Microsoft does not make licensing SQL Server easy, either under SPLA or under volume licensing agreements. Here are the three most significant problems that our clients face when trying to license that product: Four-Core Minimum – Microsoft allows SQL Server to be licensed based either on physical core counts (for physical servers or virtualization hosts)…
Most Microsoft software products – especially server products – can be licensed under multiple different models and metrics. SQL Server probably is the best example of a product that presents companies with multiple decision layers when analyzing new use cases: • Commercial Hosting or Volume Licensing? Companies need to determine whether a particular use case requires…
Licensing Microsoft server products in any environment can be a challenging undertaking, given the complexity of some of Microsoft’s licensing rules. However, licensing Microsoft products for commercial hosting environments under a Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) can be especially daunting, due to the different use rights and license metrics available under that model. Licensing SQL…
Businesses wanting to license Microsoft products for use in connection with solutions delivered to customers over the Internet need to remember proper licensing involves answering two questions: • Are users “accessing” the software? • Is that access “commercial hosting”? Many companies skip to question two, but the answer to question one may keep you from having to…
Most business owners are familiar with the “traditional” server-plus-client licensing scheme for many Microsoft server software products, such as Windows Server operating systems, Exchange messaging software and SQL Server database software. That is, you purchase one license permitting the installation and operation of the software on a server, and then, in addition, you purchase client…
Use terms of Microsoft server products can be complex and difficult to interpret. Microsoft SQL Server licensing rules for use in virtual environments demonstrate that a careful review of the use terms is necessary to avoiding copyright or contract violations. The current licensing rules for Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise provide that when licensed under a…
