Virtualization Licensing Scenario

The cost of licensing server applications running on virtual machines will drop significantly as a result of changes to Microsoft’s virtual licensing.

The diagram shows the basic hardware and software stack for a four-processor server running two copies of SQL Server Standard Edition, licensed per processor, on virtual servers. The chart indicates how many licenses of each product are required before and after the licensing changes. These rules apply to non-Microsoft host OSs and virtualization layers as well: for example, multiple instances of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition R2 can run on VMware virtual servers without requiring additional licenses. Based on retail prices, the changes will reduce the software costs of the system from about US$28,000 to about US$13,500.

Note that under the rules in effect before Dec. 1, the SQL Server 2000 instances must have as many per-processor licenses in total as the physical machine has processors, but after four SQL licenses have been purchased for a four-processor machine, additional licenses are not required for additional instances of SQL Server. After Dec. 1, licenses are required only for the processors that each VM actually accesses.