December 2, 2011 at 5:44 pm
If I have a SQL server installed on a virtual server, it is being assigned with two processors, if I want to buy processor license model, do I still need to buy two processor licenses?
Thanks
December 2, 2011 at 10:06 pm
From the licensing doc:
VIRTUALIZATION AND MULTI-INSTANCING
Virtualization is defined broadly as the running of software on a “virtual environment.” A virtual environment takes place when an operating system (OS) is somehow emulated, or does not run directly on the physical hardware.
When software is virtualized, one or several applications and their associated operating systems can run on one physical server inside their respective virtual environments. One of the benefits of a virtualized scenario is that multiple applications can run concurrently on a server with isolation at the OS level.
An option to virtualizing software is multi-instancing. In this case, multiple copies of an application run concurrently on a single copy of an OS. Multi-instancing for SQL Server 2008 can take place both in a virtual environment or in a physical environment. While multi-instancing offers a relatively high degree of isolation between copies of SQL2008, this isolation takes place at the application level (instead of at the OS level).
When SQL Server 2008 runs inside a virtual operating environment, it requires at least one license per virtual operating environment, except for SQL Server Enterprise edition. Several copies or instances of SQL Server 2008 can run inside a virtual operating environment. These must be licensed as follows:
When licensed Per Processor
With Workgroup, Web, and Standard editions, for each server to which you have assigned the required number of per processor licenses, you may run, at any one time, any number of instances of the server software in physical and virtual operating system environments on the licensed server. However, the total number of physical and virtual processors used by those operating system environments cannot exceed the number of software licenses assigned to that server.
For enterprise edition there is an added option: if all physical processors in a machine have been licensed, then you may run unlimited instances of SQL server 2008 in one physical and an unlimited number of virtual operating environments on that same machine.
So basically as I read that yes, 2, unless you have EE then its more complex...
CEWII
December 3, 2011 at 7:54 am
You might find this link helpful, too.
Unfortunately, Microsoft decided to "hide" all online licencing documentation for SQL 2008. All links refer to 2008R2....
But the best option would be to contact MS directly and ask for an official statement based on your specific configuration. The MS licencing model is far beyond "self explaining". And it seems like there is a significant change with Denali again.
December 5, 2011 at 7:05 am
From the documentation
How to Calculate Processor Licenses for a Single VM
If your Virtual host IS NOT hyperthreaded
# of Virtual Processors assigned to the VM / # Cores in the Virtual Host = ? (round ? up to the nearest full number)
If your Virtual host IS hyperthreaded
# of Virtual Processors assigned to the VM / # of Threads per physical processor = ? (round ? up to the nearest full number)
In my past experience, we have always had a dedicated VM hosting setup for SQL, consisting of a number of hosts.
With this to get unlimited virtualisation rights on these hosts only, you must purchase a data centre licence per physical CPU, so if you have 4 hosts, each with 4 CPU's in each, you need 16 data centre licences. But you can run as many VM's running SQL on these 4 hosts are you need without paying for more licences.
You can purchase Enterprise licences, each enterprise licence will only allow you to install up to 4 virtual CPU's, so you can have 4 VM's with 1 VCPU each, or 2 VM's with 2 VCPU's each, or 1 VM with 4 VCPU's.
Standard edition is only licenced per VM, so if you install standard on a VM you have to purchase the right amount of licences for how ever many VCPU's you assign.
So 1 VM with 2 VCPU's needs 2 STD lics, 4 VM's with 1 VCPU each requires 4 STD lics, etc etc.
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