Nov 18, 2020
Azure adds new constrained vCPUs, capable virtual machines to reduce software licensing costs without impacting performance
Azure offers various VM sizes for which you can constrain the VM vCPU count to reduce the cost of software licensing, while maintaining the same memory, storage, and I/O bandwidth.
This may be crucial for some database workloads like SQL Server or Oracle that require high memory, storage, and I/O bandwidth, but not a high core count since many database workloads are not CPU-intensive.
So, by deploying the latest Azure Virtual Machines, you can further increase the efficiency of your cloud infrastructure.
The vCPU count can be constrained to one half or one quarter of the original VM size. These new VM sizes have a suffix that specifies the number of active vCPUs to make them easier for you to identify.
The Esv4, Edsv4, and Easv4 memory optimized Azure VM series now offer new constrained vCPU VM sizes.
For example, the current VM size ‘’E8s_v4’’ comes with 8 vCPUs, 64 GB RAM, 16 disks and 12,800 IOPs. The new VM sizes ‘’E8-4s_v4’’ and ‘’E8-2s_v4’’ comes with 4 and 2 active vCPUs respectively, while maintaining the rest of the specs of the ‘’E8s_v4’’ for memory, storage, and I/O bandwidth.
The licensing fees charged for SQL Server or Oracle are constrained to the new vCPU count, and other products should be charged based on the new vCPU count. This results in a 50% to 75% increase in the ratio of the VM specs to active (billable) vCPUs. These new VM sizes allow customer workloads to use the same memory, storage, and I/O bandwidth while optimizing their software licensing cost. Currently, the compute cost, which includes OS licensing, remains the same one as the original size.
Sep 28, 2016
Windows Server 2016 & System Center 2016 will be available in SPLA in October.
Licensing Summary:
- Per core license model replaces processor license model on October SPUR.
- Each physical processor needs a minimum of 8 core licenses.
- Both Windows Server Standard & Datacenter Editions provide support for unlimited Windows Server containers.
- Windows Server Standard Edition requires all physical cores to be licensed in order to run 1 Windows Hyper-V container (or Virtual Machine).
- Windows Server Datacenter Edition requires all physical cores to be licensed in order to run unlimited Windows Hyper-V containers (or Virtual Machines).
New Licensing SKU’s:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
| 9EM-00562 |
WinSvrSTDCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
| 9EA-00039 |
WinSvrDCCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
| 9EN-00494 |
SysCtrStdCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
| 9EP-00037 |
SysCtrDatactrCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic |
| 9GA-00006 |
CISSteStdCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
| 9GS-00495 |
CISSteDCCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic CoreL |
Licensing Scenarios:
- Scenario 1: A physical server with 2 Physical Processors and 4 Cores would require in the new licensing method:
In case of Windows Server Standard:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EM-00562 |
WinSvrSTDCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
8 |
In case of Windows Server Datacenter:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EA-00039 |
WinSvrDCCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
8 |
- Scenario 2: A physical server with 2 Physical Processors, 4 Cores and 2 Virtual Machines would require in the new licensing method:
In case of Windows Server Standard:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EM-00562 |
WinSvrSTDCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
16 |
In case of Windows Server Datacenter:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EA-00039 |
WinSvrDCCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
8 |
- Scenario 3: A physical server with 2 Physical Processors and 16 Cores would require in the new licensing method:
In case of Windows Server Standard:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EM-00562 |
WinSvrSTDCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
16 |
In case of Windows Server Datacenter:
| Part Number |
Item Name |
Quantity |
| 9EA-00039 |
WinSvrDCCore ALNG LicSAPk MVL 2Lic Core |
16 |
*The total licenses needed is divided by 2 since each reporting SKU covers 2 core licenses
Partners whose Microsoft SPLA Agreement is not yet expired, can still report the Windows Server Per Processor License until the expiry date of their Agreement.
