Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I was asked to do some research around the “costs associated with storage for software distribution & update packages for Modern/Managed Desktop” configurations.

In that vein, I thought I’d share a couple things for folks looking to manage desktops on the Internet without VPN, but to summarize what I understand:

1. SCCM CMG/CDP configurations will have Azure Storage, outbound Azure Networking, & Azure VM Compute costs for software distribution
2. Microsoft Intune has no additional cost for software distribution storage and networking

SCCM CLOUD MANAGEMENT GATEWAY/CLOUD DISTRIBUTION POINTS

SCCM Cloud Management Gateways or CMGs have a cost associated with their operation – mostly Azure Compute.  The rough estimate for this is ~$150/gateway/month where each gateway can sustain a rough maximum 3000 devices, with a recommended limit of 1000 devices/gateway and obvious redundancy for each gateway. (Those with Premier Services will want to speak to a Premier engineering resource for more guidance)

SCCM CMGs require the use of “Cloud Distribution Points” or CDPs for distributing software – these may be on the same VMs as the SCCM CMGs or on separate VMs but you’ll want to discuss architecture & configurations with a Premier subject matter expert or a Professional Services Architect. (From Microsoft Consulting Services or a Microsoft certified partner) CDP costs for software distribution include Azure Storage & Azure Networking costs along with the VM/compute costs.

Per the documentation, there are 5 potential costs:

1. CMG VM costs
2. CMG Outbound data transfer costs
3. CDP VM costs
4. CDP Outbound data transfer costs
5. CDP Storage costs

For more details, visit:

• Cloud Management Gateway costs: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/configmgr/core/clients/manage/cmg/plan-cloud-management-gateway
• Cloud Distribution Point costs: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/configmgr/core/plan-design/hierarchy/use-a-cloud-based-distribution-point#bkmk_cost

MICROSOFT INTUNE
Microsoft Intune, when licensed for all endpoints being distributed to, does not have any additional cost associated with software package storage & distribution. 

1. There’s no limit on the amount of storage; storage comes with the purchase of a Microsoft Intune license.
2. There is a 8GB maximum file size limit on any individual desktop file uploaded.

Taken from the Microsoft Intune documentation:

All apps that you create by using the software installer installation type (for example, a line-of-business app) are packaged and uploaded to Intune cloud storage. A trial subscription of Intune includes 2 gigabytes (GB) of cloud-based storage that is used to store managed apps and updates. A full subscription does not limit the total amount of storage space.

For more information, read the following:

• Add apps to Microsoft Intune: Cloud storage space
  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/apps/apps-add#cloud-storage-space
• Intune Standalone – Win32 app management
  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/apps/apps-win32-app-management