Hyper V Licensing and instances.

JoeF1

JoeF1

JoeF1

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Hi guys.

I'm looking for a bit of information please.

So i am wanting to move all my physical old servers onto our new hyper V server. I have used the software to do this etc and am comfortable in doing that.

The real question is how many licenses i need or what i am allowed to use within Hyper V.

So we have server 2012 which comes with 2 Hyper v licensing. Both installed and running, i get that. The question is, will i run into problems running these additional older 2003 servers? I understand i will need to re-license these because i only have OEM keys although we are looking to upgrade them to 2012 in the future too. Just need to get them off the failing physical server they are currently on. But do i need to buy more licensing within Hyper V or anything? Or can i have as many servers as i want on Hyper-V but will the assumption i have the correct licensing on the server 2003 itself?

Sorry if i sound confusing, im still learning it all myself.
 
Hi there,

If you're running MS Server 2012 Standard you get 2 licences to run Server 2012 on the same physical machine that 2k12std is installed on. If you are planning on virtualising some 2k3 machines on the same host then you will just need to re-activate with the same keys you were given for the original install. If you're planning on running lots of 2k12 virtual machines then it may pay to buy a datacenter edition of MS Server 2k12 r2. There's a break even point depending on how many virtual machines you'll be running.

Hope this helps
B
 
Hyper-V should let you run as many servers as you need. If you need to re-license server 2003 you could buy a 2012 license through a volume license agreement as it will have downgrade rights to cover the 2003 installs and means you can then upgrade to 2012 when you are ready.
 
Boycie said:
Hi there,

If you're running MS Server 2012 Standard you get 2 licences to run Server 2012 on the same physical machine that 2k12std is installed on. If you are planning on virtualising some 2k3 machines on the same host then you will just need to re-activate with the same keys you were given for the original install. If you're planning on running lots of 2k12 virtual machines then it may pay to buy a datacenter edition of MS Server 2k12 r2. There's a break even point depending on how many virtual machines you'll be running.

Hope this helps
B
Click to expand...

Thanks for getting back to me. You're correct, i am already using the 2k12 licensing and would like to put my physical 2003 servers on here so they can be put to rest. So i will use the existing keys. Thanks.
 
The way I understood the Server 2012 Hyper-V Licensing was that you got 2 essentially blank licenses which allowed you to install what ever version of Microsoft O/S you wish, as long as you had the original install media and a legit license key. So that would cover your first 2 machines you wanted to migrate.

For any other machines I'm guessing you would have to buy some Server 2012 keys and get them downgraded to Server 2003. Once you're ready to migrate everything to Server 2012, use the 2012 keys you've purchased to active your 2012 servers then delete the Server 2003 VM's.
 
Remeber there's no limit on the number of guests - the 2 VMs thing is just how many are included. You can stack them to get 2 more at a time or go Datacenter for unlimited. But if you have a single host with 2 Windows VMs and 400 Linux guests, you're fine with just a single Standard license.

You get 2 x Windows Server 2012 R2 licenses included and the downgrade rights which follow with that.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx#fbid=bLD6sbxVaY6

So you can go down as far as 2003 provided you have the keys.
 
Bear in mind you're only permitted two virtual licences if the host 2012R2 install is doing nothing other than acting as a host for the VMs. If you install any other roles/features/services on the host then that counts as one of the two and you can only install a single VM.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Bear in mind you're only permitted two virtual licences if the host 2012R2 install is doing nothing other than acting as a host for the VMs. If you install any other roles/features/services on the host then that counts as one of the two and you can only install a single VM.
Click to expand...

Do you have anything Microsoft related which mentions the above?
This is the first time I've heard of this?
 
Thanks for that I'll have a read!

Microsoft's T's & C's are just mind boggling! I don't think they understand half what they actually write down.
 
They don't, there's more than one thread on here where an auditor has got it wrong, or they have otherswise given duff info.
 
Also don't forget to double up if you ever think you will need to migrate the VM's from one host to another if your purchasing 2012 R2 Standard (as you are licensing the host machines) and the point to look at buying Datacenter is 10 or more VM's per host machine

DC edition last time i checked was around £4500 per host with software assurance (probably is less now)

This will give you a rough idea

https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/calc_2.htm
 
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