Can I use SharePoint 2010 Foundation as a public facing site?

Question

With Moss 2007, we had WSS on our servers so that we could use some basic functionality of SharePoint without purchasing a license. We also created a number of public facing sites on WSS for clients who didnt want to purchase a full fledged license for MOSS 2007. I got some news that SP Foundation 2010 cannot be used as a public facing site. Is it true?

Answer 1

I am not a guru of MS licensing, but as far as I know, there is an "external connector license" that has to be purchased when you make a SharePoint server available on internet. It means that you have to purchese an external connector license for your SQL server as well, if it is on a separate machine.

You will find more information here:

• http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/microsoft-cals-and-external-connector-license
• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/external-connectors.aspx

Answer 2

See the following SO question:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3511952/sharepoint-2010-foundation-licenses/3511977#3511977