For those who are not aware: I decided to post a short round-up list on MS "virtualization" licensing.
- Windows 2003 R2 Datacenter edition: unlimited number of VMs with Windows 2003 Datacenter edition can be deployed on 1 physical host.
- Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition: up to 4 instances/ Virtual Machines can be used with 1 single Enterprise license on 1 physical host
- SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP2: an unlimited number of virtual instances can be run on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.
- Virtual Server 2005 R2: free (SP1 coming up shortly)
- Windows Vista Enterprise Edition (?): up to 4 VM instances with 1 license (not yet confirmed). This would be great for VDI!
The main question here is: in a world where we use VMotion (and soon: Live Migration for Windows Server Virtualization) to do hot migrations between different physical hosts, how can we keep track of these "free" instances? Is it still useful to look at the (single) physical host level? Should we buy a separate datacenter/SQL/Enterprise license per server? IMHO, this is nearly impossible to maintain and not intuitive...
BTW: Exchange Server 2007 (= x64 only) is not yet supported in a VM, so no "free" virtual licenses (yet).
2 opmerkingen:
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP2: an unlimited number of virtual instances can be run on 1 physical host.
Are you sure about that? I wondered if they per per proc per physical servers.
i.e. For your ESX 4 way host you require 4 x SQL2005 Enterprise Proc licences.
Dave
David,
Of course you are correct. It is necessary to license your physical server on a per socket basis. However, using dual/quad core CPU's on a high-end server could be an advantage. I adjusted my post to reflect this!
Een reactie posten