Freebie Virtual Licenses and Microsoft Windows: A Primer
I think the confusion about Microsoft's take on virtual licensing is relatively over as it relates to Server 2003 R2, but let's go over a little primer just to be sure.
Remember that for every copy of Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition you purchase, you get four free virtual licenses on the same host for free. For Datacenter Edition you get unlimited on the same host.
Server 2008 includes these very same bennies, but adds one additional one that helps out the little guys...
With Server 2008 only, for every copy of Standard Edition, you get one free virtual license on the same host.
Why do I keep highlighting those four words, "on the same host"? Becuase its important. Don't think that you can use these virtual use licenses in a pool for distribution anywhere. They're intended for use per physical host -- which is why Datacenter's infinity count makes sense.
Remember that there's also a break-even cost associated with each jump. Standard Edition costs on-average about $700, while Enterprise Edition costs about $1400. Datacenter costs about $4000. So the breakeven point between Enterprise's extra licenses and Datacenter's comes in at around 14 concurrent VM's per server.
I get this by using the equation ($4000 / ($1400 / 4) = 14.285). 14 is a lot of virtual machines to run simultaneously on the same server. It'll take a lot of hardware to drive that many, so before automatically considering the upgrade, think about the capabilities of your hardware.
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Comments
It's great that you're hammering home the value of the other editions of Windows Server. I'm not sure what prices you're quoting. I usually do it by list price (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/pricing.mspx). Standard is $999, Enterprise is $3,999, and Datacenter is licensed per socket at $2,999 ($6,000 for a 2 socket system). This makes the math work out a little different. Given the 4 for 1 with Enterprise it's about $1,000 per VM. With a 2 socket Datacenter your break even is around 6 VMs (6 * $1,000 = $6,000). From what I've seen, Datacenter licenses will work better for most customers. The only problem being most don't have Datacenter as part of the MS EA. There are programs however to "trade-in" Standard and Enterprise licenses and pay a small upgrade fee for Datacenter in case customers are interested.
Posted by: Mike DiPetrillo | February 21, 2008 10:22 AM
This is good information, and highlights that I need to go back to my source and discover the updating information for pricing. The info I'm working off of must be old.
This being said, I usually like to price what people are actually going to pay rather than list, because virtually *no one* pays list. I've gotten in contact with a person who can update my info here. I'll re-post if/when I get a response with updated numbers.
Thanks!
Posted by: Greg Shields | February 21, 2008 12:02 PM