SQL 2008 Licensing

[Richie1972]

I suppose this should really go in the Licensing section, but I wanted to make sure that those who have SIMS and have already upgraded would see it.
Our SIMS server is a Hyper-V guest with 4 CPUs assigned (sat on a physical server with 2x Quad Core CPUs). It also has 6GB RAM.
If SQL was going on the physical server I'd only need 2 licenses (one for each physical CPU). However, as the Hyper-V guest is, obviously, virtual, I have to class each assigned virtual CPU as an actual CPU.
With SQL 2008 STD R2 being just shy of £1000 per processor, there is no way the school will pay £4000, so I was wondering if there was a way of limiting SQL to only use 2 CPUs, thus meaning I would only need to buy 2 licenses.
Does anyone know if this is possible and, if so, has anyone done this?

[TronXP]

I am pretty sure it is how many physical CPUs in the server. So if the physical server has 2 processors then it is 2x£1000. Microsoft Volume Licensing - Multicore Processor Licensing

[Richie1972]

That does only mention physical servers, but as our SIMS server is a Hyper-V virtual server, would it count the virtual processors or the phyisical server processors?

[Soulfish]

When SQL is being used in a virtual server your correct that the per processor license means you need to license each virtual processor you give the device. One way I have seen to get around this is if Hyper-V is able to present the 4 virtual CPUs as 1 virtual CPU with 4 cores. Then you'd only need 1 processor license, and make use of the multicore licensing linked to above.

I know you can do this with Xen and VMWare but I've never tried with Hyper-V unfortunately!

[Soulfish]

The licensing doc to read is http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...w%20final.docx which has a quick explanation about virtual processors and licensing. Because Windows Server is seeing each virtual processor as a separate socket you need the per processor licenses. When your able to combine the virtual processors into one virtual socket with multiple cores then you only need the single processor license

[matt40k]

...How many licenses do you have? Might be worth getting individual CALs if Hyper-V is truely that bad.

[TronXP]

Win for virtualization =-/

[Arthur]

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Licensing Quick Reference Guide
See page 3 for more info regarding virtual CPUs.

[Richie1972]

Ok, looks like Hyper-V doesn't do virtual multi-core CPUs, so each CPU on the virtual server is treated as a separate CPU
So, back to the other option: if there is a way to tell SQL 2008 R2 Standard to only use 2 CPUs does that mean I only need 2 licences or do I need 4?

[djm968]

Would SQL 2008 Per Server Licensing and individual CALS not be a more cost effective option? How many users/devices need to connect to SIMS?


Server licensing will also depend on how you have your VMs configured. If you are using VMs for passive failover for example the standby sever does not need a license.

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2...sing-faq.aspx#

[Richie1972]

Ok, looking at the licencing details, it would appear that you have to licence every processor on your Hyper-V guest, even if it were possible to limit SQL to only two CPUs.
So, there is no way we can go with SQL 2008 R2 Standard (£4000). Looks like we'll be using SQL Server 2008 R2 Workgroup edition (£2000 for 4 CPUs) - unfortunately that version will only work with 2 CPUs, so we'll have to be paying for 2 CPUs that it won't use

[Arthur]

Ok, looks like Hyper-V doesn't do virtual multi-core CPUs, so each CPU on the virtual server is treated as a separate CPU

It does, but I think you need to use SCVMM 2008 R2 to create the VMs.

http://alipka.wordpress.com/2008/12/...censing-in-vm/

[localzuk]

Can you not simply limit the number of virtual CPUs you are assigning to the server? ie. In the VM settings, set it to have 2 CPUs not 4?

[Richie1972]

i could do that, but it would cut performance in half.
Having looked at the Computer Properties in the host and the guest, it's possible that it thinks that there is a single 4-core cpu in the guest.
Physical Host shows:
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5430 @ 2.66GHz (2 processors) - it has 2 quad core xeons

Hyper-V Guest:
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5430 @ 2.66GHz - it doesn't mention a number of processors, so does that mean it treats it as a single quad core cpu?

To add to this, another server (physical) has a single quad core and reports the same (4 cores, 4 logical processors) - so, by that reasoning, a physical and virtual server should be the same for licencing (if we assume that, as it appears, specifying 4 cores of a quad core for a hyper-v guest makes a single quad core cpu)

[Richie1972]

Further reading of the licencing in Powered by Google Docs seems to support this, as it states that a Virtual CPU = 1 CORE, so if I have a quad core cpu in the physical host and 4 virtual cpus in the Hyper-V guest, it is only ONE cpu