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Windows server 2019 Licensing

JXSoares 41 Reputation points
2022-01-21T01:54:27.093+00:00

Hi All,

I am planning to purchase a windows server 2019 license, however, I am a little bit confused about which type of license I need to buy.

We got 3 hosts with 2 CPU sockets per host/server and 14 cores per socket, and those hosts are using the ESXi platform for our hypervisor vmware, and the windows server will be in a virtualization environment.

Which Windows server license shall I buy

Appreciate for answers or input.

Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019
A Microsoft server operating system that supports enterprise-level management updated to data storage.
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Windows Server
Windows Server
A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-21T02:00:45.56+00:00

    Some general info that applies regardless of the hypervisor being used

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

    So just buy enough license packs for each server to cover the 28 cores.

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-24T00:27:55.157+00:00

    I need to purchase twice 16 cores licenses

    No, that's not quite it. You stated that each host has 28 cores so you'll need to license each host for all 28 cores. For the one(s) that will run 4 VMs you'll need to license all 28 again. Also not sure if this is the case but if this is a cluster to where VMs may move from one host to another then each host must be licensed for the max VMs that could be on it at any given time.
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/C/E/7CED6910-C7B2-4196-8C55-208EE0B427E2/Windows_Server_2019_licensing_datasheet_EN_US.pdf
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/WindowsServer2016VirtualTech_VLBrief.pdf