ML
    • Recent
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Register
    • Login

    Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing

    IT Discussion
    licensing sql server sql server 2017 microsoft microsoft licensing
    6
    37
    4.7k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • O
      Obsolesce
      last edited by

      It was like 2 years ago, and it was MS SQL 2014, we licensed a VM (4 vCPU) and it was not anywhere near $30k. If I remember correctly, it was only a few thousand dollars, unlimited users, 4 vCPU.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S
        scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
        last edited by

        @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

        @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

        a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

        Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

        J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • O
          Obsolesce
          last edited by

          For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
          0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
            last edited by

            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

            For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
            0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

            So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

            O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • O
              Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
              last edited by Obsolesce

              @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

              @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

              For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
              0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

              So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

              I also see this:

              0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

              So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

              Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

              S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • S
                scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                last edited by

                @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
                0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

                So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

                I also see this:

                0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

                So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

                Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

                That's tough as most deployments, people don't know what is supporting the vCPU. It's also confusing that this seems to ONLY apply with Hyperthreading in one case, but multiple cores in the second. Why does the HT get mentioned, given the second statement?

                O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • O
                  Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                  For MS SQL Server 2014, but may still apply:
                  0_1536701606161_58a667f3-fd69-4d2f-9302-65645e5a98d5-image.png

                  So at some point, MS made a new, industry conflicting term. vCPU has been standard and means something at the hypervisor level. The MS term is an MS only term.

                  I also see this:

                  0_1536701798983_a859d9b1-0b58-424b-bb19-ec3327a2f3ed-image.png

                  So if you have hyper-threading enabled on your Hyper-V host, and you give the VM 2 vCPUs, you need to license for 4 cores.

                  Edit: This is also for SQL 2014, not sure about 2017.

                  That's tough as most deployments, people don't know what is supporting the vCPU. It's also confusing that this seems to ONLY apply with Hyperthreading in one case, but multiple cores in the second. Why does the HT get mentioned, given the second statement?

                  Who knows.

                  But here you go, just found this for 2017, which also confirms the above:
                  0_1536702921116_97d03f27-b3f3-46bf-b527-ec80b0e7c813-image.png

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    JaredBusch @scottalanmiller
                    last edited by

                    @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                    @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                    a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                    Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                    I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                    Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                    0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                    KVM says CPUs.
                    0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                    But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                    O momurdaM S DustinB3403D 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • O
                      Obsolesce @JaredBusch
                      last edited by

                      @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                      @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                      @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                      @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                      @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                      a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                      Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                      I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                      Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                      0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                      KVM says CPUs.
                      0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                      But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                      KVM does let you:
                      0_1536703879180_b01ba7a6-5635-4db9-8320-c6eae4c1ef63-image.png

                      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • momurdaM
                        momurda @JaredBusch
                        last edited by

                        @jaredbusch Xenserver does
                        0_1536703831597_629f4f4f-8ee6-4bfd-acce-983dfd9c36ab-image.png
                        or
                        0_1536703857810_4a9ee600-4568-4148-8c4e-1c05fd09bb5e-image.png
                        or
                        0_1536703881733_0c14ea10-5de1-4184-aa32-968cf1d47d69-image.png

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          scottalanmiller @JaredBusch
                          last edited by

                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                          @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                          a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                          Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                          I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                          Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                          0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                          KVM says CPUs.
                          0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                          But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                          VMware lets you specify how many CPUs, and Cores to "pretend" to have, but each is just a representation of the vCPUs. The vCPU unit is calculated from "presented CPUs * presented cores". But each core or CPU you present, is a vCPU.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • S
                            scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                            last edited by

                            @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                            @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                            a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                            Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                            I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                            Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                            0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                            KVM says CPUs.
                            0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                            But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                            KVM does let you:
                            0_1536703879180_b01ba7a6-5635-4db9-8320-c6eae4c1ef63-image.png

                            Right, it's a presented topology. How you want the vCPUs to "look".

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              scottalanmiller @momurda
                              last edited by

                              @momurda said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                              @jaredbusch Xenserver does
                              0_1536703831597_629f4f4f-8ee6-4bfd-acce-983dfd9c36ab-image.png
                              or
                              0_1536703857810_4a9ee600-4568-4148-8c4e-1c05fd09bb5e-image.png
                              or
                              0_1536703881733_0c14ea10-5de1-4184-aa32-968cf1d47d69-image.png

                              The wording on XenServer is more clear. The vCPUs are the things you have, the topology is how they look. It's less confusing in how they show it.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • O
                                Obsolesce
                                last edited by

                                Right, so what's the issue?

                                J S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • J
                                  JaredBusch @Obsolesce
                                  last edited by

                                  @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                  Right, so what's the issue?

                                  Scott being scott.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                  • S
                                    scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                    last edited by

                                    @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                    Right, so what's the issue?

                                    The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                    Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                    O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • O
                                      Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                      last edited by

                                      @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                      @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                      Right, so what's the issue?

                                      The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                      Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                      For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                      It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • S
                                        scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                        last edited by

                                        @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                        Right, so what's the issue?

                                        The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                        Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                        For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                        It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                        I don't see it saying that it is doubled with HT, only doubled if TWO threads are assigned to one vCPU.

                                        O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • O
                                          Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                          last edited by Obsolesce

                                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          @obsolesce said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                          Right, so what's the issue?

                                          The issue being that Microsoft used to rely on the term core meaning physical and not being able to be something virtual as the basis for the understanding of their licensing.

                                          Since core is defined by its physicality, and nothing else, the concept of a virtual core is nonsensical. A core only exists within a physical definition.

                                          For licensing purposes, MS is saying an MS SQL server core license is required for each vcpu you give a VM, and if HT is enabled, then double.

                                          It's not calling a vcpu a core. It's merely defining licensing conditions.

                                          I don't see it saying that it is doubled with HT, only doubled if TWO threads are assigned to one vCPU.

                                          Which is the case when HT is enabled. At least that's what they say... If Hyper threading is enabled.

                                          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • DustinB3403D
                                            DustinB3403 @JaredBusch
                                            last edited by DustinB3403

                                            @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @jaredbusch said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Verifying MS SQL Server 2017 Licensing:

                                            @jaredbusch one of the complications is that there IS no virtual core. vCPU is NOT core.

                                            a vCPU has vCores. Always. It might just be one. That is how it works.

                                            Not in any system I've seen. What people call vCores are actually vCPUs. The vCPU might tell the OS it has multiple cores, but the idea of a vCore has never existed, only vCPUs. Vmware, KVM, etc. all the same. Core means physical, it's like having a physical virtual, it cancels itself out.

                                            I am almost certain that VMWare lets you make a 1 CPU VM with 2 cores.

                                            Hyper-V just says virtual processors.
                                            0_1536703623096_9bebc766-93a2-498e-aa75-f621eb5bb0da-image.png

                                            KVM says CPUs.
                                            0_1536703642847_0252def6-e3e4-40f0-93ec-98417b2bb6ff-image.png

                                            But I very clearly remember some hypervisor letting me specify a vCPU and vCores.

                                            XenServer and XCP-ng also allow this.

                                            1cpu 2 core etc.

                                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 2 / 2
                                            • First post
                                              Last post