This post is inspired from a question that was asked from one of the comments on the blog by Sebcbi1.
The question was to the post I wrote on How Windows 2016 licensing works with VMware (virtual) environments?
The question was;
A 2 node ESXi cluster having 2 Physical Processor with 10 core each. If the cluster has 10 vm's. How many Standard Licenses is needed to comply with the licensing.
I personally believe it is a great question and great starting point to understand how the licensing works.
Answer
Each processor has 10 Core and having dual processor means it has 20 cores altogether. There are 2 nodes in the cluster, which makes the overall core count to 40.
No: of physical cores = 2 * 10 * 2 = 40
Since Windows 2016 License are in 2 core packs;
2 core license packs to comply the physical cores = 40/2 = 20
This covers 2 of the vm instances. We have 8 vm's more to be licensed.
The Windows 2016 Licensing datasheet states;
"Standard Edition provides rights for up to two OSEs or Hyper-V containers when all physical cores in the server are licensed. For every two additional VMs, all the cores in the server have to be licensed again."
So we need to re-license the physical cores for next 2 additional vm's
Which looks like this,
Which sums up to total of 100 (2 core) license packs.
I know what you think LOL!
The question was to the post I wrote on How Windows 2016 licensing works with VMware (virtual) environments?
The question was;
A 2 node ESXi cluster having 2 Physical Processor with 10 core each. If the cluster has 10 vm's. How many Standard Licenses is needed to comply with the licensing.
I personally believe it is a great question and great starting point to understand how the licensing works.
Answer
Each processor has 10 Core and having dual processor means it has 20 cores altogether. There are 2 nodes in the cluster, which makes the overall core count to 40.
No: of physical cores = 2 * 10 * 2 = 40
Since Windows 2016 License are in 2 core packs;
2 core license packs to comply the physical cores = 40/2 = 20
This covers 2 of the vm instances. We have 8 vm's more to be licensed.
The Windows 2016 Licensing datasheet states;
"Standard Edition provides rights for up to two OSEs or Hyper-V containers when all physical cores in the server are licensed. For every two additional VMs, all the cores in the server have to be licensed again."
So we need to re-license the physical cores for next 2 additional vm's
Which looks like this,
|
VM
|
License
|
|
2
|
20
|
|
2
|
20
|
|
2
|
20
|
|
2
|
20
|
Which sums up to total of 100 (2 core) license packs.
I know what you think LOL!
Does this mean i have to lic all my physical cores / 2 for every VM on my server ?
ReplyDeletein the example above:
for every 2 VM i have to buy 20 lic of win srv 2016 std ?
if i have 100 VM
i have to buy 1,960 lic of win srv 2016 std?
What's the cost for win srv 2016 std (2 core lic pack)?
With the research I did, plus the MS licensing guide also states so. I reached out to MVP's if they could second this which they have done.
DeleteExcellent post!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you make this same Excercise with Datacenter Lic PLEASE...
With Datacenter it's straightforward you comply with the core requirement and get unlimited guest os instances. Let me know if you need me to elaborate more on that.
DeleteThank you for the complement.
DeleteThat is the worst licensing model I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteBut I believe if all the customers and partners in unison express their grievances and displeasure it can change! vRAM entitlement was one such thing. Remember?
ReplyDeleteThat beats the vRam model
ReplyDelete