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Katari2340's avatar
Katari2340
Copper Contributor
Oct 18, 2023

Windows Server Licensing in Cluster

I have 30 vms in a cluster which has 4 nodes (Host) with each node 24 cores. Can anyone please tell how to license this cluster.

2 Replies

  • Some general info

    • 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.
    • For clusters each host should be licensed for the max number of VMs that could be on it at any given time. http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/WindowsServer2016VirtualTech_VLBrief.pdf    
    • Allen511's avatar
      Allen511
      Copper Contributor

      Dave Patrick 

       

      Hello Dave, can you help me figure out how many Windows Server Standard licenses I need for the following scenario?

       

      I have a cluster (1 vmware ESXi) with 10 nodes (Dell R740 2CPU/24core) running many Linux VMs.

      Now I need to create 2 VMs of Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition on this cluster, each with 2 cores. How many licenses should I need?

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