Windows Data Center Licensing - Path from 2019 to 2022

Robare Pruyn 1 Reputation point
2022-09-21T21:04:58.193+00:00

Customer environment involves four physical servers. Data Center 2019 licensing covers all core in all four servers.
Virtualization is through ESX/vCenter, it's a hyperconverged compute plant.

Here's the question:

Data Center 2019 was purchased, but most VMs were installed as 2022. What (if any) path is there for upgrading the datacenter licensing from 2019 to 2022? Or is it even required? I know that 2019 covers down to Server 2012.

Windows Server
Windows Server
A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
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  1. Dave Patrick 425.8K Reputation points MVP
    2022-09-21T21:18:18.53+00:00

    Yes you'll need new DataCenter 2022 licenses for all host but also note a DataCenter license provides for unlimited hosting of virtual machines when using AVMA. Unlimited activations however are not possible. The solution may be to install DataCenter hosts and use the AVMA licensing.
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/automatic-vm-activation

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