Licensing for Windows server and MS SQL server on Proxmox

[DavidBrown]

I'm hoping someone can help me understand the maze that is licensing for Windows server and MS SQL server, for running in a virtual machine on Proxmox. I'm used to Linux servers, and PostgreSQL as a database - licensing is clear, usually zero cost, and if you want to pay for support agreements, additional features, early access to updates, etc., then you can do so and you know what you are getting. But now we have a third-party application that needs to run on Windows server, and needs MS SQL server (not Express version). There will only be a few users here, so we don't need many CALs.

We've done tests with evaluation versions of Windows server and MS SQL server on a Proxmox VM, and it all runs without trouble. Now we need to figure out the licensing for a full installation. We are happy to pay what it costs - but we'd rather not pay more than necessary And we'd like to know the possibilities and restrictions of what we are getting.

For the Windows license, it seems we can get a standard server license for around $1000 (exact prices will vary by country, currency, distributor, etc.), plus a few CALs as needed.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing

It seems that this allows for 2 server installations, with at least one of them virtual. But I can't see if the virtual machine has to be on MS's own Hyper-V. What I would like is to be able to have 2 separate Proxmox VM's running Windows server from the one license. Can anyone tell me if that is allowed for Windows 2022 server standard?


MS SQL server seemed to me to be similar: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/sql-server/sql-server-2022-pricing shows MS SQL server standard for around $1000, plus a couple of CALs as needed. However, a supplier has told us that this is only licensed for use on a physical machine. They said that if we want to run the SQL server on a virtual machine, we need a version costs twice as much but only lasts 3 years, with a support contract for those three years. I can't find anything on Microsoft's website to support this, so I would like to hear if anyone else knows about it. Clearly, we'd much rather get a perpetual license for $1000 and use it on a WIndows Server on a Proxmox VM, than have to run on a physical machine or have a much more expensive and time-limited SQL license.

Any advice or links would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cwt]

All standard licenses (like Server 2022, SQL Standard, etc.) apply to one machine, not on multiple ones. In principal, there’s no difference running OS/SQL on bare-metal or on VMs.

For example: if you want to install 1x Server 2022 Standard (or 2025, which will be released soon), you‘ll need a license plus the appropiate amount of CALs for each device/user which will connect to it. The same applies for SQL. The difference to SQL is that you can either license additional CALs or cores. In your case, the CAL model would be more appropiate. Licensing cores is usually way more expensive.

There are other license models like volume licenses (Open Value with 3 years of software assurance) but this makes no sense in your case.

We run multiple Server/SQL VMs on customer sites and I never heard of „special licenses for SQL“ which have to be renewed after 3 years (and our certified MS license dealer also not).

 

[DavidBrown]

Thanks for that. I think the SQL license our supplier talked about would be the "Open Value with 3 years of software assurance" you describe. (Our supplier got the information from his supplier, so there's a bit of "whispers" game going on, making it harder for me to figure out the details.) Do you think there could be any reason why this sub-supplier had said we needed that type of volume license for SQL server for running it on a virtual machine? Perhaps that sub-supplier assumed we meant Azure, or to move the SQL server around on different machines.

I would be quite happy to run one Proxmox VM with one Windows Server running one MS SQL Server. If the Windows Server Standard license also allows an additional VM, I'd be even happier, but it is not essential.

And if I have a Proxmox VM with Windows Server Standard and MS SQL Server standard, is there anything in the licensing to restrict moving it between Proxmox machines in a cluster? What about making clones? Obviously, I assume we could only run one VM at a time on the cluster, which is fair enough.

 

[cwt]

Afaik running another instance of Windows Server with the same license is only allowed if Hyper-V is used (instead of Proxmox). For SQL you‘ll need a standard license plus CALs. It’s allowed to buy and use OEM licenses for both systems.

Regarding moving VMs inside a cluster: from the license point of view there’s no difference if a VM is running on host 1, 5 or 7 (for example). One thing to keep in mind is the cpu type. If your cluster has mixed architecture (Xeon, Epyc, etc.) and the cpu is set to „host“ you can run into some problems on the SQL side if a VM is moved. Usually switching only the CPU is not a big deal (except for performance issues). All other factors like UUIDs keep the same.

Cloning AND running a VM while the original VM is still active and running would lead to a license violation.

 

[DavidBrown]

To be clear - in regard to cloning, I only meant running one at a time. It can be useful for testing or with risky changes - stop the VM, clone it, test the changes in the clone and see how it goes. That makes it easier to roll back if things go horribly wrong. If we want to clone an installation, modify it, and run both, then we'd get a second set of licenses and use them in the clone.

It's a shame if the second Windows Server instance is Hyper-V only. But it's MS's software, they make the rules.

However, it all sounds as if there has been some miscommunication and our supplier's supplier has misunderstood somewhere when saying that we need an "Open Value" license for SQL to run it on a virtual machine.

Thanks for your help and information here.

 

[cwt]

An alternative to cloning are snapshots. Power down the VM, take a snapshot and run your tests. Much more comfortable than creating clones.

 

[Falk R.]

I am required to disagree with cwt here.

In general, you can run two VMs on one physical host with one Windows Standard license. The hypervisor doesn't matter, it can be HyperV, ESXi or even PVE. This license is then bound to this host and both VMs are required to remain together on this host. The only exception is that both VMs may be migrated to another host for maintenance purposes a maximum of once every 90 days. However, the two VMs are always required to remain together, as the license is always host-bound.

Alternatively, with datacenter you can license the entire host and install unlimited VMs. These can then also be moved to other Datacenter licensed hosts as required

SQL licensing is a little more complicated if you buy core licenses.
No mobility (live migration) is allowed unless you have the more expensive license with Software Assurance.
With a small number of users, it is worth thinking about simply licensing the SQL according to concurrent users, then the substructure is completely irrelevant.

 

[DavidBrown]

That is interesting to hear, thanks. We will only need the one Windows Server instance initially, but it is nice to know about the possibilities (and restrictions) in the future. I know that the datacenter licenses allow a lot more freedom, but they are rather expensive - we only need this server for one specific application. There will be one machine connected to it, and one other user, so CALs are definitely the way to go for the SQL licensing.