August 2, 2012 at 5:48 am
Hi,
We just got a quote for our 2 SQL Servers. £115k! I think this is twice what it should be.
we have 2 sql servers with 1x hex core xeon chip in each but our provider has told us we need to buy 12x core licenses per server because we have hyperthreading switched on which I recon is wrong.
Can someone please confirm for me?
Also I have seen in a few blogs something about 8 core AMD bulldozer based CPUs being treated as 4 core ht cpus in windows 2008 server edition since a hotfix - if MS are not charging double for HT cores, are they treating a single bulldozer core (2x integer units, 1x floating point) as 1 hyperthreaded physical core or 2 cores for licensing purposes?
Thanks
Ben
Ben
^ Thats me!
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August 2, 2012 at 6:04 am
Looking through the licensing datasheet, it doesn't mention hyperthreading.
Instead the area about how to license says
How to license
1. License all of the physical cores on the hardware
2. A minimum of 4 core licenses are required per physical processor
PHYSICAL
CORES IN THE
PROCESSOR:
1 2 4 6 8
CORE LICENSES
REQUIRED
4 4 4 6 8
So I would take that as you would only need 6 core licenses, not 12.
Also going from Glenn Berry's blog http://sqlserverperformance.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/sql-server-2012-licensing-and-hardware-considerations/
He states that hyperthreading is free.
Best to get the word direct from MS on this though as it may have changed. As all we can give is advise on licensing, dont take what we say with something as legal as this from anyone other than MS or a MS reseller.
I not heard about the bulldozer chips, but will deffinatly take a look.
August 2, 2012 at 6:09 am
Thanks that was what I was thinking too. I think our reseller is being a bit daft - we'll get quotes from some other resellers and see what they say.
worst case scenario we switch off hyper threading. The really annoying thing is that the application doesn't support sql 2012 and we are upgrading from SQL 2005 std to 2008 enterprise but need to buy 2012 licenses to run 2008 as no one is selling 2008 licenses any more!
thanks
Ben
^ Thats me!
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August 2, 2012 at 11:52 am
I bought software from these guys years ago, and still use them for price compares all the time because their URL is so easy to remember, probably because it reminds me of Sony.
http://www.viosoftware.com/SQL+Server+2008/[/url]
There are no special teachers of virtue, because virtue is taught by the whole community.
--Plato
August 2, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Hyperthreading does not add cores. It adds threads in the core.
You license cores, not threads. If you have a single 6 core machine, you need 6 licenses.
August 3, 2012 at 5:15 am
Brilliant thanks guys.
Turns out our supplier quoted us for 2x hex core cpu per machine because she thought we could do with an upgrade.
Clearly, we only ever use the best, most proffessional suppliers around!
Thanks for that link too, we'll have to see if they ship to the UK.
cheers
Ben
Ben
^ Thats me!
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