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Welcome to the FAU CSE support site for the Microsoft Developer's Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA). MSDNAA is a comprehensive subscription to Microsoft developer products available to all CSE faculty, staff, and students. Students majoring in Computer Science or Computer Engineering and other students enrolled in any course offered by the Computer Science and Engineering Department may participate in the program.

MSDNAA Overview:

What is MSDNAA?
The MSDN Academic Alliance is an annual membership program for technical departments in the area of Computer Science, Engineering, and Information Systems. This subscription includes Microsoft platforms, servers, and developer tools software.

Software obtained through MSDNAA is yours to keep and use as long as you wish, even after you have graduated from FAU or cease to be enrolled or employed by FAU.  However, you can only obtain the software while you are a faculty member, staff member, or student in the CSE department.  The MSDNAA program licenses the software to you for academic and personal use.  The software may not be used for commercial purposes.

What software is available?
A wide range of programming tools (Visual Studio 2005), operating systems (Windows XP), software development and management (Visio and Project), servers (Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, Exchange Server 2003)  and other packages (Virtual PC 2004) are available. The subscription basically covers all Microsoft development and server products.  It does not include Microsoft Office, Front Page, or Microsoft Home products.  The complete list of software is available at the FAU E-Academy ELMS site,
    http://msdn02.e-academy.com/fau_cseng .
Select the Software tab.  The complete list is shown on the drop-down menu with selected products displayed further down the page.

Can I get another copy for my other PC?
ELMS for MSDNAA is configured by Microsoft to provide a limited number of copies of each software product to each user.  Usually that's a single copy for a single computer but sometimes it is two and occasionally the license allows the original copy to be installed on two or more PCs.  Whatever the limit Microsoft has set controls the number of copies available to you.  Requests for additional copies for other PCs will not be approved.

The MSDNAA subscription administrator, E-Academy, keeps track of what software has been downloaded by each user. Therefore, be warned that they should not remove software at the end of a semester that may be need it in the future.  In general you will not be able to get another copy  Students are also advised to back up installation files as replacements cannot be provided unless you are currently qualified to participate in MSDNAA at the time.

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MSDNAA E-Academy ELMS Accounts:
Accounts for eligible students, faculty, and staff are generated automatically. 

  1. Students
    Student accounts are generated from University registration records at the beginning of each term.  They will be issued at the end of drop-add to all students who are taking a class offered by CSE.  The accounts are valid for the term of registration only and will expire or be extended at the end of drop-add for the next term.  Students can obtain software only during the period when their MSDNAA account is active, but once installed, the software can be used indefinitely, whether or not you continue to be enrolled.
    Student accounts will be based on the FAU email address.  Account information is preserved indefinitely.  If you are not registered during a particular term, the account becomes inactive.  It will reactivated the next time you register in an eligible status.  The record of previously downloaded software is preserved.  The limitation of one copy of each software title is a lifetime limitation.
    N.B.  The registration process is automated.  Students will not be registered manually.  Only students of record at the close of drop-add for a term will be included for that term.  Students who register late will not be included.
  2. Faculty and Staff
    Faculty and staff accounts will be created as soon after employment with the department as practical and will remain active until they cease to be employed by the department.  Faculty and staff will be registered using their CSE department email address.
Upon registration, an email message will be sent to your registration address (your fau.edu address for students or your cse.fau.edu address for faculty and staff) with your password and additional instructions.  If you don't know your userid or password, see below.

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How to obtain software:
To obtain software, you must browse to the FAU CSE ELMS site,
    http://msdn02.e-academy.com/fau_cseng
and log in.  Your registered email address is your user id and your password is the one sent to you by the ELMS registration system.  Click on the Software tab to view available software.  Then select the software you wish to obtain and add it to your "Shopping Cart."  When you have finished selecting software, go to the Shopping Cart, select Check Out. and follow the instructions.

All software can be obtained by download; in a few cases you can purchase CDs with the software.

  • Software Download
    In order to download software, you will need high-speed access to the internet.  While a few of the tools files are as small as about 1.5MB, the software files are generally between 100MB and 600MB.  These files would take many hours to download over a dial-up connection.  If you do not have high-speed access to the internet, you may want to consider downloading the files using a system in one of the University laboratories and burning the software onto a recordable CD, as described below.
  • Download Process
    The download process is divided into two phases.
    1. Download a small installer program from the ELMS site.  This program also provides you with a unique product key needed to install the software.  If you are using a lab system, save this file in your network storage drive.
    2. Run the installer.  This downloads the actual software.  Most of the software is distributed as CD image files in .iso format that have been compressed and encrypted.  They will have the .sdc extension.  The installer program will extract a .iso file that is a specially coded CD image or will create a directory containing the installation files.  If you're working on a lab system, be sure it has enough space.  You will have to use temporary storage on the local hard disk for the CD image since you will not have sufficient space on your network drive.
  • Creating CDs
    For the next step you will need a CD recorder on your PC and a blank recordable CD.  The process is different depending on whether the software is distributed as an iso image or creates a directory with the installation files on your PC.
    • For iso images:  Check the instructions for the CD recording software installed on the PC for instructions on creating a CD from an iso image file.  For instance, with EasyCD Creator, select File | Record CD from CD image, set the file type to .iso, select the image file, and record.  The process will be similar, but likely different with different software.
    • For installation files in a directory:  Use the normal process for creating a CD containing a colleciton of files.  This is optional but hightly recommended so you will have a backup.
  • Installation
    If there are multiple CDs for the product, be sure you have the full set before you begin installation.  Follow typical installation procedure of placing the first CD in the drive.  Most often, the installer will be loaded automatically.  If it is not, you need to run the setup.exe program on the CD or the installation directory on your hard disk.  Follow the instructions as they appear to complete the installation.  Be sure to keep a record of the product key for future reference.
  • CD Purchase
    As an alternative to downloading, CDs for Windows XP Professional ($13.00) and Visual Studio .NET 2003 ($18.20) can be purchased on-line on the CSE ELMS site for the prices specified plus a modest shipping and handling fee.

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Technical Support:
We are not able to provide individual technical support for use of MSDNAA or the downloadable software.  Technical support is generally limited to what is available on-line through the FAQs and the ELMS and MSDNAA web sites.

  • Lost Passwords
    Lost passwords can be retrieved from the CSE ELMS site.  Browse to the site and click "Login". Then click "Forgot password?" near the bottom of the page. Follow the instructions, entering your full fau.edu email address as the username. The password will be mailed to your fau.edu email account.
  • Requested Password not Received
    • If you requested your password as described above but did not recieve it, the most likely source of the problem is that you have your fau.edu email forwarded to another account. Many ISPs reject email forwarded through another site. Email originating at FAU is accepted when forwarded bacuase it is still coming from FAU but the ELMS MSDNAA password message comes from the ELMS MSDNAA site and is rejected. The problem can be solved as follows.
    • log in to MyFAU
    • select e-mail icon at the top right
    • select the Options tab
    • select Auto Forward
    • clear the forwarding address and click OK
    • exit from Email
    • go to the ELMS MSDNAA site and request your password
    • go back to MyFAU Email
    • read the message with your password
    After you get the password message you can reset forwarding if you wish.
  • Am I Registered?
    You can check to see if you are registered by submitting your fau.edu email address as described just above for lost passwords.  If you are registered, you password will be emailed to you.  If not, you will be told so.  Be sure forwarding is not on for your fau.edu email account as specified above.
  • I'm not Registered
    Faculty and staff who are not registered should email a registration request to .msdnaa-admin  Student registration is only done automatically as described above.  If you are not registered with the CSE ELMS site, you will have to wait until the next term in which you are registered at FAU as a CSE student.  Students will not be registered manually as we do not have the resources to individually validate such requests.
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  • Download and Installation Problems
    You should first check the list of error codes and descriptions.  The two most common codes are SDC 00400 and SDC 70072.  CDC 00400 indicates either that the CSE distribution server is down or not accessible or that you have an network problem with your system or ISP.  SDC 70072 indicates that You are trying to download the program for a second time. If you are reading this page, the server is okay and the problem is on your side.Problems downloading software with the loader program or with installation of the downloaded software should be reported with the Automated Support Agent on the CSE ELMS site.  Log in to the site and click on the Support link near the top of the page.  Then click on the link to Request Customer Support under Technical Support to activate the agent.
  • What is my product key?
    You can find the product key for software you have obtained through MSDNAA as follows.  Log in to the ELMS MSDNAA Site.  Select My Software from the bar on the left.  Click on the Invoice No. for the product and then on the Software Title for the product.  Click "I Agree" on the Conditions of Use page and the Serial Number will be displayed on the resulting page.

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MSDNAA Links:

FAU E-Academy Login

E-Academy Support

E-Academy FAQ

MSDNAA website
   
   
http://brwcse.fau.edu/MSDNAA .. Send comments to the MSDNAA Admin .. Last Updated: 7 September 2006 .. © Florida Atlantic University. All rights reserved.
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