As I have said I previous posts myself and Alan Richards have been giving a series of presentations on SharePoint 2010 and virtualization, this is an ever evolving presentation thanks to questions we get asked and one of those questions was the licencing model for HyperV so I thought that through this post I would explain the licencing of your Guest Windows servers OS’s on HyperV and the different licencing options you are presented with depending on the host version of Windows that you choose to run your HyperV environment on.
As I stated in a previous post on licencing SharePoint 2010 for education in the UK the subject of Microsoft licencing is always a lively discussion and so it proved with that particular post but from the research I have done I think the licencing model for HyperV is pretty cut and dried (Well let’s hope so.)
Windows Server 2008 Standard
This version provides you with a single free licence for your HyperV guest windows server operating system.
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
The enterprise edition of Server 2008 allows you to run 4 guest Windows server instances free from additional licence costs.
Windows Server 2008 Datacentre Edition
With the Datacentre version the licencing model for the host is slightly different in as much as this version is licenced per processor (Not cores but physical platters) so a single quad core processor would only require 1 Datacentre licence but does provide the best value for large HyperV environments, as this version of Windows server provides you with unlimited licences for your guest Windows server operating systems. The Datacentre version was at one point only available as an OEM product when purchased with hardware but that changed in October 2006 and is now available through your normal licencing channel.
I have provided below a simple table to help with your decisions on which version of Windows server to run in your host HyperV setup.
|
Windows Server 2008 Standard |
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise |
Windows Server 2008 Datacentre |
|
1 Physical + 1 Virtual Licence |
1 Physical + 4 Virtual Licences |
1 Physical + Unlimited Virtual But licenced per processor |
You may also be interested in reading:
- Free HyperV Monitoring Tool Myself and Alan Richards have so far given 3 SharePoint...
- HyperV Cluster Setup Part 4 This is the fourth part of the HyperV cluster setup...
- HyperV Cluster Setup Part 5 This is the fifth and final part of the HyperV...
- Saving Money with Virtualisation Using HyperV R2 As i said in a previous post in our preparation...
- Licencing SharePoint 2010 for Education in the UK As you may know last week I gave a presentation...
- Hyper V Cluster Setup Part 3 This is the third part of the HyperV cluster setup...
2 comments
1 ping
hyper-v
October 15, 2011 at 11:23 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
can we use dynamic memory in our windows 7 virtual machine ?
Dave Coleman
October 16, 2011 at 11:27 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi I have not tried it but i assume that you can give it a go and let us know.
Dave
Tweets that mention Chris and Daves SharePoint and Tech Blog » HyperV Licencing of Guest Operating Systems -- Topsy.com
June 28, 2010 at 8:05 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Planet SharePoint, Dave Coleman. Dave Coleman said: New Blog Post HyperV Licencing of Guest Operating Systems http://tinyurl.com/25nfup8 #HyperV #Server2008R2 [...]