Hello,
I'm trying to understand licensing term for ESU (Extended Support Update ) and SA (Software Assurance) for 2008 R2 virtual guest on VMware ESXi. When I read ESU guide, it seems the licensing is to cover physical cores of the hypervisor, not individual VM. I read multiple times, but still confusing.
ESU guide: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/extended-security-updates
First of all my environment is below;
- 2 ESXi servers, 16 Cores, 2 Processors. Total 32 cores.
- 3 Windows Server 2008 R2, 3 Windows Server 2012 R2.
- 50% VM guests (3 VMs) run on ESXi A, 50% on ESXi B.
- Through vCenter, failover vMotion is configured.
What I understand for Microsoft ESU licensing;
- ESU is core-based. 1 license covers 2 cores of 'physical' processors, in this case, ESXi physical cores.
- Minimum 16 cores(8 licenses) need for 1 server.
- After physical cores are licensed as above, two Windows Server virtual guests will be covered, as adding more guests, need to cover physical cores of the hypervisor in the same way(1 physical core cover will provide 2 Windows server guests).
What I don't understand when it comes to virtual guest on VMware;
- As ESU guide says, I need to cover the physical cores of the hypervisor, so my calculation is for 1 ESXi server;
1 (ESXi) x 32 (cores) / 2 (2 core per license) = 16 licenses
- Then, since I have 3 Windows Server 2008 R2 which need ESU, I need to cover one more time of ESXi's physical cores. Does below calculation looks correct if I put all Windows server 2008 R2 to ESXi A only?
1 (ESXi) x 32 (cores) / 2 (2 core per license) x 2 (3 virtual guests) = 32 licenses need to be purchased
- Then, even though I put all 3 2008 R2 VMs on ESXi A, since I configured vMotion failover, should I license ESXi B as the same way or is there any term such as "If the number of days of VMs on a failover host B is not more than 10 days per 1 year, you need to cover only one hypervisor"
Thank you in advance.
