Microsoft Learning & Technet Subscriptions: Benefits you didn't know you had...
By Steve Puluka
I've been running and supporting Microsoft server technologies since 1998. I still miss Novell and only came reluctantly to the Microsoft server camp but the stuff does work and offer a lot of features for a business network. I've learned mostly by reading the manuals, white papers and books on the various technologies over the years and working with the actual implementations.
Recently I found a little known benefit in our corporate license agreement with Microsoft. We are in the volume license program with my company Liberty Dialysis. There is a benefit for a free subscription to Technet Plus. There is another section that allows subscriptions to the Microsoft learning portal. Both services also have public free content but you get additional features with a paid subscription. And you may already have "paid" for that subscription by virtue of having a volume license or open license account.
Technet Plus
Technet Plus give you unrestricted downloads for your test lab. We all run those groups of old servers and desktops to try out new ideas or test implementations before we inflict them on our users. This is especially helpful with new server technology versions or new releases of the desktop OS. Most of the public downloads of these include time bombs that expire and disable the software. With Technet plus your lab will just keep humming along.
You also get two support incidents for your environment. These are the Microsoft engineer calls that we normally pay about $275 each for on demand. I end up using a few of these are year to work through particularly thorny issues on the servers. You get access to Microsoft engineers that solve a single particular problem for you at the incident rate. The subscription give you two for free and 20% off additional ones.
The forums on Technet are answered frequently by Microsoft engineers. This is a great place to start with specific issues or questions. And that part is free to the world.
Microsoft Learning Portal
The Technet Plus subscription also includes a number of the cheaper $39 e-learning courses at the Microsoft learning portal.
Activate Your Benefits
https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/home.aspx
Process:
Create a windows live id with your company e-mail address
https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf?lc=1033
Associate that live id with the benefits in the portal
At the license service center get your windows live account associated with your agreement by your volume license vendor. Someone at your company may already be the license account administrator.
They can add your windows live account as the Technet Plus and e-learning subscriptions. There are different types of e-learning subscriptions. You want the one for server technologies.
Originally Posted June 21, 2009Last Revised on August 15, 2010
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