SPLA Windows Server Data Center- Unlimited Vms?

Question

Hi,
according to the MSFT terms of use, Windows Server SPLA Datacenter licenses an "unlimited number of virtual machines", and is meant for highly virtualized environments.

Does it mean that an unlimited number of concurrent VMS are licensed? Or that all VMs running on a licensed server during the month are licensed?

For example, if we have a 32 cores-server, capable of running 16 2-cores Vms at the same time:

A/ I'm allowed to run 16 Vms under Datacenter licensing
B / Let's say I have a total of 28 Vms on that server, that can be used 1 min or 100 hours, depending on the case. 16 run simultaneously, but I'm covered for all 28 of them.

Thanks for the reply and have a great day :)

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for your question and reaching out.

• 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.
• AVMA keys can be used only when the host is DataCenter edition.

https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/C/E/7CED6910-C7B2-4196-8C55-208EE0B427E2/Windows_Server_2019_licensing_datasheet_EN_US.pdf

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Licensing/learn-more/volume-licensing-briefs?activetab=volume-licensing-briefs-tab:primaryr2

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