Windows Server Core Licensing Explained

[@seangahan1298]

@Eddie Jennings - You rock. Thanks for taking the time to make the videos, they are very easy to understand

[@EddieJennings]

Sean, thanks for watching! I'm glad you've found them useful.

[@Eslam.Basyouni]

@@EddieJennings yes it's very easy , and i hope if you explain more like Active Directory Cal and Exchange Cal and SQL , we face a lot of problem to understand them (Exchange 2013 User Cal vs Device Cal)

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching Eslam! I do have a video here talking about Windows Sever CALs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYi4m5WvmZd_ba8 Note that not all Microsoft products follow a Server+CAL model. For example there is no "Active Directory CAL." However, to access the server running the directory services you'll need a Windows Server CAL. As far as Exchange, I know it has its own CAL requirements, but I can't remember off the top of my head if the idea of a user / device CAL exists in Exchange. I want to think "no," but that shouldn't be too difficult to research.

[@GrenPara]

Hey, great video but I am lost. I purchased a used server With Windows Severe Datacenter 2016 but am changing cpu's and will have 20 cores once CPUs arrive. Does that mean I have to buy 20 Windows Server 2016 Datacenter licenses? Or what do I purchase and how do I enter what i buy into server to make sure all cores are licensed? Please and thanks

[@barrypatrickconnor1865]

Hi Eddie, great video but can you just clarify something. You mentioned that in the case where there is one host and you want 6 VM's on that host. You mentioned that you can have 2 VM's thru each Windows Servers Std licensing on the host, so to license the remaining 4 servers on that host, it should be 4 x 8 = 32 [2-packs required per machine]; 4 x 32 = 128 = [2-packs required in total]; 128 x 2 = 256 Overall Cores licensed?

[@EddieJennings]

Thank you for watching! I think I recall having a math error in one of the examples of the video, so let me go through the math for your question. The minimum core licenses for for Server 2019 Standard is 16. Such licensing entitles you to two Windows Server Standard VMs. I'm assuming your host has dual 8-core processors so the minimum licensing is what will be used. Each additional Windows Server Standard license requires an additional 16 core licenses to be purchased (at minimum). So to have the right to make 6 Windows Server VMs, you'll need a total of 3 Windows Server Standard licenses (since each standard license grants you rights to 2 VMs), which would require 48 core licenses (16 core licenses x 3 servers). If you were purchasing using the 2-license-pack SKUs, that would be 24 two-license packs (48 core licenses / 2 licenses per pack). Remember that you're licensing the bare metal. So the calculation will be multiples of whatever it took to license the bare metal. In my example the bare metal requires 16 core licenses. So additional server standard licenses would require additional sets of 16 core licenses.

[@barrypatrickconnor1865]

@@EddieJennings Hi Eddie Thanks very much for the info! Your tutorial is without doubt one of the best explanations I could find! I have used your response and changed it to fit my own scenario. We have 3 hosts running ESXi, each with dual 12-core processors. I have 18 Server VM’s [2008-2016] with 5 VMson Host1, 5 VMs on Host 2 & 8 VM’s on Host 3 So… The minimum core licenses for for Server 2019 Standard is 16. Such licensing entitles you to two Windows Server Standard VMs. Each host [I have 3 hosts] has dual 12-core processors so the minimum licensing of 12 cores is what will be used. Each additional Windows Server Standard license requires an additional 16 core licenses to be purchased (at minimum). So to have the right to make 18 Windows Server VMs, you'll need a total of 9 Windows Server Standard licenses (since each standard license grants you rights to 2 VMs), which would require 144 core licenses (16 core licenses x 9 servers). If you were purchasing using the 2-license-pack SKUs, that would be 72 two-license packs (144 core licenses / 2 licenses per pack). So in total 144 core licenses would be required for this specific environment. ?

[@ahmedelmohandes1744]

@@EddieJennings Hi Eddie, Thanks for the great video, it really explains a lot! I have one question here, why you didn't count the originally included 2 VMS with the main license for the physical server so the calculation needed to be for the remaining 4 VMS(2 Winsvr STD license will be needed then not 3), is this right?

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching Ahmed. I'm sorry it's take me a while to get to your question. I don't always get comment notifications. To answer I'm going to operate on the assumption the bare metal server is going to be a hypervisor and that you're using the free version of Hyper-V as your hypervisor. If my assumption's wrong, let me know. Each Windows Server Standard license will allow you two VMs. So if you're currently running two VMs (covered by your initial licensing if your physical Server with the appropriate number of core licenses), and you want to spin-up four more VMs, you'll need an additional two Windows Server Standard licenses. That's because you'll have a total of six VMs running and each Server Standard license allows two VMs. Did that clarify it for you?

[@itrusonline2111]

Thank Eddie. This is really great.

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching!

[@thewaterboy2013]

Thank YOU sir! :) This has helped me a ton!!! The single biggest thing I think I was hung up on was the the containers. I might have a few questions still, but I am probably gonna need to watch her a few more times :) again though, THANK YOU so very much!

[@EddieJennings]

You're welcome, and I'm glad I could help. I haven't dealt with Windows containers. I did find thiis though. docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/about/faq docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/images-eula Glancing over these it seems like licensing costs come in to play for Windows containers rather than Linux containers, which makes sense considering that the 2 vs unlimited VMs idea only applies to Windows VMs. Often what I would do when talking to a reseller or a licensing "specialist," is compare (or contrast) what they'd say with published documentation from Microsoft. If I was told something that seemed to be contrary to the documentation, I'd ask them to explain or produce documentation that supports what they're saying you need.

[@Luis-nw4xr]

Great video. Based on the example above, do I double up the licenses if I am running another Hyper-V (another physical machine) node as part of the HA Fail-Over clustering?

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching! While I've worked with fail-over clustering, I have not had to managing the licensing. My hunch is the answer is "yes," but it's not really a doubling of licensing, but rather it's licensing all of your physical hosts for Windows Server. I'm sure you can find some Microsoft documentation about it.

[@keinegutennamen]

Hi Eddie...this clears up a lot for me. I'm looking to setup a lab environment and have never dealt with licensing before. How are the core licenses enforced? During setup do I have to have the licenses available. I assume the server license (or key) will be required, but what about the core licenses? Where/how do I add those to the server?

[@doclorianrin7543]

Man this stuff is hardly enforced if you are just homelabbing don't sweat it too much. It matters if you are a large corp or enterprise with real biz. This whole licensing model is a fucking scam and pisses me off.

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching, and I'm glad it was helpful! For just the Windows server product itself (other than a license key for activation), there isn't any "installation" of core licenses. It's a matter of having purchase documentation so if needed, you can provide that you've properly licensed your use of Windows server. For your lab, what I imagine most people do is claim usage of the Windows Server 180-day evaluation, especially since it's a free download, and you wouldn't be using your lab as a production environment. I suppose one could look into a MSDN Platforms subscription as well to cover their lab environment. I agree with Doclorian that for a single person running a lab, enforcement of licensing is unlikely to happen; however, for CYA, I can't advise someone to not acquiring proper licensing. But I would say it's perfectly reasonable to be evaluating Windows server in your lab; thus, would be using a trial.

[@keinegutennamen]

@@EddieJennings Yeah, so I hadn't looked up the price of licensing before asking that question. 180 day trial it is! Thank you for clarifying the situation though. I appreciate when content providers actively respond to comments!

[@doclorianrin7543]

@@keinegutennamen Lastly a lot of homelabbers as part of their learning to automate starts with automation of updating the expiration of their evaluation ms licenses. There's plenty on google about this.

[@EddieJennings]

You're welcome. Most of my videos are meant for learning, and I'd be a rather poor teacher if I didn't respond to questions :) I'm not a lawyer by any means, but if you're doing what I, and I imagine many are, doing which is spin up a VM, try something / tinker with something, tear it down, and move on to the next project, then it seems like we're literally "trying" the software; thus. . .

[@jaysoni5]

Hi Eddie, thanks for your videos. I'm also trying to understand the licensing for Windows VMs on a KVM-based hypervisor. How would it be if I have a CentOS hypervisor and VMs on it as either Linux or Windows servers? Your help is really appreciated.

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching. :D From what I understand, the licensing would be no different. Windows Server licensing cares about the physical system, regardless of the hypervisor you're running. So if you properly license your host for Windows Standard and choose to use KVM as your hypervisor, you'd be entitled to being able to run two Windows Server Standard VMs.

[@maherkhalil007]

@@EddieJennings hello Eddie, Is it applicable to windows server 2022 too?

[@krimm5467]

HI, for me The datacenter license is for the servers under hyper-v OS and hosts more than 2 vms. the standard is for: - the hyer-v servers which host a maximum of 2 vms - and for physical servers under esxi or kvm or other non-hyper-v

[@EddieJennings]

Mind you it's been a few years since I've had to do the math on this, but I recall the magic number being around 13 Windows Server VMs for the cost of a datacenter license to start making sense. For whatever hypervisor you're using, a standard license will allow you two Windows Server VMs. If you're wanting to use Hyper-V as a feature of Windows Server, rather than the free version of Hyper-V, then in that scenario you can still have two Windows Server VMs, but the physical server is only allowed to be a hypervisor.

[@thecuriousone9342]

What about hyperthreading what if it's 16 cores and 32 threads Is thread counted as a core

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching. I address your question in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apKTqYaOnLWrnrc

[@Salesorg30]

How many licenses do we need to cover windows server running in 4vCPUs?

[@EddieJennings]

This is probably related to your commend on my other Windows Server core licensing video, but are you talking about a VM with 4 vCPUs configured on your own physical hypervisor or with some kind of hosted service like Vultr or Azure?

[@RoysanPHD]

Hello, where exactly do you change and set the cores? If BIOS it would also affect the O/S. I was hoping it would be in SQL. Thanks. I have 2 CPU 16 Cores each - MS wants $52K. I want to set the cores down to 4 Cores total to get my cost down for the true up.

[@EddieJennings]

Unfortunately, I don't have the experience with SQL server to answer your question. I don't know if somehow affecting the cores that SQL server uses affects the license, or if SQL server licensing only cares about the cores of a physical system or VM.

[@jyan21]

@Eddie Jennings - If I buy the 16 core license, do I still have to buy User/Device CALs?

[@EddieJennings]

It depends on the product. For Windows Server, yes, you do.

[@jyan21]

@@EddieJennings I see, thank you for the quick reply, much appreciate it!

[@RichardWoonWN]

Hi Eddie, what will happen if I run a Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition on a 20 Core physical server and I only have license for 16 core. Will the OS run? will it use all 20 core or only 16? Basically I was asked if the license is enforced?

[@EddieJennings]

To the best of my knowledge, licensing for Windows Server is generally a legal construct rather than a technical construct. That being said, I would only run Windows server if I had the documentation available that I possess the appropriate licensing. Now I've been in situations where people other than me work with procurement and such, where I'm trusting that we (the company) have the licensing that I'm told we have, but if there was doubt, I would require seeing the documentation of it before deploying Windows server.

[@Grevald]

Can someone answer simple question? Let's say I have properly licensed my server (Hyper-V host) with Windows server 2019 Datacenter. I plan to run couple of Windows server 2019 standard VMs on it. Do I need to buy licenses to activate VMs?????????? Or will they activate automatically??

[@MartinLangATADA]

Thank you for your video! Could you answer me a question? I want to run WindowsServer2019 Essentials on a physical machine. And on that running Hyper-V with one WindowsServer2019 VM. Is this possible with one Essential License? Or are you only allowed to run Essential only on a physical or a VM machine? I can’t find a clear answer to that. Thank you!

[@EddieJennings]

Glad you enjoyed the video. I'll have to do a little research on Server 2019 Essentials, as it's not a product I usually work with. That being said, if you're wanting Hyper-V as your hypervisor, consider what I discuss here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIbdZ3Ssd9dkn6s

[@EddieJennings]

I was also unable to find a clear answer. From what I could gather from the linked blog post was that it follows the same model as Server 2016 Essentials. The second link was to the licensing guide for Server 2016, which it says you can install Server Essentials on the bare metal and as a VM, only if the bare metal install is only used to host and manage the VM (thus, basically being a hypervisor). cloudblogs.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2018/09/05/windows-server-2019-essentials-update/ download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/4/E64F72BF-55E9-4D85-9EFE-39605D7CE272/WindowsServer2016-Licensing-Guide.pdf As I said in the other comment, you're likely better off just running Hyper-V Server as your hypervisor, then if you want, you can run Server Essentials as a VM. Shoot me a message at ejsllc.com if you want to chat further. :)

[@MartinLangATADA]

thank you! i think i will go with ws2019 standard edition, so i can run two instances. i need the barebone to play out some graphics on the four connected screens too. so solution1 would be to run ws on the barebone doing this stuff and also running the hyperv role. or solution2 would be to run esxi on the barebone with pci passthrouth of the graphicscard to the ws vm running the screen stuff and a second ws vm for the other things. for backup i am using synology active backup, it can handle hyperv and esxi. i don"t know what the better solution would be so far.

[@EddieJennings]

If you choose Hyper-V, I'd still recommend installing Hyper-V Server 2019 on the host, rather than Server 2019 Standard with the Hyper-V role -- based on the information you've given so far.

[@robs2327]

Thanks for your video, Eddie. I am getting closer to understanding Windows Server core licensing (I think). I want to confirm my understanding...hoping you can spare the time to school me. I buy a big beefy server, I buy a VMware license so I can run ESXi. I want to stand up 3 Windows Server Standard VMs on that physical host. Assuming the host has 2 processors, 12 cores per, 24 total I would need to buy two Windows Standard 2-packs which would cover 16 minumum cores for 4 VMs, then get additional core upgrade to bring me up to 24 cores total. Is that correct? Thank you for your time!

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching. For Windows server you're licensing physical cores.** So to run 4 Windows Server Standard VMs, you would need to purchase two Windows Server Standard licenses. You would need to purchase enough to cover 24 cores for each license, so effectively 48 cores worth. Depending on your needs, the free version of ESXi or using KVM may be able to save you a little money as far as the hypervisor is concerned. **As I was typing this, I decided to take a look at www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/windows-server since it's been a while since. It looks like there may be an option for per-VM licensing, but I'm not familiar with that.

[@mukheshreddy5474]

Hello Eddie, Can you help me understand, when i license the physical server and later decommission it. Can i use this license to other physical server.

[@EddieJennings]

Unless you are using OEM licenses, you should be able to use your license on the new server. I want to think technically you are allowed a change every 90 days, but I'm not sure. There should be some licensing documentation available for you that will have that condition.

[@Raees328]

Hi Eddie Jennings. I have the license of MS 2019 Datacenter edition Part Number: P71-09042 Windows Svr Datacntr 2019 64Bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD 24 Core. 24 x 2 = 48 Cores ? is it correct ?

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching. Unfortunately, I don't have the different SKUs of Windows Server products memorized, but judging from what you provided, it look like P71-09042 is a single item that covers 24 cores. To cover 48 cores, you'd need to purchase two of them. I highly recommend you talk to your Microsoft Reseller and make 100% sure exactly the number of cores that are covered with whatever SKU they're selling you.

[@EmanAlajrad]

Thanks for the Video. I want to know if i have windows server 2016 Standard license on the host server and i want to license more than 2 VMs with same OS (Server 16 STD), can I purchase separate Windows Server 2016 STD licenses for the VMs without adding licenses to the host? I understand that we can license 2 VMs using the Host license but we can license as much as we want if we have separate licenses. Please correct me if i am wrong? Thanks again for useful video

[@EddieJennings]

Eman, thanks for watching! Windows Server licenses, to my understanding, are always for the physical host. So lets say you're licensing the minimum cores for Windows Server standard (16), and you're running two VMs on this hypervisor (covered by the Server Standard license). To run more Windows Server VMs, you're right in thinking you need to purchase another Server Standard license, which in this example case would be an additional 16 core licenses. At this point, you'd have rights for an additional two Windows Server VMs. When I did the math a few years ago, 13 Windows Server VMs seemed to be the magic number where it started to make more sense to purchase a Data Center license to cover your hypervisor rather than multiple Standard licenses.

[@albixhako1727]

Hello Eddie , Is it possible to buy only the licence per processor and not Cals?

[@EddieJennings]

Albi, to the best of my knowledge per processor licensing is not longer a thing for the Windows Server Standard and Datacenter products. Also those products require CALs per their license documentation. There is Server 2019 Essentials that does not have a CAL requirement; however, it has some specific limitations on its use, and it's a product that I, myself, have never used. This link should be helpful for your though. www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing

[@Maphew69]

Thank you Eddie - really appreciate this

[@EddieJennings]

You're welcome!

[@ariframdhaniii]

Hi Eddie. a. 2-16 core = 8 license b. >16 core = ...core/2. (ex: 32 core/2 = 16 license). that's right ?

[@EddieJennings]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. For example A are you asking if a physical host with two 16-core processors require 8 core licenses of Windows Server? If so, then the answer is "no." You would need to cover 32 cores.

[@nischal2k1]

In our organization, We have 2 CPU/Processors server with 8 Cores/CPU, then how man licenses required > Kindly give me the complete calculation and estimate price for licensing the server ?

[@EddieJennings]

Hey Nischal! You'd have to talk to a Microsoft reseller to get pricing estimates. Sometimes you can use VAR sites like CDW and such to get a ballpark, but really your best bet is to have a conversation with a reseller. Microsoft has some pricing listed here, but I'd still suggest you get a quote from a reseller: www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/windows-server-pricing from what you described, it looks like you fit meet the minimal license requirements described here: download.microsoft.com/download/7/C/E/7CED6910-C7B2-4196-8C55-208EE0B427E2/Windows_Server_2019_licensing_datasheet_EN_US.pdf This would mean you'd need to get a total of eight 2-core license packs, which would cover a total of 16 cores. Remember when determining the price of licensing Windows server don't forget to calculate CALs and consider Software Assurance.

[@shoaibarshad39]

i have 2 sockets and 36 cores in one server how we calculate how many license we required

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching and for your question. I decided to do a follow-up video about core licensing, which will answer your question specifically as well as give some other scenarios. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJnOqGaajtF1grs

[@rivudutta2823]

Thanks to you making licensing a lot simpler, however I have this question. My client had purchased below: Microsoft®WindowsServerSTDCORE 2019 Sngl OLP 16Licenses NoLevel CoreLic Microsoft Part Number: 9EM-00652 Version:2019 Quantity: 1 Does this means that client has bought 2 packs, that's 8x2 = 16 licences or 16x2 = 32 licenses. Wanted to understand the difference between 2 packs & 16 packs.

[@EddieJennings]

Rivu, thanks for watching! I don't know off the top of my head the exact name of the SKU for the 2-packs and the 16-packs of licenses. The second line looks like it indicates a 16-pack. Thus with quantity 1, it makes me think they've purchased one 16-pack; thus, this would cover 16 core licenses for the physical host for which the license was purchased. Since one of the minimum license requirements for Server 2019 is 16 physical cores, I imagine the creation of the 16-pack was designed to make it "easy" to just purchase one thing to cover your server. However, the 2-packs are still available to do more fine grained purchasing. Imagine having a server with two 10-core processors. It would probably be more cost effective to purchase one 16-pack and two 2-packs for a total of 20 cores, than ten 2-packs or two 16-packs, which would result in purchasing 12 core licenses that would not be used.

[@rivudutta2823]

@@EddieJennings thanks Eddie, I love the videos you have posted, it's very informative and easy to understand. Please keep doing it, let me know if I can be of any help.

[@jstars512]

Eddie thanks for the video any way you can share this marvelous spreadsheet or give some info on how to create it? Thanks.

[@EddieJennings]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. The spreadsheet is found within Microsoft's PDFs about licensing. There should be links on this page that has for what you're looking. www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/windows-server-pricing

[@danimoosakhan]

What if someone is running ESXi? And wants to run Windows server 2016/2019 VMs. Do I have to license them seperately?

[@EddieJennings]

Correct. Unless VMware has some kind of deal with Microsoft where an ESXi license grants you some instances of Windows Servers, you'll be licensing your ESXi hosts as well as needing to purchase licenses for Windows Server.

[@bakiisalive]

Hi what about software assurance ? is it mandatory when you have a cluster ? thanks

[@EddieJennings]

Off the top of my head, I'm not sure. My licensing experience with Microsoft has been in the SMB sector, and often you don't see clustering used there, so I'd have to do some research.

[@calvinbernard]

Hi Eddie, I have a request for 3 servers, 2 processors, 8 cores and 17 VMS. How many win std licences do they need? Appreciate your soonest response on this. Thank you. Calvin.

[@EddieJennings]

Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is do you really need three hosts for 17 VMs? That affects how many licenses are you will need to purchase.

[@calvinbernard]

​@@EddieJennings well based on my calculation, they will need to purchase 72 core2 license per server, which comes to a total of 216 core 2 licenses. but then again it goes back to your question of the need of 3 hosts for 17VMs which i completely agree.

[@EddieJennings]

I encourage you to contact someone who specializes in Windows server licensing and then compare that to your own calculations to find the truth of licensing. That's usually what I would do when I was directly involved in licensing purchases at work. If you'd like some additional help working out the math, contact me at ejsllc.com and we can work some consulting time.

[@bradley1125]

Could somebody please clarify the licensing on the standard 2019 version. I know about the constraints of two VM’s. If additional VM’s are Linux can this still work or is it purely 2 VM’s and that’s it?

[@EddieJennings]

Bradley, thanks for watching. Windows Standard license grants you two Windows Server standard VMs. On a server with Hyper-V as its hypervisor, you run as many Linux VMs as you want. If you want Windows Server VMs, then the minimum you'd have to purchase is a Windows Server Standard license, which would net you two.

[@bradley1125]

@@EddieJennings Hi Eddie! Thank you for the reply. So just to confirm. If I have window server 2019 standard. I can then run 2x windows server VM’s + multiple Linux VM’s if I wanted too through the hyper-v addition? Many thanks

[@EddieJennings]

That is correct assuming the Linux distribution you're using doesn't have some kind of licensing requirement of its own (think RHEL vs CentOS). This may be a bit out of scope, but if you're not, you may want to consider putting just Hyper-V on the bare metal, rather than Windows Server. I talk about why here at about 3 minutes in. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKalhWdriM9rr68

[@amvj]

Is it possible to install RDS licensing server on Windows server 2019 Server CORE ? Please help

[@EddieJennings]

GK, thanks for watching. If by CORE you mean Server 2019 without the GUI, I would imagine the answer is yes. I have never tried it though. I may attempt it for a future video, but it'll be a while, as I have other projects in queue.

[@virnatur4402]

Huh new licencing model is so complicated :). I am using one standard licence for two VM server 2016 (esxi). If I delete one server, and create new identical server (ser 2016) on same host, can I use again my licence key.

[@EddieJennings]

Thanks for watching! Correct me if I'm wrong: So you have an ESXi host for which you've acquired the appropriate number of Windows Server Standard core licenses. On that host you have two Server 2016 VMs. If you delete one of the VMs, and make another, yes, you should be able to use the same license key. I can't remember off the top of my head if technically you have to wait X days before you're able to "transfer" a license key, but effectively, yes, your new 2nd server should be covered by your Windows Server Standard license.

[@virnatur4402]

​@@EddieJennings yes, and it is working :). I deleted VM, created new one and type licence key and it is accepted.

[@varunsagar1873]

If m using windows server 2008r2 OS , do I need to license server cores. Can you please explain sir

[@EddieJennings]

I'm a bit confused. Is this Server 2008R2 system already licensed, or are you looking at deploying a "new" Server 2008R2 system? If the latter, I'd encourage you to ask yourself "why?" as a general question.

[@varunsagar1873]

@@EddieJennings hi sir. In our organization we have a server which is running on windows server 2008R2. It has 2 processors and 16 cores each. I think windows core licensing was introduced with the release of windows server 2016 version. If we are still using windows server 2008R2, do we need to get the licensing ?

[@EddieJennings]

I'd say the short answer is "yes." If you're running Windows Server without having purchased licenses for it, then it sounds like you're pirating software, which is obviously a problem. You're correct that with Server 2016 the license model moved to cores. If these Server 2008R2 machines are not currently licensed, likely what you'll need to do is buy the appropriate amount of current Windows server licensing and make sure you get downgrade rights to where it can be applied to legacy Windows Server versions. Since Server 2008R2 is currently end-of-life. I'm not sure if this will be possible. You will want to talk to a Microsoft reseller about what licensing you can purchase.

[@varunsagar1873]

@@EddieJennings thank you sir. It's clear now

[@rohannishankar1228]

what is machine if you could highlight the same

[@EddieJennings]

Rohan, I’m not sure what your asking. Care to rephrase your question?

[@kabanaboys9618]

Thanks so much

[@EddieJennings]

You’re welcome. I hope it was helpful.

[@Screamer26]

I just wonder how much I will have to pay in the end, cost, price, USDs thanks

[@EddieJennings]

Screamer26 You’d have to talk to a Microsoft reseller to get pricing. Sometimes you can use sites like CDW to get ballpark pricing, but in my experience, actually getting a quote from a reseller is the only way to get accurate numbers.

[@robg8699]

So simple, use linux whenever you can. Eddie, thx for describing this branidamaged licensing model. Every combination you use, you loose.

[@EddieJennings]

Ha! You're welcome! :) I don't bemoan Microsoft too much about their model, but rather remind people if they want to play with Microsoft toys, understand the cost of license compliance.