Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
Unless you are running Windows Server Datacenter Edition, you need to purchase the above for every two VMs you run.
And the number on that is 13. If you need 12 VMs, you use Standard. If you need or anticipate 13+ soon, then you go datacenter. It's a simple determination.
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@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
- So if I want to have ONE single Server 2016 running and properly licensed, I would need to purchase 3 standard licenses (which would cover 48 cores) since it's required minimum of 8 cores per processor and 16 cores per server.
No, 52. 16 + 16 + 20 = 52.
This is assuming VM mobility in the cluster.
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@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
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After purchasing those 3 standard licenses to cover my 36 physical cores, I will now be able to run up to TWO Server 2016 machines on my cluster.
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If I want to run a 3rd or 4th Server 2016 vm, I would have to fully license all ESXi hosts again. Then I get two more instances of Server 2016.
Correct.
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@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
- So if I wanted to eventually have 8 Server 2016 instances, I will need to license each host three times (or 9 Standard licenses) in order to be in compliance. Purchasing 9 standard licenses covers 144 cores which would leave me enough left over to cover 8 instances of Server 2016.
Correct on the 9. But it is 156 cores, not 144.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
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@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
That does sound more logical. $5K sounded really high.
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Now to make things more complicated, if you didn't want cluster mobility, but only failover, you can move to SA licensing which isn't cheap, but is way cheaper than this. But if you wanted that, the three node cluster doesn't make sense. So based on the example, SA doesn't cover the goals.
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@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
Also note he needs an additional 2x 2-core packs... Not much but still.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
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@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
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@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Server 2019 is around the corner and who knows after that.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Server 2019 is around the corner and who knows after that.
That's just the "cost of extra features" though, not the cost of Windows.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Microsoft needs to update their benefits listing. That you get Vista Enterprise isn't much to brag about.
I looked, MS doesn't have an obvious page listing the benefits.
The big ones we know... ability to fail over, ability to upgrade. Those we covered. Beyond those, if there are any real benefits, MS is burying them presumably because they are pretty trivial.
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@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Server 2019 is around the corner and who knows after that.
That's just the "cost of extra features" though, not the cost of Windows.
True, not needed. He'd have to weigh the need he'd need to upgrade.
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Nano Server, not really a benefit here, I'd imagine.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Server 2019 is around the corner and who knows after that.
That's just the "cost of extra features" though, not the cost of Windows.
True, not needed. He'd have to weigh the need he'd need to upgrade.
And you could just wait, it's weeks away. The bigger benefit there would almost certainly be just waiting and getting the latest and greatest right away rather than deploying 2016 in the last days.
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@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Microsoft needs to update their benefits listing. That you get Vista Enterprise isn't much to brag about.
I looked, MS doesn't have an obvious page listing the benefits.
The big ones we know... ability to fail over, ability to upgrade. Those we covered. Beyond those, if there are any real benefits, MS is burying them presumably because they are pretty trivial.
Real support is a big one in cases the Admin isn't familiar with clustering.
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@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@dave247 said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
You're looking at around $5k for every 2 VMs you want to run on that cluster in Windows Server Licensing, not to mention the cost of VMWare.
Wait, how did you get $5k? Each license is $883, so for 3 hosts, that is like $2,650 for 2 vm's...
It's roughly $1300 for Server 2016 standard with SA for 8x 2-core packs. So 4-5k.. I rounded up for the dramatic effect.
With SA. But SA is not required here. Might be smart, normally is, but not required, especially if doing the full mobility licensing model.
I assumed SA because why would you not for a cluster?
Why would you if you are full clustering? The only benefit to the SA is the upgrade at that point, not the failover as you've gone over and above that already.
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Server 2019 is around the corner and who knows after that.
That's just the "cost of extra features" though, not the cost of Windows.
True, not needed. He'd have to weigh the need he'd need to upgrade.
And you could just wait, it's weeks away. The bigger benefit there would almost certainly be just waiting and getting the latest and greatest right away rather than deploying 2016 in the last days.
That's what I'd do if possible.
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@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@scottalanmiller said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
@obsolesce said in Trying to correctly understand core licensing in a vmware environment:
Read the SA benefits list, too lazy to get the link atm.
Microsoft needs to update their benefits listing. That you get Vista Enterprise isn't much to brag about.
I looked, MS doesn't have an obvious page listing the benefits.
The big ones we know... ability to fail over, ability to upgrade. Those we covered. Beyond those, if there are any real benefits, MS is burying them presumably because they are pretty trivial.
Real support is a big one in cases the Admin isn't familiar with clustering.
MS doesn't have "real support". That's not a thing. And it's a joke if you actually have to pay for it. (Even been told this by insiders - there is no support, if it is broken, they just ignore you.) They only fix things you could have fixed yourself, and only sometimes.
They have an official process where a support team hands the work to another team to actually get fixes and that team isn't supposed to respond to the support team.
And MS support, even in theory, does not cover VMware clustering, which is what they have here. So beyond useless.
