ESX Server licensing and Microsoft EES

[ranj]

Hi

 

I have a question regarding the new ees licensing and how we license servers.

 

We run Windows 7 Enterprise alongside Office 2010 Professional Plus and we use Outlook OWA on the desktop.

 

We previously have had Schools agreements and my understanding was if we had virtualisation such as VMware in place, we would purchase a Windows 2008 data centre license for each ESX host and this would license us to run unlimited Windows Servers on those hosts.

 

Does this change with the new EES Microsoft Licensing?

 

We have 3 ESX hosts and because each host has 2 processors we had to purchase 2 Windows Server licenses per Processor. I have heard from one supplier that we now need to purchase a license for every Microsoft server VM we run.

 

If someone could help clarify this it would be most appreciated..

 

Thanks

[Theblacksheep]

Nothing has changed AFAIK, just get DC licences for your hosts.

 

Sounds like he's trying to get more money from you.

[ChrisH]

The server stuff just stays the same I think, it's just the Client OS, Cals and Office that you will get a better deal on. You will need a Datacentre licence per CPU as well I believe.

[marksams]

Yep - there's no changes to the Windows Server OS licenses, but there's still options depending on the number of VMs you are hosting in your environment. The Datacentre CPU license (required per CPU) is relatively expensive so you'd really want to make sure you are value for money by running enough VMs.