License requirements for Hyper-V migration.

Ravan19911 0 Reputation points
2023-01-19T05:09:27.4666667+00:00

Hi,

I have a client who need to virtualize his environment in to Hyper-V.

Currently he has Dell R440 server with intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4310 CPU with 12 core count. this server license with Server 2022 standard licence.

Client need to convert migrate his environment that include sixteen Windows 10 & one windows 11 workstations to the Dell R440 server by installing Hyper-V role with resource upgradation.

I need to know license type & count that need for this project.

Also if we are go with 2-node Hyper-V cluster what is the license requirement?

Thank you in advance!

Windows 10
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Windows Server
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A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
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Hyper-V
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A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
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Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Migration: The process of making existing applications and data work on a different computer or operating system.
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Windows 11
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A Microsoft operating system designed for productivity, creativity, and ease of use.
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5 answers

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  1. Eric Siron 1,251 Reputation points MVP
    2023-01-20T21:08:12.5933333+00:00

    First: CALL YOUR LICENSE RESELLER. ASK TO TALK TO A CREDENTIALED LICENSE EXPERT. If your reseller doesn't have one, find another. You are in a precarious position here, and it's dangerous to take licensing advice from the laypeople on this forum. That even applies to Microsoft employees. Their legal licensing experts never give specific advice on public forums due to the risk of taking on a legal responsibility for something they're not directly handling. If you listen to anyone here and get it wrong, that exposes you to the risk of thousands of dollars in fines for software piracy. Others can earn a bounty for turning you in, so take this risk seriously.

    Second, NO Windows Server license provides virtualization rights for Windows desktop operating systems. None at all. So, if you will not have any Windows Server guests, then you only need to license the hosts sufficiently to run a physical instance of Windows Server. Standard edition should do in the described scenario, but again, spend a few minutes talking to a licensing expert about all the things that you will do with the systems.

    Because you are talking about licensing desktop operating systems, you have a lot to handle here. Just running them at all will require one matching license apiece per host. Accessing them is an entirely different licensing game that changes all the time. Once upon a time, the "VDA" license covered it, but I'm not sure if Microsoft has made changes since the Windows 11/Windows Server 2022 licensing updates. They really want you to move these to Azure Virtual Desktop.

    Again, I cannot stress enough that you need to talk to someone credentialed to speak on the subject, not people on public forums.

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  2. Marian Leica 536 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2023-01-19T06:45:34.2+00:00

    Hi! For running more than 2 virtual machines on the Hyper-V host you will need a Windows Server Datacenter license. You can also convert the one you currently have. The steps you need to follow are described here:

    [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/upgrade-conversion-options#converting-windows-server-standard-edition-to-datacenter-edition

    For a Windows Server Failover Cluster, you will need to have the Datacenter license to each node you have added on the cluster.

    If the above response was helpful, please feel free to "Accept as Answer" and "Upvote" the same so it can be beneficial to the community.

  3. Limitless Technology 43,931 Reputation points
    2023-01-19T13:55:08.6766667+00:00

    Hello

    Thank you for your question and reaching out. I can understand you are having query\issues related to Hyper-V Licensing.

    Apart from Datacenter License as you have Windows 10 and 11 guest VMs , you will need to License or Product keys for each of these Client OS.

    Please also note that Hosting a Linux VM will be free.

    --If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept as answer--

  4. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2023-01-19T18:15:18.4333333+00:00

    A DataCenter license may not be needed here. Some general info here.

    Some general info

    • Each host needs to be licensed.
    • A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses is required for each server.
    • Core licenses are sold in packs of two.
    • Standard Edition provides rights for up to 2 Operating System Environments or Windows Servers containers with Hyper-V isolation when all physical cores in the server are licensed. For each additional 1 or 2 VMs, all the physical cores in the server must be licensed again.
    • DataCenter Edition provides rights for unlimited Operating System Environments or Windows Servers containers with Hyper-V isolation when all physical cores in the server are licensed.

    As to the desktop operating systems virtualization you can read on here.

    https://download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/Licensing_brief_PLT_Windows_10_licensing_for_Virtual_Desktops.pdf

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

  5. Alex Bykovskyi 1,681 Reputation points
    2023-02-07T23:24:51.26+00:00

    Hey,

    Just to add, you can use Standard edition to build Failover Cluster, but the amount of licenses you have should cover amount of your VMs. You will need shared storage for Failover Cluster. That's where Datacenter edition will help, it includes Storage Spaces Direct, which can be used to build Failover Cluster. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-stack/hci/concepts/storage-spaces-direct-overview

    As an alternative, you can look at StarWind VSAN, which can be used with both Standard and Datacenter editions. https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-san

    Cheers, 
    Alex Bykovskyi 
    StarWind Software 
    Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

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