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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

 

HOW TO: Add a License Key to Exchange Server 2007

Posted by Bharat Suneja at 11:52 AM
When you install Exchange Server 2007, including the evals posted on Microsoft's web site, it is unlicensed. Unlicensed servers function as 120-day trials, according to Exchange Server 2007 documentation.

When you start the Exchange console, you get a list of all unlicensed servers and the number of days left for the trial to expire.


Unlike previous versions of Exchange, the trial versions can be upgraded to fully functional versions by simply adding a product key. This can be done easily from the console by right-clicking the server in Server Configuration, and selecting Enter Product Key [screenshot].

From the Exchange shell, you can enter the product key using the set-ExchangeServer commandlet:

set-ExchangeServer SERVERNAME -ProductKey aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa


To get a list of all Exchange Server 2007 servers and their product keys and trial status, including number of days left:

get-ExchangeServer | select name,ProductID,*trial*

(Note: I typically format this as a list rather than a default table, particularly for a smaller number of objects - the table tends to chop off bits of a field when you have too many fields displayed:
get-ExchangeServer | select name,ProductID,*trial* | fl)

The output looks something like this:

Name: E12EDGE
ProductID:
IsExchange2007TrialEdition: True
IsExpiredExchange2007TrialEdition: False
RemainingTrialPeriod: 29.19.12.55.8950288

Yes, the timing displayed is very precise, down to the seconds and milliseconds :) - but you can probably tell it's 29 days.

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7 Comments:

December 22, 2007 2:24 AM
Blogger Somu said...

Hi,
I am having almost similar problem.
Everytime I open the MBX/CAS server it warns for license for EDGE, which we already entered @ EDGE server.
But, when tried to enter the product key Set-ExchangeServer : An error happened while accessing registry of the specified server: The error message: "Attempted to
perform an unauthorized operation.".

Any early suggestion is welcome..
Soumen, Kolkata, India

 
December 27, 2007 8:53 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In case you didn't get an answer to your question. This is from the release notes for Exchange 2007:
A subscribed Edge Transport server might not appear as licensed to the Exchange organization
For Edge Transport servers to appear licensed, the license key must be applied on the Edge Transport server before the Edge Subscription is created. If the license key was applied after subscription, you must remove the Edge Subscription from both the Edge Transport server and the Active Directory site and start the subscription process from the beginning.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/d/c/8dc5a8ca-e75e-47c0-b655-e0f82b90780d/RelNotes.htm

 
September 29, 2008 6:55 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a server that is dying and want to transfer a license to a trial version. Possible? Also, I have 25 CALs, are they valid for the new server, meaning do they need to be moved also?

 
April 7, 2009 2:31 AM
Blogger HKUNNANA said...

For me the above Exchange Shell command to enter the key for the Edge solved the problem.

 
May 22, 2009 6:08 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had the same issue. I guess I had entered the product key after doing the subscription.
For me, the issue was also resolved simply by running the Exchange Shell command.
Note that, running the command on the Edge produces a message saying the server is already licensed.
Running the command on a server in the Organization resolves the issue, I guess by updating the license information in AD.
You would think edge sync would take care of this. But its not a big deal.

 
May 22, 2009 6:45 AM
Blogger Bharat Suneja said...

@Anonymous from May 22: This is known and documented issue. EdgeSync is one-way replication from Hub Transport to Edge. No data is replicated back from the Edge to the Hub.

Exchange Management Console Reports that Edge Transport Server is Running in Evaluation Mode
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164369.aspx

 
July 6, 2009 1:35 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello,
I'm trying to upgrade Exchange Server 2007 SP1 from the standard edition to the Enterprise version but I haven't found any good HOWTO on the topic. What is the easiest and less painful way to do the upgrade? I was expecting it to be as easy as entering the new key ( Enterprise edition) to upgrade but it seems like it's a little bit more complex than that.
Any help, ideas, suggestions,...are more than welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Ramadji -

 

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