October 15, 2019 at 3:55 pm
I asked below questions to MS VL agents, but they redirect me to their reseller such as CDW. I am not sure why reseller should answer licensing questions, not them. So I'm trying here.
I'm planning to set up two SQL servers and came up with below questions. Since MS licensing changes, I am curious what current licensing terms are at situations.
It's ok to give wrong answers, but please give me any comment. I will follow up.
1. I have a 24 core physical server and am planning to purchase SQL core license. Since the customer's budge issue, can I purchase 8 cores (4 * 2 core packs) only and install on the new 24 core server?
2. If Q1 is yes, what will happen to SQL installation on the server with 8 core product key? Will it not allow to install or create error or just lock down other 16 cores and allow only 8 cores visible to SQL?
3. If 8 core license works on 24 core servers with locking down remaining 16 cores, and later I found that the server needs more cores to be unlocked, can I purchase additional 16 cores and add to the existing 16 cores? If this is possible, now I have two SQL server core licenses with two product keys. How do I add the 2nd key to the existing SQL server via SQL management studio?
4. I have MS SQL 8 core licenses on another server. Can I move this core license to new server(24 core)? My planning is to use the same product key on new server, then retire the old one in a month once databases are migrated to new servers. Will it create any technical issues to the two servers? The servers are behind server firewall which disable traffic to public.
5. Licensing question with AlwaysOn Availability Group. I am planning to add one more 24 core server to build AlwaysOn Availability Group. In this case, should I purchase another 24 core licenses to cover the 2nd new server? What if I make the AG as Active-Passive? Does it still require to cover the two servers all?
Thank you in advance.
October 15, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Edition? This matters.
SQL licensing guide: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017-pricing
For Standard, only 20 cores are used. If you want 24 cores, you need to go with Enterprise.
You cannot license 8 cores. From the guide: "To license a physical server—when running SQL Server in a physical OSE—all physical cores on the server must be licensed. " You need 20 or 24 licenses to run this. So:
1. No
2. NA
3. NA, but you don't need to add the product key to SSMS or SQL. It won't stop using cores with a license. However, you are in violation of the license and can be fined.
4. This is tricky. You can do this, but licenses are by version. If you have a new version of SQL, you need new licenses (you may be able to upgrade).
5. If you have Software Assurance, you can have 1 passive server in an AG without more licenses. No querying allowed here. If you use this as read only, you need to license all cores.
October 15, 2019 at 5:53 pm
I asked below questions to MS VL agents, but they redirect me to their reseller such as CDW. I am not sure why reseller should answer licensing questions, not them. So I'm trying here.
I'm planning to set up two SQL servers and came up with below questions. Since MS licensing changes, I am curious what current licensing terms are at situations.
It's ok to give wrong answers, but please give me any comment. I will follow up.
1. I have a 24 core physical server and am planning to purchase SQL core license. Since the customer's budge issue, can I purchase 8 cores (4 * 2 core packs) only and install on the new 24 core server?
No. You must license all 24 cores.
2. If Q1 is yes, what will happen to SQL installation on the server with 8 core product key? Will it not allow to install or create error or just lock down other 16 cores and allow only 8 cores visible to SQL?
3. If 8 core license works on 24 core servers with locking down remaining 16 cores, and later I found that the server needs more cores to be unlocked, can I purchase additional 16 cores and add to the existing 16 cores? If this is possible, now I have two SQL server core licenses with two product keys. How do I add the 2nd key to the existing SQL server via SQL management studio?
#2 and #3 do not matter because it does not work that way. Core based licensing must license all of the cores. There is no mechanism to "lock" the cores.
4. I have MS SQL 8 core licenses on another server. Can I move this core license to new server(24 core)? My planning is to use the same product key on new server, then retire the old one in a month once databases are migrated to new servers. Will it create any technical issues to the two servers? The servers are behind server firewall which disable traffic to public.
You can certainly do this. But you would be out of compliance with the licensing.
5. Licensing question with AlwaysOn Availability Group. I am planning to add one more 24 core server to build AlwaysOn Availability Group. In this case, should I purchase another 24 core licenses to cover the 2nd new server? What if I make the AG as Active-Passive? Does it still require to cover the two servers all?
If the secondary is read-only, you need to license both nodes. If the secondary is not read-only, you only need to purchase software assurance for the second node.
When Microsoft told you to talk to your reseller, they did this because the reseller is who actually keeps track of this. Even though it's Microsoft licensing, you are actually purchasing this from the reseller. Your enterprise agreement, and it's terms, are in the possession of the reseller. Not Microsoft.
Call your reseller. They are the only ones who can provide you with definitive answers about your licenses.
Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/
October 15, 2019 at 10:20 pm
Thank you, gentlemen.
Resellers I spoke to, have limited license knowledge contradictorily.
So as I understand all number of physical cores should be licensed. In terms of the technical aspect, what will happen having less core licenses than actual number of physical cores? Will having 8 core SQL licenses on 24 core servers allow to make all 24 cores visible to SQL? This is technical question, not license compliance issue.
October 16, 2019 at 12:28 am
I just did the same, so, I answer the questions I am aware of.
1. I have a 24 core physical server and am planning to purchase SQL core license. Since the customer's budge issue, can I purchase 8 cores (4 * 2 core packs) only and install on the new 24 core server?
You can install vmWare(plus licensing cost) and create one VM with 8 vCPU and then install SQL Server on it.
4. I have MS SQL 8 core licenses on another server. Can I move this core license to new server(24 core)? My planning is to use the same product key on new server, then retire the old one in a month once databases are migrated to new servers. Will it create any technical issues to the two servers? The servers are behind server firewall which disable traffic to public.
If they are of the same version(SQL 2016, etc) and edition(Standard, etc), yes, you can move as long as you timely shut down your old server.
5. Licensing question with AlwaysOn Availability Group. I am planning to add one more 24 core server to build AlwaysOn Availability Group. In this case, should I purchase another 24 core licenses to cover the 2nd new server? What if I make the AG as Active-Passive? Does it still require to cover the two servers all?
Yes, you need either full 24-core licenses for the passive node or software assurance, not both.
October 16, 2019 at 5:07 pm
The product key will not limit the number of cores. The PID is an administrative item, not an item that changes how SQL works. You can use affinity to limit SQL Server to 8 cores, but that is not allowed by the MS license.
As noted above, you can virtualize, in which case you are "licensing" the "virtual cores" in that system. If you had 2 VMs, each with 8 virtual cores, you'd need 16 licenses. If you had 4 vms, each with 8 vcpus, on your 24 core box, you'd need 32 licenses.
October 16, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Thank you for clear answer.
We can't do virtualization for sql, the system feeds millions of records per minute from manufacturing data and logs.
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