SQL Server Enterprise – Physical Core Licensing on Smaller Production Host with Passive HA/DR VMs on Larger Unlicensed Hosts

Question

Hello,

We have 8 SQL Server Enterprise core licenses with active Software Assurance (SA) and intend to license our production host by physical cores. We would like to confirm whether the following configuration is fully licensed for HA/DR:

• Production: 8-core physical host, fully licensed with Enterprise + SA for unlimited virtualization (multiple SQL Server VMs).
• HA: 16-core physical host running passive 8-vCPU SQL Server VMs.
• DR: 16-core physical host running passive 8-vCPU SQL Server VMs.

Each passive VM corresponds to a production VM and would only become active during an emergency failover, as outlined in Microsoft's licensing guide.

Microsoft's SQL Server 2022 Licensing Guide (page 26) illustrates a similar Production/HA/DR configuration.

Question: Does licensing our 8-core production host by physical cores with SQL Server Enterprise + SA (unlimited virtualization) entitle us to run corresponding passive HA/DR VMs on separate, unlicensed 16-core physical hosts without purchasing additional SQL Server licenses, provided each passive VM is limited to 8 vCPUs?

If not, could you please reference the specific Microsoft licensing terms that prohibit this configuration?

Thank you!