What is Microsoft SQL Server Licensing?
Microsoft’s Database platform is SQL (or SQL server) and a lot of businesses have applications or services that utilize this platform. SQL can be licensed in a few different ways.
Related: Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server Licensing
Why Hire a Microsoft SQL Server Licensing Consultant?
SQL server licensing is important to understand, because it is required by many business-critical applications, and it is also one of the most expensive applications from Microsoft. Hiring a consultant to review your Microsoft SQL estate can quite often yield costs savings that far outweigh the consulting cost.
Our Microsoft Server Licensing Specialties
Look licensing staff have worked with many businesses across the world to review their SQL Server licensing. We’re able to understand the requirements of your business, and translate that into a licensing arrangement for your SQL servers that is tailor fit.
Related: DIfferent Types of Software Licensing
Changes in SQL Licensing Over Time
SQL Server has gone through changes over time – and still has a variety of ways in which it can be licensed.
- Server / CAL licenses – One server license, and then CAL (client access license) for anyone who uses the application
- Processor license (does not exist anymore) – license each socket on the motherboard of the machine that is running the SQL database
- Core License (replaced processor licenses when multi-core processors got popular) – license each core of each processor
- Enterprise version
- Standard Version
- Virtualization
Microsoft SQL Server Licensing 2012
They eliminated the workgroup edition and the datacenter. The three new main editions are the following: Standard, Enterprise, and Business Intelligence. Microsoft has also simplified the licensing of these three new editions. There is the old server+cal licensing model, where you buy one licence for every physical server in your system, and then you purchase a CAL (Client Access License) for every user or device that is directly connected to that server. That is the standard way of licensing in the business intelligence software.
The biggest change that Microsoft has undergone in regards to Microsoft SQL Server Licensing 2012, is the elimination of the SQL processor licensing model. In the past this was how you licensed SQL server for unlimited servers connected to your database. 2012- standard edition is available with a pore core licensing model: unlimited connections for large environments, or env.
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