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Explore Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows VMs

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Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server allows you to use your on-premises core licenses for Windows Server licenses to get Windows virtual machines on Azure at a reduced cost. You can use Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server to deploy new virtual machines with Windows OS. This article goes over the steps on how to deploy new VMs with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server and how you can update existing running VMs.

To qualify for Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server, you need on-premises core licenses for Windows Server from an applicable program with active Software Assurance or qualifying subscription licenses. Software Assurance and qualifying subscription licenses are only available as part of certain commercial licensing agreements. To learn more about commercial licensing, see Microsoft Licensing Resources. To learn more about Windows Server core licenses, see Windows Server product licensing.

You need a minimum of 8 core licenses (Datacenter or Standard edition) per VM. For example, 8 core licenses are still required if you run a 4-core instance. You may also run instances larger than 8 cores by allocating licenses equal to the core size of the instance. For example, 12 core licenses are required for a 12-core instance. For customers with processor licenses, each processor license is equivalent to 16 core licenses.

Important

  • Workloads using Azure Hybrid Benefit can run only during the Software Assurance or subscription license term. When the Software Assurance or subscription license term approaches expiration, you must either renew your agreement with either Software Assurance or a subscription license, disable the hybrid benefit functionality, or deprovision those workloads that are using Azure Hybrid Benefit.

  • The Microsoft Product Terms for your program take precedent over this article. For more information, see Microsoft Azure Product Terms and select your program to show the terms.

Using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server with any VMs running Windows Server OS are now supported in all regions, including VMs with additional software such as SQL Server or third-party marketplace software.

Classic VMs

For classic VMs, only deploying new VM from on premises custom images is supported. To take advantage of the capabilities supported in this article, you must first migrate classic VMs to Resource Manager model.

Important

VMs created through the classic deployment model will be retired on September 1, 2023.

If you use IaaS resources from Azure Service Management, please complete your migration by September 1, 2023. We encourage you to make the switch sooner to take advantage of the many feature enhancements in Azure Resource Manager.

For more information, see Migrate your IaaS resources to Azure Resource Manager by September 1, 2023.

Ways to use Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

There are few ways to use Windows virtual machines with the Azure Hybrid Benefit:

  1. You can deploy VMs from one of the provided Windows Server images on the Azure Marketplace
  2. You can upload a custom VM and deploy using a Resource Manager template or Azure PowerShell
  3. You can toggle and convert existing VM between running with Azure Hybrid Benefit or pay on-demand cost for Windows Server
  4. You can also apply Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server on virtual machine scale set as well

Create a VM with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

All Windows Server OS based images are supported for Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server. You can use Azure platform support images or upload your own custom Windows Server images.

Portal

To create a VM with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server, scroll to the bottom of the Basics tab during the creation process and under Licensing check the box to use an existing Windows Server license.

PowerShell

New-AzVm `
    -ResourceGroupName "myResourceGroup" `
    -Name "myVM" `
    -Location "East US" `
    -ImageName "Win2016Datacenter" `
    -LicenseType "Windows_Server"

CLI

az vm create \
    --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --name myVM \
    --location eastus \
    --license-type Windows_Server

Template

Within your Resource Manager templates, an additional parameter licenseType must be specified. You can read more about authoring Azure Resource Manager templates.

"properties": {
    "licenseType": "Windows_Server",
    "hardwareProfile": {
        "vmSize": "[variables('vmSize')]"
    }
}

Convert an existing VM using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

If you have an existing VM that you would like to convert to take advantage of Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server, you can update your VM's license type by following the instructions below.

Note

Changing the license type on the VM does not cause the system to reboot or cause a service interuption. It is simply an update to a metadata flag.

Portal

From portal VM blade, you can update the VM to use Azure Hybrid Benefit by selecting "Configuration" option and toggle the "Azure hybrid benefit" option

PowerShell

  • Convert existing Windows Server VMs to Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

    $vm = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroup "rg-name" -Name "vm-name"
$vm.LicenseType = "Windows_Server"
Update-AzVM -ResourceGroupName rg-name -VM $vm

  • Convert Windows Server VMs with benefit back to pay-as-you-go

    $vm = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroup "rg-name" -Name "vm-name"
$vm.LicenseType = "None"
Update-AzVM -ResourceGroupName rg-name -VM $vm

CLI

  • Convert existing Windows Server VMs to Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

    az vm update --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --set licenseType=Windows_Server

How to verify your VM is utilizing the licensing benefit

Once you've deployed your VM through either PowerShell, Resource Manager template or portal, you can verify the setting in the following methods.

Portal

From portal VM blade, you can view the toggle for Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server by selecting "Operating system" tab.

PowerShell

The following example shows the license type for a single VM

Get-AzVM -ResourceGroup "myResourceGroup" -Name "myVM"

Output:

Type                     : Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
Location                 : westus
LicenseType              : Windows_Server

This output contrasts with the following VM deployed without Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server licensing:

Type                     : Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
Location                 : westus
LicenseType              :

CLI

az vm get-instance-view -g MyResourceGroup -n MyVM --query "[?licenseType=='Windows_Server']" -o table

Note

Changing the license type on the VM does not cause the system to reboot or cause a service interuption. It is a metadata licensing flag only.

List all VMs and virtual machine scale sets with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server in a subscription

To see and count all virtual machines and virtual machine scale sets deployed with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server, you can run the following command from your subscription:

Portal

From the Virtual Machine or Virtual machine scale sets resource blade, you can view a list of all your VM(s) and licensing type by configuring the table column to include "OS licensing benefit". The VM setting can either be in Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows, Not enabled, or Windows client with multi-tenant hosting state.

PowerShell

For virtual machines:

Get-AzVM | ?{$_.LicenseType -like "Windows_Server"} | select ResourceGroupName, Name, LicenseType

For virtual machine scale sets:

Get-AzVmss | Select * -ExpandProperty VirtualMachineProfile | ? LicenseType -eq 'Windows_Server' | select ResourceGroupName, Name, LicenseType

CLI

For virtual machines:

az vm list --query "[?licenseType=='Windows_Server']" -o table

For virtual machine scale sets:

az vmss list --query "[?virtualMachineProfile.licenseType=='Windows_Server']" -o table

Deploy a Virtual Machine Scale Set with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

Within your virtual machine scale set Resource Manager templates, an additional parameter licenseType must be specified within your VirtualMachineProfile property. You can do this during create or update for your scale set through ARM template, PowerShell, Azure CLI or REST.

The following example uses ARM template with a Windows Server 2016 Datacenter image:

"virtualMachineProfile": {
    "storageProfile": {
        "osDisk": {
            "createOption": "FromImage"
        },
        "imageReference": {
            "publisher": "MicrosoftWindowsServer",
            "offer": "WindowsServer",
            "sku": "2016-Datacenter",
            "version": "latest"
        }
    },
    "licenseType": "Windows_Server",
    "osProfile": {
            "computerNamePrefix": "[parameters('vmssName')]",
            "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]",
            "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
    }
}

You can also learn more about how to Modify a virtual machine scale set for more ways to update your scale set.

Next steps