September 25, 2012 at 6:15 am
I previously posted regarding consolidation of SQL boxes; now i am wondering how the licensing works if i have 2 boxes:
1st box Enterprise with 4 cores and SQL Server on it
2nd box Enterprise with 4 cores and only SSIS/SSAS & SSRS on it now db engine
basically do i license each box so 8 cores or do i only pay for the SQL license.
just something someone mentioned to me made me question this.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as i am new to the whole licensing aspect of DBAing.
UPDATE:
After phoning Microsoft, the stance here is that if i have 2 servers and spread the services across them i pay for the level of license per core for each server irrelevant of the services installed.
So in the above scenario, i pay for 8 core enterprise licenses, if i add another machine in with 4 cores then i pay for another 4 cores and so on. Also it is a minimum of 4 core licenses for the enterprise edition.
They will be emailing me official confirmation of this so i will post that up to, and hopefully help others with similar questions.
The official response from Microsoft:
Hi Terry,
Thank you for your call.
With regards to your query, SQL Server Enterprise 2012 is licensed per core.
There is a 4 core minimum per physical processor and 4 cores minimum per virtual Operation system environment, and each physical core must be licensed if the software is running in a Physical OSE (Operating System Environment) or each virtual core if the software is running in a Virtual OSE.
If the components of SQL Server are installed on a separate physical server you need to license them separately, but if the components of SQL Server are installed on the same physical server you need to license the Physical Server correctly.
Please find below the quote from the SQL Server Licensing Overview for your reference:-
LICENSING SQL COMPONENTS
SQL Server includes services such as Microsoft® SQL Server® Reporting Services and Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis Services which are key to the Microsoft Business Intelligence solution.
When a SQL Server runs with all of its components in one server, only one licence is required.
However, if the database is running in one server, Analysis Services on a second, and Reporting Services on a third, then three licences are required.
Hence in your given scenario you need license each box so 8 cores.
I trust this information is of help.
September 25, 2012 at 6:24 am
What is the edition your are using?
September 25, 2012 at 6:24 am
As with anything surrounding licensing, it is best to speak to MS directly, please do not take what people say on the matter as litteral that is the way to go.
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/get-sql-server/how-to-buy.aspx
The above should help you understand more clearly about what you need.
Check out the resources area for the QRG and Core calculation PDF's
September 25, 2012 at 6:25 am
i'm looking to use enterprise edition as the end platform
September 25, 2012 at 6:27 am
The following URL will help you more
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/02/23/sql-server-2005-understanding-licensing-model/
September 25, 2012 at 6:32 am
Thanks for the help, the one thing i cannot see is any reference to separation of install - it just refers back to SQL Server, which i can only assume means the packaged solution as a whole and not just the database engine.
The microsoft site is just way to confusing to work out, so based on my thinking i need 8 core processor licenses to run my setup of enterprise across 2 servers. Since 8 cores will be accessed by the whole SQL Server install (2 servers x 4 cores)
September 25, 2012 at 6:35 am
anthony.green (9/25/2012)
As with anything surrounding licensing, it is best to speak to MS directly, please do not take what people say on the matter as litteral that is the way to go.
+INFINITY
Always check with Microsoft.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
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September 25, 2012 at 7:06 am
Well Microsoft's online live help just said call this number: 844 800 2400
Not really much help, so will call that number tomorrow and update on any response i receive.
September 25, 2012 at 7:24 am
Depending on the model number of the processor and how many of them you have in the server depends on the number of licenses you need.
You have to license 1 CPU with a minimum of 4 core licenses then you work up in packets of 2, so it goes 4,6,8,10,12 etc etc.
So if you have 1 physical CPU with 4 cores you purchase 4 cores, if you have 2 physical CPU's with 2 cores, you purchase 8 core licenses is how I see it from the QRG.
@vyas
The licensing model for 2012 has changed to CORE based licensing not CPU based licensing, that article is now out of date.
September 25, 2012 at 7:43 am
anthony.green (9/25/2012)
Depending on the model number of the processor and how many of them you have in the server depends on the number of licenses you need.You have to license 1 CPU with a minimum of 4 core licenses then you work up in packets of 2, so it goes 4,6,8,10,12 etc etc.
So if you have 1 physical CPU with 4 cores you purchase 4 cores, if you have 2 physical CPU's with 2 cores, you purchase 8 core licenses is how I see it from the QRG.
@vyas
The licensing model for 2012 has changed to CORE based licensing not CPU based licensing, that article is now out of date.
see that to me doesn't make sense unless i am missing something.
Also I don't mean what your saying doesn't make sense, but why 8 core licenses for 2 CPU's with 2 cores each? wouldn't that be 4cores in total?
This is whats confusing me and then also the lack of references to installations across servers for the individual items of the whole suite of services.
it all could be me reading into it too much and its pretty simple.
September 25, 2012 at 7:49 am
The QRG has a table on page 2 titled how to license.
In that table is shows the following information
1. License all the cores in the hardware
2. A minimum of 4 core licenses are required per physical processor[/i][/u].
Number of Cores in the CPU, Number of Core Licenses Required
1, 4
2, 4
4, 4
6, 6
8, 8
So as the server has 2 CPUs, with 2 cores each, it falls into the second valuation of needing 4 cores per CPU and you have 2 CPU's so you need 8.
May seem like overkill but from what the documentation says this is the number you need.
This is why we always say speak to MS directly as they are the license makers and they set the terms, we can only advise on what MS provide in documentation and it is an interpretation of the person reading it, and 9 out of 10 times only MS understand what they actually mean buy what they say so its a very tricky and confusing topic.
September 25, 2012 at 9:05 am
Thanks for the help and detailed explanation.
Hopefully Microsoft will clarify this for me tomorrow and once i know i will update this post with my findings.
September 27, 2012 at 7:26 am
initial Post updated
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