SharePoint Licensing is free for non-personal user?

[PleaseHelpMe]

Hi,

I have an organization that I'm backing up SharePoint sites only. However, this backup job does not include Personal SharePoint sites.

I noticed when I have a backup for SharePoint sites only (without the Personal Sites), Veeam seems to not be able to count the licenses, not sure if it is by design or something that needs to be done on the Azure side to count the license usage for these sites.

Steps to replicate.
1. Create a backup job with SharePoint sites (without any personal site).
2. Run the Backup, you will notice the license was not consumed.
3. Now edit the same backup and add at least a personal site.
4. Run the backup again, then you will see the license count as 1.

This seems to be by design, however, it is hard to use when you are a service provider, how can I bill my customer if no license is consumed?

The UG tries to explain that, but seems a little confusing the information, check this:

"Microsoft SharePoint Online and on-premises Microsoft SharePoint personal sites
Additionally, each user in your Microsoft 365 subscription (or on-premises deployment) that has been granted access to team, communication, collaboration, and other non-personal SharePoint sites that you plan to back up must be licensed. If you have a hybrid SharePoint deployment (on-premises Microsoft SharePoint and SharePoint Online), and the same user has access to both, then only one Veeam license is required."

And then it says:

"The Veeam license is consumed by objects (mailboxes, OneDrive for Business accounts, SharePoint personal sites) for which at least one restore point has been created within the last 31 days. If an object was not backed up for 31 days, its license is automatically revoked.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=70

Can someone confirm this to me? If I use SharePoint Online sites only, it will not consume Veeam 365 license.

[Polina]

Hi Jonathan and welcome to Veeam forums!

Our EULA requirement is to license all users who have access to sites that you are backing up. These licenses are not consumed/counted by the product but the count in your license file needs to cover it.
For personal sites (like any other user's personal data, i.e. mailboxes, etc) licenses are consumed and counted.

Makes sense?

[longwoodeng]

Just to clarify futher.

We wont backup everybody's OneDrive / Email.

If we wish to backup JUST the documents in our SharePoint Team Site, Veeam User Licenses = M365 User Licenses (assuming everyone has access to SharePoint)?

[Polina]

Correct