Server Virtualization Rules Relaxed

Significant changes to licensing rules will give customers greater freedom to move virtual machines (VMs) running Microsoft server applications from one physical machine to another. The ability to be moved from one server to another quickly is an important advantage of VMs and is commonly used to balance server loads or to migrate applications to new hardware. Most virtualization vendors have technology that permits a VM to migrate from one machine to another in real time or with only a brief interruption in service, but until now, licensing rules presented an obstacle to migrating Microsoft products.

Previous Policy

The following restrictions made migration of Microsoft server applications running in VMs procedurally burdensome or costly:

• OS and server application licenses must be assigned to a specific physical device, even if they are running in a VM
• Licenses cannot be transferred from one physical machine to another more frequently than every 90 days, except in cases of severe