How to license a physical server with Microsoft Server 2022 Std software under SPLA?

Hi RainerRenn,

to license a physical server with Microsoft Server 2022 Std software under SPLA, you would need to purchase 2 (2CPU) x 10 core packs (for 20 cores) which allows you to create 2 VMs. To create the 3rd VM with 4 cores, you would need to purchase an additional 8 core pack (8 license packs). The minimum requirement for hardware licensing is 16 cores, and the license packs sold are intended for 2 cores each.

Regarding Office365 subscription, you can use Office365 ProPlus or E3/E5 subscriptions with an RDP solution that will be licensed under SPLA.

For Microsoft SQL Server, you would need to purchase a license for each virtual core. If you want to install SQL Server on a virtual server with 10 cores, you would need to purchase 10 SQL Standard licenses.

Regarding license transfer, Open licenses are perpetual licenses that can be transferred to another server as long as the license is removed from the original server. However, SPLA licenses are not transferable and can only be used on the server they were originally licensed for. If you need to use SPLA licenses temporarily until you can replace the damaged server with a new one, you can do so by licensing the rental server or Azure rental server under SPLA.

Hope it helps.

Best regards,

Lei

Thank you for your response.

I have a clarifying question. First, I need to license the physical server. From the responses I understood that for a 2CPU (20Core each) server, I need a 10Core pack to cover 20Core. Why only 20Core, shouldn't it be 2CPU x 20Core, meaning I would need to license 40Core (with a 20Core pack)?

Additionally, I have a question about adding a 3rd (8Core) and a 4th (10Core) server. Do I understand correctly that then the minimum requirement is to license 8Core? But since the server has 2CPUs, wouldn't it actually be 16Core? So, do I need 4 Core packs for the 3rd server and 5 Core packs for the 4th, or due to having 2CPUs, do I actually need 8 Core packs for the 3rd and 10 Core packs for the 4th?

The guide for the 2016 server (picture attached below) is causing confusion for me."

To clarify, for a 2CPU server with 20 cores each, you would need to license a total of 40 cores. You would need to purchase two 20-core packs or four 10-core packs to cover the licensing requirement.

For the 3rd server with 8 cores, you would need to license a minimum of 8 cores. However, since it has 2 CPUs, you would need to purchase two 4-core packs or one 8-core pack to cover the licensing requirement.

For the 4th server with 10 cores, you would need to license a minimum of 10 cores. Again, since it has 2 CPUs, you would need to purchase two 5-core packs or one 10-core pack to cover the licensing requirement.

Thank you for your responce.

"Perhaps my previous text was unclear. I should clarify that the four virtual servers will reside in the same physical server.

In my example, I will utilize two CPUs with 20 cores each and plan to virtualize them using Hyper-V Core (which is free). Following that, I intend to add four virtual servers and allocate cores to them as follows: 8/8/2/2.

Referencing the Microsoft Get Licensing Ready guide, under the topic "Mlicensing Microsoft products under SPLA," I discovered the following:

This suggests that virtual server cores do not count.

In my example, each virtual server must have its own complete coverage.

20 cores x 2 CPUs x 4 virtual servers = 160 licenses.

Therefore, I need to purchase 80 x 2 core packs.

If I add a fifth server, I must acquire licenses for an additional 80 cores.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken (as the PDF was for Server 2019 licenses, and there may have been changes with Server 2022).

What puzzles me is... Most service providers probably offer me Microsoft licenses via SPLA. If I intend to rent a virtual server on a Blade server, must I license all CPUs and cores on that Blade? This seems incredibly expensive, considering that even if I plan to rent a single virtual server with 2 cores, and the Blade has 8 x 2 CPU modules with 10 cores, the requirements state that I must purchase licenses for a total of 8 x 2 x 10 cores."

If it is not so then what's the difference between those two examples?