Windows server licensing Issue

Question

There is a server with VMs where the Physical OS environment is licensed using VMWare. Customer needs to license the VMs to use Windows server. How to Accomplish this?

Answer 1

According to Microsoft's licensing policy, a separate license is required for each server that is running Windows Server software. Therefore, if the DR server is running Windows Server software, it must be separately licensed.

However, if the DR server is in a passive mode and not actively running any software, then it does not require a separate license.

It is important to note that the licensing requirements may vary depending on the specific licensing agreement and terms of use.

It is recommended to consult with Volume Licensing Support Info. | Microsoft Learn for further guidance on licensing requirements.

Answer 2

Hi Lei,

Thanks for the details provided.

Further to this question, we have proposed the customer Datacenter licenses for the Production Server which contains 128 cores. There is also a DR server in the passive mode. The customer is requesting whether this DR server has to be separately licensed or else we can use the same licenses in the production server.

Answer 3

Hi Pasindu Soysa,

to license the VMs to use Windows Server, the customer needs to purchase Windows Server licenses for each VM through the Microsoft Volume Licensing program or through a Microsoft reseller. The number of licenses required will depend on the number of VMs running Windows Server.

Once the licenses are purchased, they can be activated on each VM using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) or by using the command line tool, slmgr.vbs.

It is important to ensure that the licenses are properly assigned to the correct VMs to avoid any licensing compliance issues.

Regards,

Lei