Microforge.net Enterprise Server comes in two affordable, scalable versions to suit any size IT department. Machine audit licenses and additional user can be purchased as you need, so that Enterprise Server can grow seamlessly along with your business.

The following table provides a summary of the differences between the two different versions of Enterprise Server.

Each edition of Enterprise Server includes a certain number of user licenses. Machine audit licenses, licenses for ENT Network Monitor and additional ENT User licenses can be purchased separately as required, at any time.

User licenses - For each separate user that needs to access the modules of Enterprise Server (such as the Calendar, Helpdesk or Inventory) you will need a separate user license. Whilst each edition of Enterprise Server comes with a certain number of user licenses included, additional user access licenses can also be purchased individually for US$195 each.

For example, if you have 15 users in your organization that will need to use the software, you can purchase the Corporate Edition of Enterprise Server + 10 additional user licenses - giving you 15 user licenses in total.

Note: You do not require a user license for any of the users that your helpdesk supports - you can support as many users as you like, using either edition of Enterprise Server.

Machine audit licenses - A machine audit license is required for each machine that you want to audit on your network using the Inventory module in Enterprise Server.

Machine audit licenses can be purchased be individually as required. If you do not need to use the auditing capabilities of Enterprise Server then you will not need to purchase any Machine Audit Licenses.

For example, if you're a one man band with 100 machines on your network that you want to audit, you could purchase the Desktop Edition of Enterprise Server + 100 machine audit licenses.

Individual machine audit licenses are available for $3 each. However volume discounts are available for purchases of 100 licenses or more. The following table summarizes the volume discounts available for Machine Audit Licenses (MALs).

Network Monitor licenses - Network Monitor is available as an add-on for the Corporate Edition of Enterprise Server. A network monitor license is required for each copy of ENT Network Monitor that you install and use. Typically, organizations using ENT Network Monitor would install one copy of ENT Network Monitor on their primary network and (optionally) one copy on each additional network that they manage. Network Monitor licenses can be purchased individually as required.

For example, if you have 400 machines on your main network and 50 machines on a remote network, you could purchase the Corporate Edition of Enterprise Server + 450 machine audit licenses + 2 licenses for ENT Network Monitor.

Individual Network Monitor licenses are available for $495 each. However volume discounts are available if you are purchasing 5 or more licenses. The following table summarizes the volume discounts available for ENT Network Monitor.

The key difference between the Desktop Edition and the Corporate Edition of Enterprise Server is the Server Mode. Both editions make use of core functionality provided by an Enterprise Server and the server mode basically refers to the location of this server.

Corporate Edition (distributed mode)

In the case of the Corporate Edition of the software, you would typically install a single Enterprise Server on your network, which runs on Microsoft's Internet Information Server. In this case, Enterprise Server includes a full web interface and you can connect to your ENT Server using your web browser OR using our windows clients (ENT NetCenter and ENT Report Forge).

Communication between the windows clients and your Enterprise Server takes place over the HTTP protocol and is highly optimized, so even using the Windows clients for the software you can connect to your Enterprise Server over slower WAN or Internet based networks that may be spread over large distances.

Additionally, since you can access Enteprise Server Corporate Edition from a web browser, you can access your helpdesk and IT inventory information from anywhere on your network, without having to install any software - which is ideal for network and helpdesk technicians that are frequently away from their desk installing equipment, investigating problems or helping users.

Desktop Edition (embedded mode)

In the case of the Desktop Edition of the software, the server is built into the primary Windows clients (ENT NetCenter and ENT Report Forge), and is said to be embedded. So, rather than having one central server that each of your users connects to using their web browser or our windows applications, each installation of ENT NetCenter or ENT Report Forge on you network has it's own, private local copy of Enterprise Server. Whilst this can be convenient and simplifies installation of the software, this also means that there are a number of features that are not available in the Desktop Edition of Enterprise Server, as detailed below.

Security - The Desktop Editions of ENT NetCenter and ENT Report Forge connect directly to your Inventory databases, which can lead to increased traffic on your network and means that you have to expose specific ports on routers/firewalls if you want to access your ENT Server modules from outside your network.

Web access - Because the Desktop Edition of the software does not run on Internet Information Server, you cannot access any of the modules for Enterprise Server Desktop Edition using a web browser.

Integrated knowledge base - The helpdesk module of Enterprise Server allows helpdesk technicians to manage content and publish articles in a user self-help knowledge base on your web site. However, because the Desktop Edition of Enterprise Server does not run on a web server, there is no way to publish this information or integrate it into your company's web site.

WAN access - Enterprise Server needs to store certain information (such as file attachments for messages that you receive) on the file system in a folder called the "Working Directory". If you have multiple instances of the Desktop Edition of Enterprise Server, these must all use the same Working Directory, which means they must have access to a common shared folder somewhere, which usually means they must all be on the same Local Area Network (or LAN). By contrast, the Small Business and Corporate Editions of Enterprise Server allow you to establish a central Enterprise Server that users can be accessed using a web browser, ENT NetCenter and ENT Report Forge from anywhere in the world.

Hosting - Since the Small Business and Corporate Editions of Enterprise Server can be run on Internet Information Server, these allow you to easily outsource the hosting of your Enterprise Server to a Web Hosting company that make sure your critical data is backed up and accessible 24/7 - which can certainly take a lot of weight of your shoulders.