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Virtualization Rights In Windows Server 2008 Standard

One thing that stood out from the Server 2008 launch today was a small, but key, enhancement regarding virtualization rights under Windows Server 2008 Standard.

Under Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard, the license permitted the following…

A single Standard Edition license server permits you to run one instance of the software in either a physical or virtual OSE on that server. You need to assign a Standard Edition license for each running instance (in which case you may want to choose a higher level edition).

The key word is the or in the first sentence separating the words physical and virtual, which means if you want to virtualize a copy of Server 2003 R2 Standard, you still have to pony for the host OS.

With Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise, the license was much more liberal…

An Enterprise Edition license grants the right to run one Enterprise  server in one physical OSE and up to four simultaneous virtual OSEs. If you run all five permitted instances at the same time, the instance of the server software running in the physical OSE may only be used to run hardware virtualization software and software to manage and service the OSEs on the server.

Most people get all hung up on the 4 instances, but the real benefit here is that the licensing for the host OS is included in Enterprise.

Since Microsoft has already publicly stated that Server 2008 Standard includes the ability to run 1 physical instance and 1 virtual instance, I see that as meaning Server 2008 Standard will have the same rights as Enterprise, but with a 1:1 P-V ratio, as opposed to the 1:4 P-V of Enterprise. As such, I’d fully expect the physical instance of Server 2008 Standard…

 May only be used to run hardware virtualization software and software to manage and service the OSEs on the server.

Now, here’s hoping those selfsame rights will extend to Small Business Server 2008 too. Especially Premium Edition.

Any and all Microsoft folks with the authority to do so should consider this an open invitation to confirm or refute this post…

Which is tagged as an opinion, in case you’re wondering.

|| posted by chris under business, freebie, hardware, it pro, motorsports, opinion, virtualization || || ||