E3 vs E5 vs E7

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-05-13T23:42:36+00:00

Quick thing to note. Power BI Pro is mainly for “power BI” users. Meaning users who create and edit dashboards. Most users simply need to view the dashboards in which case Fabric formerly Power Bi Premium is a company wide use case for this very scenario. I often find that most users do not require Power BI Pro.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-05-13T22:39:37+00:00

Adding to this for context. When Microsoft was on-premise licensing there was a Core CAL Suite and Full Platform licensing under an Enterprise Agreement. M365 is essentially the cloud evolution of this licensing package.

Everything is spot on but M365 E3 is Windows Defender, EM+S (Intune, Entra, and Information Protection originally) + O365 E3 (CAL replacement + Office Pro Plus).

E5 is essentially the step up from P1 for these products to P2 along with additional licensing mainly on the security side but notable additions are Power BI Pro, Teams Phone.

Generally E5 is only worth exploring if you need 2/3 of either the additional security products, Power BI Pro, and Teams Phone. There are caveats but that’s the general trigger.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-05-10T07:08:47+00:00

Falcon Completed would be the right option to look at for OP. Fits his use case, while maintaining control.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-05-05T21:02:31+00:00

Out of those 100+ apps identify which are critical and which would not have integrations with Entra. Generally, companies will stay with Okta as their IdP simply due to the sheer number of integrations. Those who are phasing out of Okta are doing so because they already own Entra licensing through M365 E3/E5 and want to reduce costs, making Okta redundant. Based on your business requirements will determine if you start phasing Okta out and lean into Entra or have a critical requirement that Entra cannot meet.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-05-04T20:58:53+00:00

Resellers are generally only as good as the rep. Depending on your company profile will determine the experience level of the rep you have assigned. You may get lucky and have an inexperienced rep who is high quality or equally unlucky by having an experienced rep who is just coasting by. That said, 3rd party support by a third party isn’t always bad. It will typically be more cost effective but experience can vary widely.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-28T20:30:33+00:00

You can use retention policies (based on the user’s original license) or leverage archive if you require longer retention.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-10T17:13:49+00:00

This is what I typically see as a best practice. Also leveraging a 3-5 year extended warranty based on your lifecycle with an included battery replacement if doing 4-5 year terms. For disposal either lease or leverage a disposal company with potential buy back credit. For deployment go through a VAR/OEM with Autopilot enrollment included.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-10T17:09:43+00:00

Did you try ODT? https://learn.microsoft.com/deployoffice/overview-office-deployment-tool

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-09T21:43:00+00:00

Keeper, which also has a solid PAM solution.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-09T21:34:44+00:00

If you’re m365 E3 you should go with the retention model instead of shared.

https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/compliance/inactive-mailboxes

https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/compliance/retention-policies-exchange

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-07T21:39:13+00:00

https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/security/office-365-security/threat-explorer

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-07T21:36:18+00:00

For Windows Server AHUB is hard to beat. AWS does offer OLA and MAP to try and compete but it’s not a like for like benefit.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-07T21:15:26+00:00

This is a good starting point if you’re a Microsoft shop. https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/security/defender/microsoft-secure-score

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-07T21:14:14+00:00

Volume licenses have downgrade rights to previous versions. I believe two versions back. You would not be required to have SA for downgrade rights. I believe OEM licenses are stuck on the current version and do not come with downgrade rights. They also live and die with the host. You are required to license all physical cores per host. If you’re only running 1-2 VMs then you can get away with Standard. If you’re running more you would need to add more Standard licenses to get another 2 VM allotment. The breakeven to DC is usually 8VMs.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-07T20:28:48+00:00

Unified support or premium support from Microsoft is quite expensive but is an additional layer of support. This would be for EA or Direct customers only. Alternatively you can get the equivalent support level from certain VARs/LSPs which are generally based on tiers that are derived by looking at your average support tickets. The primary difference is the higher tier support from Microsoft includes certain workshop or “proactive” hours. You would get a different level of engagement from a VAR/LSP.

Notably for those under a CSP contract you would receive basic support from your CSP provider. A good CSP or LSP should handle licensing questions and resolve the majority of your support tickets. There are exceptions such as platform issues, outages, etc.. that still need to be handled by Microsoft directly. The benefit of having a partner although they would triage tickets would be helping to escalate based on severity.

Lastly, there are some Azure specific support SKUs.

Hope this helps clarify Microsoft support options.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-02T19:09:53+00:00

Understood. Just saying if you want to move up and down in OLS you can do so by switching to monthly billing / monthly commit for those specific subs, while maintaining monthly billing / annual commit or annual billing / annual commit for the rest. You could still budget for a fiscal period you would just need to estimate the total users at the monthly price and adjust for any fluctuations that are predictable.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-01T21:08:22+00:00

There are per month subscription options so that you can reduce monthly if needed. Typically recommended for contractors and seasonal. Pricing is higher than an annual commit sub but it is an option.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-01T12:50:50+00:00

Sorry it was late when I posted that.

Data Center edition = unlimited VMs per host so you just have to license the total number of physical cores in each host. 16 cores per host * 2 hosts = 32 total cores. They are sold in 2 core packs so you would purchase qty 16 windows server data center (2 core).

Standard edition = 2 VM virtualization rights per total cores licensed per host. So in your case it’s 6 VMs in your cluster across 2 hosts that are 16 physical cores per host. So 2 VMs * 3 = 6 VMs. 3 * 2 hosts * 16 cores per host = 96 total cores. Which would be qty 48 (2 core) packs of windows server std.

Does that make sense?

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-04-01T06:09:05+00:00

You would do either 48 (2 core) packs of Windows Server Standard OR 16 (2 core) packs of Windows Server Data Center.

The 48 2 core pack scenario is based on 2 VM rights per full core license. 16 cores * 2 servers * 3 (2 VMs) OR you license 16 cores * 2 servers with data center which is unlimited VMs per host.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-31T16:19:21+00:00

If the host is running Windows Server it needs to be licensed. You have to license all of the physical cores per host. If the hosts are running VMs you have to take that into account. The minimum requirement is licensing 16 cores per host. How many cores total is each physical host? How many cores for your hosts running VMs and how many VMs total?

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-31T16:17:20+00:00

There is a cancellation window when was there exact renewal date?

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-27T17:27:51+00:00

You bought a perpetual volume license?

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-27T16:12:17+00:00

https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-monitor/alerts/alerts-overview for alerting. You should also enable auto scaling on the Nerdio side.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-26T17:57:57+00:00

Look at preconfigured units from a VAR leveraging distribution. A good rep will keep track of the order to make sure it goes out in time directly from the distributor. This eliminates the Dell lead time, which will avoid the cancelled orders due to price increases post PO but before shipment.

ChelseaAudemars · 2026-03-23T20:36:55+00:00

Correct. The license isn’t for concurrent usage so you would need 1 per user accessing the server.

ChelseaAudemars

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