Physical processor licensing

Forget the old Microsoft licensing model. With Windows 2012 you have a new processor licensing model.

You have two Microsoft Windows 2012 server editions

• Standard
• Datacenter

These two editions come with two physical processor licenses. Both versions have the same set of features.

That means

If you have one physical server with two multi-core processors, you’ll need

If you have one physical server with 4 multi-core processors, you’ll need

Number of virtual instances (Virtual server or VM)

The only difference between the standard and datacenter edition is the number of virtual instances you can run with.

• Standard edition permit 2 Virtual instances
• Datacenter edition permit unlimited Virtual instances

One license is affected to one physical server. You cannot split a license between servers.

That means

When you have one physical server with 2 multi-core processors and one standard license, you can have

When you have one physical server with 2 multi-core processors and one Datacenter license, you can have

Scenario:

Your company has the following servers.

• Server1: 4 multi-core processors and 64 Gb Ram attached to a SAN
• Server2: 8 multi-core processors and 256 Gb Ram attached to a SAN

Your manager asks you to host multiple virtual instances on these 2 servers. You want to use the maximum capacity of each server. You’ll need,

• Server1: 2 Datacenter licenses
• Server2: 4 Datacenter licenses

 

For more information follow the link https://www.highergroundtech.com/downloads/WS2012_Licensing-Pricing_FAQ.pdf