SQL Server Licensing | SQLServerMonitior.com

SQL Server Licensing Considerations

Multicore Processors
Multiplexing
Virtualization and Multi-Instancing
Partitioning
Passive Servers and Failover Support
ISV Licensing
Reporting Services

SQL Server Multicore Licensing Policy

Multicore processors, which consist of multiple processing execution units or "cores" on one chip, promise to boost computing power, allowing servers, workstations, and PCs to perform more functions simultaneously. By the end of 2006, Intel expects more than 80 percent of its server products to be shipping with multicore technology. Because most server-side software is licensed "per processor," it has caused confusion among some software vendors regarding whether to charge their customers "per processor" or "per core."

Microsoft has been driving thought leadership in this area by charging the same amount per processor, regardless of how many cores are in the processor. Microsoft was the first database vendor to make this announcement, in October of 2004, and continues to be the only vendor to date that has taken this position. This strategy is based on the belief that multicore processors are a natural extension of Moore's Law (that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every one to two years), and that the benefits should be passed on directly to customers.

For example, if you are using SQL Server Enterprise Edition on a four-processor server with quad-core processors, using all 16 (sixteen) cores (four cores x four processors), you will require only four processor licenses. That can mean substantial savings for customers of Microsoft compared to its competitors.

For only the Oracle Enterprise Edition of the database, Oracle views each "core" as 1/2 of a processor for Intel and AMD platforms. For example, for a quad-core processor, Oracle will require 4 x 0.5 = 2 licenses. So for a four-processor server with quad-core processors, Oracle would charge for eight processor licenses (16 cores x 0.5 = 8), versus four processor licenses under the Microsoft pricing model.

IBM has recently adopted a new licensing approach called Value Unit pricing, or VU pricing. A VU is a unit of measure used to differentiate cores from the various hardware vendors through IBM SWG Value Unit table that shows VU conversion rates. Please note that this conversion rate changes as IBM sees the need. For example, Intel and AMD multicore processors give a VU of 50 per core, while SUN UltraSPARC T1 has VU of 30 per core, and IBM Power5 has VU of 100 per core.

In addition to passing on to customers the cost-saving benefits based on the multicore licensing policy, SQL Server also supports feature-inclusive packaging where customers do not pay separately for enterprise capabilities such as manageability, high availability, and high-end business intelligence capabilities.

Figure 1. Oracle total cost is for a server with a "single" quad-core processor running Oracle EE edition on the Intel/AMD platform. IBM DB2 total cost is for a server with a "single" quad-core processor running DB2 EE edition on the Intel/AMD platform.

Multiplexing: Using Middleware, Transaction Servers, and Multitiered Architecture

Sometimes organizations develop network scenarios that use various forms of hardware and/or software that reduce the number of devices or users that directly access or use the software on a particular server, often called "multiplexing" or "pooling" hardware or software. Use of such multiplexing or pooling hardware and/or software does not reduce the number of client access licenses (CALs) required to access or use SQL Server software. A CAL is required for each distinct device or user to the multiplexing or pooling software or hardware front end. This remains true no matter how many tiers of hardware or software exist between the server running SQL Server and the client devices that ultimately use its data, services, or functionality. An exception to this includes the manual transfer of data from employee to employee. For example, if an employee sends a Microsoft Excel version of a report to another employee, the receiving employee does not require a CAL. An additional exception is communication exclusively between the servers running SQL Server.

Virtualization and Multi-Instancing

Virtualization is defined broadly as the running of software on a "virtual environment." A virtual environment exists when an operating system (OS) is somehow emulated, or does not run directly on the physical hardware.

When software is virtualized, one or several applications and their associated operating systems can run on one physical server inside their respective virtual environments. One benefit of a virtualized scenario is that multiple applications can run concurrently on a server with isolation at the OS level.An option to virtualizing software is multi-instancing. In this case, multiple copies of an application run concurrently on a single copy of an OS. Multi-instancing for SQL Server 2005 can take place both in a virtual or physical environment. While multi-instancing offers a relatively high degree of isolation of copies of SQL Server 2005, this isolation takes place at the application level (instead of at the OS level).

When SQL Server 2005 runs inside a virtual operating environment, it requires at least one license per virtual operating environment. Several copies or instances of SQL Server 2005 can run inside a virtual operating environment. These must be licensed as follows:

When Licensed per Server/Client Access License. Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise editions of SQL Server 2005 now allow for unlimited instances within each virtual or physical operating environment. Previously, only the Enterprise Edition of the Server license allowed multi-instancing. This is a great incentive for customers to adopt the Server/Client Access License (CAL) model. For Workgroup and Standard, each virtual or physical operating environment containing a running instance of SQL Server requires a Server license. For Enterprise Edition, each physical operating environment containing a running instance of SQL Server requires a Server license and no separate licenses are needed for SQL Server instances running in virtual operating environments on the same machine.
When Licensed per Processor. Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise editions of SQL Server 2005 allow for unlimited instances in each virtual or physical operating environment. For Workgroup, Standard and Enterprise Edition, each virtual operating environment running SQL Server 2005 must have a processor license for each processor that the virtual machine accesses. If a copy of SQL Server is running on a physical operating environment, processor licenses are required for all of the processors on that physical server. For Enterprise Edition there is an added option: if all processors in a machine have been licensed, then the customer may run unlimited instances of SQL server 2005 on an unlimited number of virtual operating environments on that same machine.
Passive Copies/Transferability of Virtual Machines. Passive copies of SQL Server 2005 on virtual environments that are not running on a computer do not require the purchase of licenses. Copies of SQL Server 2005 that are run on a virtual machine can be transferred only from server to server every 90 days. Running copies of the virtual machines can be moved across licensed servers at any time.

Figure 1. This example shows two Virtual Operating Environments (VOE). Each VOE contains three running instances of SQL Server. Only one SQL Server license is required per each VOE, for a total of two SQL Server licenses.

Figure 2. This example shows a box with four physical processors. Two VOEs are running SQL Server, and two VOEs are running BizTalk Server.

Figure 3. This example has a box with four physical processors. Six VOEs are running SQL Server, each virtually accessing one processor. In this case, six processor licenses are required for SQL Server.

Figure 4. This example shows the extra option available with the enterprise edition only.Number of processor licenses required for Enterprise Edition : 4 SQL Processor LicensesNumber of processor licenses required for Standard, Workgroup: 5 SQL Processor licenses

Figure 5. This example shows the extra option available with the Enterprise Edition only.Required license using additional rights for Enterprise Edition: 1 SQL Server licenseRequired licenses for all other workgroup and standard: 4 SQL Server licenses

Partitioning

You must acquire licenses for only those processors that are accessible to any operating system copy upon which SQL Server is set up to run.

This enhancement makes it more cost-effective for you to use SQL Server licensed in the Per Processor licensing model when SQL Server, through partitioning or other similar technology, does not use all of the processors in a server.
When technology such as partitioning is used, each partition will have its own operating system copy; each operating system copy might not have access to all of the processors in the server.
If any processor in the server is made inaccessible to all of the operating system copies set up to run SQL Server, then that processor does not require a Processor license for SQL Server. In other words, a SQL Server Processor license is required for each processor that is accessible to any operating system copy on which SQL Server is set up to run.

You may install and run any number of copies of SQL Server on a server, provided that you acquire the required number of Processor licenses.

This enhancement makes it more cost-effective to license SQL Server in the Per Processor licensing model when multiple instances of the software are installed on the same server and accessing the same processors.
This change eliminates the need to license each copy of SQL Server separately for each processor in the server.

Note: For any instance of SQL Server on a server, you will never need more SQL Server Processor licenses than there are processors in the server.

Note: Microsoft Windows licensing requirements will not change because of any changes to the Per Processor licensing model.

Passive Servers and Failover Support

One new feature offered in SQL Server 2005 is enhanced failover support. For example, two or more servers running SQL Server can be configured so that if one server fails, its processing will be picked-up, recovered, and continued by the other server. SQL Server 2005 offers three types of failover support:

Database mirroring is a new SQL Server 2005 technology for increasing database availability. It transfers transaction log records directly from one server to another and can quickly fail over to the standby server.
Failover clustering is a process where the operating system and SQL Server 2005 work together to provide availability in the event of an application failure, hardware failure, or operating-system error. Failover clustering provides hardware redundancy through a configuration in which critical resources are transferred automatically from a failing machine to an equally configured server to help ensure continuity of service.
Backup log shipping increases the availability of a SQL Server by automatically copying and restoring the database's transaction logs to another database on a standby server. Because the standby database receives all changes to the original database, it is an exact duplicate of the original database�out of date only by the delay in the copy-and-load process. You then have the ability to make the standby server a new primary server if the original primary server becomes unavailable. When the original primary server becomes available again, you can make it a new standby server�effectively reversing the server roles.

When doing failover support, a server is designated as the passive server. The purpose of the passive server is to absorb the data and information held in another server that fails. A passive server does not need a license if the number of processors in the passive server is equal to or less than the number of processors in the active server. The passive server can take the duties of the active server for 30 days. Afterwards, it must be licensed accordingly.

Database mirroring and failover clustering are available for SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. Backup log shipping is available in SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition, SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.

The following figures show a passive server that does not require a license, and another one that does require the license.

Figure 1. The passive server does not require a license because no queries are being executed against it.

Figure 2. The passive server requires a license because queries are being run against snapshot reporting.

ISV Licensing

For U.S. and Canadian Customers

The Microsoft independent software vendor (ISV) Royalty Licensing Program is a software licensing program designed for ISVs who incorporate Microsoft software into their value-added software business solutions. The ISV Royalty Licensing program makes it easy for ISV partners to combine Microsoft technology with their own software business application for commercial distribution to their customers. This "one size fits all" program scales across partners selling to large, small, or midmarket customers.

Contact your local Microsoft sales office for more information about this program.
Note: If you are outside the United States and Canada, you can get pricing information from your local Microsoft office. You can find contact information for your local Microsoft office on the Microsoft Worldwide site.

How to License Reporting Services

The server components of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services include the Report Server and the Report Server Database. The Report Server processes and renders reports, and handles scheduled events and report delivery. The Report Server Database stores report definitions, report metadata, subscription information, and so on. Each Report Server requires either a local or remote connection to a Report Server Database. To use any of these components, each computer on which the Report Server and the Report Server Database are installed must have a valid SQL Server 2005 license.

Two licensing options are available for SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services:

Per-processor licensing. Required for extranet or Internet deployments. Requires a single license for each CPU in the operating system instance running Reporting Services. This license does not require any device or user client access licenses (CALs).
Server plus CALs licensing. Requires a license for the computer running Reporting Services, as well as a CAL for each user or client device that accesses reports either directly or indirectly (including the Report Designer and Report Builder).

The following four scenarios illustrate how to properly license SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.

Scenario 1. Licenses Required for Report Server and Report Server Database on the Same Computer

In scenario 1, the Report Server and Report Server Database are installed on the same computer, so only one valid license for SQL Server 2005 is required.

Scenario 2. Licenses Required for Report Server and Report Server Database on Different Computers Using the Same Edition of SQL Server 2005

In scenario 2, the Report Server and the Report Server Database are installed on different computers, with each computer using the same edition of SQL Server 2005. In configuration A, both computers are using SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition; in configuration B, both are using SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. Either configuration requires two valid licenses of SQL Server 2005, one for each computer on which SQL Server 2005 is installed.

Scenario 3. Licenses Required for Report Server and Report Server Database on Different Computers Using Different Editions of SQL Server 2005

In scenario 3, the Report Server and the Report Server Database are installed on different computers, with each computer using a different edition of SQL Server 2005. In configuration A, the computer with the Report Server is using SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition while the computer with the Report Server Database is using SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. In configuration B, the computer with the Report Server is using SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition while the computer with the Report Server Database is using SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition. Either configuration requires two valid licenses of SQL Server 2005, one for each computer on which SQL Server 2005 is installed.*

* For more information about which edition of SQL Server 2005 you should use with the Report Server and the Report Server database, see SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Feature Matrix.

Scenario 4. Licenses Required for Report Server and Report Server Database on the Same Computer

In scenario 4, a Web farm configuration has Report Server installed on three separate computers that are all connected to a common Report Server database on a fourth computer. Because Web farm configurations are only supported by SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Enterprise Edition, this scenario requiresthree valid licenses of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition for the computers running the Report Server, plus another valid license of SQL Server 2005 for the computer running the Report Server Database. The Report Server Database can run with either SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise edition.

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