Azure ARC for SQL - Payg License for DR

Question

Hi Folks,

I am working on a project for leveraging Azure ARC SQL PayG License for On-premise SQL Servers as there is no on-premise SQL License. I have total 4 Nodes on-premise in which 2 (128Vcore) is for DC & 2 is DR (128Vcore). Its in active-passive mode meaning only DC Servers are writing SQL Transactions.

My query is as below -

1. If i enable PayG License (Enterprise) for all the 4 Nodes than will azure bill me for all the 4 Nodes i.e 256 Vcore or it will automatically detect DR Nodes and instead bill me for 128Vcore.
2. Do i need to enable PayG License for DR Node or i only have to enable for DC.

What is the ideal way in this case ? and how the billing will happen in this scenario as customer is expecting billing only for 128Vcore referring to MS License Terms which are applicable on-premise.

Answer 1

Hi Faizaan Merchant

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform! Thank you for asking your question here.

To use PAYG licensing, your SQL Server instances need to be connected to Azure Arc. This lets you manage them through Azure and pay based on usage.

The PAYG model charges you for the virtual cores (vCores) used by your SQL Server instances. The billing is done per minute but billed every hour.

If you enable PAYG licensing for all four nodes (2 DC and 2 DR), you'll be charged for all 256 vCores (128 vCores per DC and DR node), unless the setup is changed to only charge for the active nodes.

Since your DR nodes are passive and only the DC nodes are actively processing transactions, you may not need to enable PAYG for the DR nodes if they're not in use. However, check Microsoft's licensing terms, as the DR nodes might still be billed if they're connected to Azure, unless managed differently.

The best approach is to enable PAYG licensing only on the DC nodes where transactions are active. For the DR nodes, set them up so they aren't charged unless used during a failover. This way, you'll be billed for just 128 vCores as expected.

For reference, please review this documentation: - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/azure-arc/manage-license-billing?view=sql-server-ver16
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/azure-arc/manage-configuration?view=sql-server-ver16&tabs=azure

If you have any further queries, do let us know.

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