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    Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing

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    licensingsql serversql server 2017microsoftmicrosoft licensing
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
      last edited by

      @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

      @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

      @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

      a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

      Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

      JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ObsolesceO
        Obsolesce
        last edited by

        For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
        0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
          last edited by

          @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

          For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
          0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

          So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

          ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • ObsolesceO
            Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
            last edited by Obsolesce

            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

            For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
            0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

            So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

            I also see this:

            0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

            So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

            Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
              last edited by

              @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

              @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

              @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

              For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
              0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

              So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

              I also see this:

              0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

              So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

              Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

              That's tough as most deployments, people don't know what is supporting the vCPU. It's also confusing that this seems to ONLY apply with Hyperthreading in one case, but multiple cores in the second. Why does the HT get mentioned, given the second statement?

              ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ObsolesceO
                Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                last edited by

                @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
                0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

                So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

                I also see this:

                0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

                So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

                Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

                That's tough as most deployments, people don't know what is supporting the vCPU. It's also confusing that this seems to ONLY apply with Hyperthreading in one case, but multiple cores in the second. Why does the HT get mentioned, given the second statement?

                Who knows.

                But here you go, just found this for 2017, which also confirms the above:
                0_1536702921116_97d03f27-b3f3-46bf-b527-ec80b0e7c813-image.png

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • JaredBuschJ
                  JaredBusch @scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                  a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                  Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                  I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                  Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                  0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                  KVM says CPUs.
                  0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                  But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                  ObsolesceO momurdaM scottalanmillerS DustinB3403D 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • ObsolesceO
                    Obsolesce @JaredBusch
                    last edited by

                    @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                    a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                    Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                    I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                    Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                    0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                    KVM says CPUs.
                    0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                    But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                    KVM does let you:
                    0_1536703879180_b01ba7a6-5635-4db9-8320-c6eae4c1ef63-image.png

                    scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • momurdaM
                      momurda @JaredBusch
                      last edited by

                      @jaredbusch Xenserver does
                      0_1536703831597_629f4f4f-8ee6-4bfd-acce-983dfd9c36ab-image.png
                      or
                      0_1536703857810_4a9ee600-4568-4148-8c4e-1c05fd09bb5e-image.png
                      or
                      0_1536703881733_0c14ea10-5de1-4184-aa32-968cf1d47d69-image.png

                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
                        last edited by

                        @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                        @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                        @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                        a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                        Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                        I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                        Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                        0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                        KVM says CPUs.
                        0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                        But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                        VMware lets you specify how many CPUs, and Cores to "pretend" to have, but each is just a representation of the vCPUs. The vCPU unit is calculated from "presented CPUs * presented cores". But each core or CPU you present, is a vCPU.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                          last edited by

                          @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                          a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                          Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                          I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                          Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                          0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                          KVM says CPUs.
                          0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                          But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                          KVM does let you:
                          0_1536703879180_b01ba7a6-5635-4db9-8320-c6eae4c1ef63-image.png

                          Right, it's a presented topology. How you want the vCPUs to "look".

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • scottalanmillerS
                            scottalanmiller @momurda
                            last edited by

                            @momurda said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @jaredbusch Xenserver does
                            0_1536703831597_629f4f4f-8ee6-4bfd-acce-983dfd9c36ab-image.png
                            or
                            0_1536703857810_4a9ee600-4568-4148-8c4e-1c05fd09bb5e-image.png
                            or
                            0_1536703881733_0c14ea10-5de1-4184-aa32-968cf1d47d69-image.png

                            The wording on XenServer is more clear. The vCPUs are the things you have, the topology is how they look. It's less confusing in how they show it.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • ObsolesceO
                              Obsolesce
                              last edited by

                              Right, so what's the issue?

                              JaredBuschJ scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JaredBuschJ
                                JaredBusch @Obsolesce
                                last edited by

                                @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                Right, so what's the issue?

                                Scott being scott.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                  last edited by

                                  @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                  Right, so what's the issue?

                                  The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                  Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                  ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • ObsolesceO
                                    Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                    @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                    Right, so what's the issue?

                                    The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                    Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                    For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                    It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                    scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                      last edited by

                                      @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                      @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                      @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                      Right, so what's the issue?

                                      The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                      Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                      For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                      It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                      I don't see it saying that it is doubled with HT, only doubled if TWO threads are assigned to one vCPU.

                                      ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • ObsolesceO
                                        Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                        last edited by Obsolesce

                                        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        Right, so what's the issue?

                                        The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                        Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                        For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                        It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                        I don't see it saying that it is doubled with HT, only doubled if TWO threads are assigned to one vCPU.

                                        Which is the case when HT is enabled. At least that's what they say... If Hyper threading is enabled.

                                        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • DustinB3403D
                                          DustinB3403 @JaredBusch
                                          last edited by DustinB3403

                                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                                          a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                                          Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                                          I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                                          Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                                          0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                                          KVM says CPUs.
                                          0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                                          But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                                          XenServer and XCP-ng also allow this.

                                          1cpu 2 core etc.

                                          scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • scottalanmillerS
                                            scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                            last edited by

                                            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            Right, so what's the issue?

                                            The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                            Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                            For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                            It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                            I don't see it saying that it is doubled with HT, only doubled if TWO threads are assigned to one vCPU.

                                            Which is the case when HT is enabled. At least that's what they say... If Hyper threading is enabled.

                                            They say when it is enabled AND doing that thing. Then mention that even if HT isn't enabled, it matters.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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