| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| protech |
Posted - 01/24/2012 : 10:12:47 AM
Hi
I have one Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Core with Hyper-V installed.
What is that actual number of virtual machines that I am legally allowed to run?
For example.
Enterprise allows 4 licences as I understand it so my Server can run
4 new build 2008 virtual machines. But can I then also image my other 5 existing old physical 2003 Servers and run them on this Hyper-V Server legally making a total of 9 virtual machines, 4 new, 5 old?
I suppose another way of looking at it is, does Enterprise let me run as many virtual machines as I want as long as each VM o/s is licenced? If so what would be the point of datacenter edition?
Thanks
pt
|
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| wobble_wobble |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 3:08:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by protech
Thanks for the reply guys. So to clarify. Is the following correct?
1: Server 2008 Enterprise includes one physical license and 4 virtual licenses
Yes. The 1 Physical can only be a Hyper-V Host. Make it a DC/ DHCP/ IIS Server as well as host and you need another license.
quote:
2: You can if you wish run as many virtual instances as you want on Enterprise but any in excess of the 4 must have licenses purchased individually. Therefore I can run 4 NEW BUILD Virtual machines AND as many P2V images of existing Servers that I have (within tech limits) providing those Servers have already been licenced (which they were where they were initially built).
Yes, but the P2V need Volume License, Retail License, SA License to be
moveable. Retail can only be moved once every 90 days.
quote:
3: Likewise if I have two physical hosts and buy two enterprise licenses then I can run 4 virtuals on each host I CANNOT run 5 virtuals on one and 3 on the other just because I have
8 licences.
Yes
|
| protech |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 08:40:25 AM
Thanks for the reply guys. So to clarify. Is the following correct?
1: Server 2008 Enterprise includes one physical license and 4 virtual licenses
2: You can if you wish run as many virtual instances as you want on Enterprise but any in excess of the 4 must have licenses purchased individually. Therefore I can run 4 NEW BUILD Virtual machines AND as many P2V images of existing Servers that I have (within tech limits) providing those Servers have already been licenced (which they were where they were initially built).
3: Likewise if I have two physical hosts and buy two enterprise licenses then I can run 4 virtuals on each host I CANNOT run 5 virtuals on one and 3 on the other just because I have
8 licences.
Cheers
PT |
| wobble_wobble |
Posted - 02/03/2012 : 7:19:48 PM
Look for CIS CALs.
Not sure of the VL cost but added bonus software makes it worth it. ( core infrastructure, see er 2008 R2 and lower plus System Centre, excluding SQL.) |
| joe_elway |
Posted - 02/02/2012 : 02:43:21 AM
The usual host being deployed has 2 CPUs. With that config, VL WinSvr Datacenter (per CPU, 2 CPUs) is -about- EUR150 more than Enterprise (1 copy of per physical server) here, but that depends on licensing scheme, country, currency, etc. That extra little bit is not too much, considering is makes a company legal for unlimited WinSvr installs on that machine.
Issac, SQL licensing is changing A LOT. The upgrade scenario from current to new make an EU treaty look simple. But buying new is becoming much easier, with virtualisation being MSFT's focus.
And before the usual FUD starts, this is Windows/SQL virtualisation licensing, not Hyper-V licensing. |
| Isaac |
Posted - 02/01/2012 : 11:38:56 AM
Mike, if as simple as Windows OS licensing gives you headaches then you cant even imagine the headaches we have with SQL 2088 r2 Enterpise per CPU licensing.
Apparently, same rules 1 to 4 rules apply to SQL as well, but, its not as easy to compute when, how many, and why as with Windows OS licensing. We will be running SQL on a virtualized environment. To today's date we are not even sure how many licenses we need, in case we need to VMotion SQL VM with 4 vCPU from one esxi host to another. We would be getting an additional license ( at a cost of close to 5k per cpu - edu environment), just to cover our a$$es.
May be it's time to pick Aidan' brain on this :))
PS: Yes, Datacenter is the only way to go nowadays. Datacenter per CPU license ends up costing us almost as same as 1 Enterprise license.
|
| joe_elway |
Posted - 02/01/2012 : 09:34:59 AM
Mike, I work for a MSFT VAD and I can absolutely confirm that if there is VMotion/Live Migration in that 2 host scenario, then 2 Ent licenses will not suffice. MSFT field are the last people to listen to on licensing. If a 4th VM gets onto one of those hosts for even 1 second then that host is illegally licensed. No nods, no winks, no exceptions. |
| regnak |
Posted - 01/31/2012 : 11:28:26 AM
Hi,
I had a guy from Microsoft give a talk on this and his take was:
Two Servers with 4 VMs each. This needs two Enterprise Server Licenses.
Now add Live Migration into the Mix, you could have 8 VMs on a box at any time....potentially, if you were doing maintenance or upgrades or just felt like it. His take was you needed 4 Enterprise Licenses in this setup/scenario! To cater for the actual potential of having live migration available. I'm not sure if the issue of moving VMs within a 90 day period still applies, so this probably isn't accurate anymore but it's always good to contact your reseller, get an MS rep to go through your environment and get a second and if neccesary third opinion. And...Get them in writing! It's enough to make your head hurt! Or as already recommended, Go Datacenter!!
Mike
|
| NMDANGE |
Posted - 01/25/2012 : 5:29:28 PM
In a DR scenario where you are replacing a piece of hardware that died, you can re-assign the license from the old host to the new one, as long as it is not OEM licensing but retail or from a volume license program.
In a failover (as in you have a Hyper-V cluster) then you must have enough licensing to cover all your VMs running on a single Hyper-V host at all times. (Well if you have , say, an 8 node cluster, then you don't really need that much, but you get the idea.)
If you are replicating virtual machines from one Hyper-V host in one datacenter, to a Hyper-V host in another datacenter, you do not need licensing on the standby host unless you have VMs running on both hosts at the same time, or you move to the DR datacenter and back to the production datacenter more often than 90 days.
If you want to save yourself all these headaches, just by Datacenter licensing for every Hyper-V host! |
| jadgate |
Posted - 01/25/2012 : 4:42:37 PM
Guys-
The licensing discussion is all well and good (appreciate the detail) but I'm left wondering how this all works out in the real world when you have failover/ and DR scenarios. Assuming you migrate 1 or more VMs to another "piece of tin" and off a failing piece of tin (presumably before it goes belly up). I suppose that a host that is no longer live would not be counted in any case, but that has to come up all the time as well.
Later,
Jim |
| joe_elway |
Posted - 01/25/2012 : 3:43:06 PM
Exactly what Evgenij says. I work for a distributor and this comes up all of the time. You license hosts, not VMs, for Windows server, no matter what virtualisation you use. Enterprise gives you rights for -up to- 4 Windows Server licensing on a host.
Common mistake #1: 2 node cluster with 8 VMs.
4 VMs on one WinEnt host (OK) and 4 VMs on the other WinEnt host (OK). But if you have 5 VMs, even for 1 second, on 1 host then you have a problem. Auditors are not stupid, logs are there, and there are no "it'll be alright" scenarios. It's -up to- 4, not "4 most of the time".
Common mistake #2: Buying Std licenses "for VMs".
(a) it's cheaper to buy Ent or Datacenter for the host and use the free WinSvr rights. (b) As Evgenij just said, you can only move a license once every 90 days from one piece of tin to another. There are also geographic distance limits on that move (usually not relevant). Remember, you license the tin, not the VM. Again, auditors are trained to look out for a company buying lots of WinStd in this era of virtualisation. They aren't dumb.
Oh yeah, MSFT and all the other big s/w houses have been recruiting/training auditors quite a bit in the last while. I'm hearing of an audit by one house or another every 4th visit I've made so far this year. |
| cj_berlin |
Posted - 01/24/2012 : 1:48:52 PM
Guys,
what you need to understand about Windows Server licensing is that you can't possibly license a VM. You attach a license to a piece of hardware, and this license's version, edition and type decides what guests and how many of them you can run on this piece of hardware.
You attach a 2008R2 DC license to each socket, you can run any and all Windows Server on that box, no matter what license it was initially installed under.
You attach a 2008 Enterprise, you can run NT Srv, 2000 Srv, 2000 Advanced Srv, 2003 Std and Ent, 2008 Ent (up to 4x) but you can't run a 2008R2 or a Datacenter guest. You attach ANOTHER 2008 Ent to that box, you get another four guests you can run on it, but still no 2008R2 or DC of any version.
So, P2Ving single servers (and assuming they had been licensed as Standard on metal) will involve attaching their single licenses to their respective virtualisation hosts. As far as I could establish from reading the Licensing Guide, there's nothing that can prevent you from legally attaching a Retail license to a host or even moving it between hosts... as long as you don't do it more often than every 90 days. This is the kind of mobility you get with a Standard license, be it open or retail. The Guide doesn't say anything about the mobility of an OEM license but I should think that a European court would grant you the 90-day mobility even for that. |
| protech |
Posted - 01/24/2012 : 11:38:44 AM
yes that is pretty much as I understood it |
| Rastor728 |
Posted - 01/24/2012 : 11:19:11 AM
There are lots of things to consider:
Here is just some of the issues as I understand them.
If the original physical server's Host OS was "open" licensed, then that Host license can move to another physical box, but the guests are linked to that particular host.
If the original physical server's Host was was NOT "open" licensed, then that particular host OS is linked to the physical box, and so are the guests and can't be moved without new licenses.
If the original(old) Guest (VM) OS's are individually Open licensed they can move to any capable HyperV (or VMWare) host without counting against that host's included guest license count.
|
|
|
