TN Standard offers all these products (mostly only Standard editions not Enterprise editions). You can of course just use the completely free evaluation versions: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/default The eval versions are usually time-limited, whereas TN Subs products are not usually time-limited. There are some constraints, and this may impact some more complex scenarios (e.g. Office on RDS with RemoteApp, or App-V) I think it's unlikely you'd really need WindowsServer2008R2DCE, TNstd offers WinSrv2008DCE, just not the R2 version, but it does offer WinSrv2008R2EE, which should surely be enough for just about anything, IMHO. Don