System Center License Requirements of Windows Azure Pack v1

Q: Do I need System Center licenses when using Windows Azure Pack v1?

A: System Center licenses are always required when any component of System Center is used; for example, Operations Manager, Orchestrator, Service Management Automation, Virtual Machine Manager, and so on. The base Windows Azure Pack v1 installation doesn't use any System Center components; therefore, it doesn't require any System Center licensing (it does need Windows Server and SQL Server licensing). When you add services such as PaaS and DBaaS, there's still no use of System Center and therefore no need to license System Center. When you add automation (SMA) and IaaS (SPF, VMM), you then need to license System Center.

Of course, even though it isn't required, it's a good idea to use components such as Operations Manager for monitoring and Data Protection Manager for backup—and these components require System Center licensing.