Managing Microsoft SQL Server Licenses | v6.1 and above

With release 6.1 of Certero for Enterprise SAM has come significant enhancements to the way Microsoft Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server licensing can be maintained.

Summary of Features

This new capability incorporates:

• Automatic calculation of core minimums for Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server.

• Apply licenses by Host, Cluster or Virtual Machine.

• Automatic identification of Software Assurance requirements for Microsoft SQL Server.

• Automatic stacking of licenses for Windows Server Standard and Enterprise for virtualised environments.

• Selection of appropriate metric – Server/CAL versus Processor or Core.

• What if analysis – Change license by virtual machine to license by cluster to see effect on compliance.

• Exclusion of individual virtual machines or clusters, for example, Test/Dev or Runtime Licenses.

• Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2019 and Microsoft SQL Server 2019.

• Simpler identification of licenses with or without Software Assurance.

• Ability to directly import a Microsoft License Statement including MPSA transactions.

• Automatic correction of Software Assurance Effective dates for Enterprise Agreements.

There are changes to the menu with the addition of two new items under Microsoft Licensing and a new menu item for Microsoft Servers .

The Microsoft Licensing Menu in release 6.1:

The new menu item for Microsoft Servers:

The menu items under Microsoft Servers is used to manage the Windows Servers and SQL Servers by changing the license metric, license by cluster or virtual machine, exclude servers etc. How these menu items are used is outlined in the sections below on Microsoft Windows Server Licensing and Microsoft SQL Server Licensing. The changes made using these new screens will be reflected in the Microsoft Licensing menu items for and SQL Servers and Windows Servers respectively.

SQL Server Licensing

To change how Microsoft SQL Servers are licensed go to Microsoft Servers > SQL Servers . This will display a list of physical Windows servers, clusters (VMware, Xen, Hyper-V etc.) that have SQL Server installed and the edition version installed.

The Importance of Virtualisation Connectors

Note that if virtual machines are displayed in the list, then either Connectors to the virtualisation technologies are missing or the servers are cloud based servers e.g. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services. Where the virtual machines are on-premises it is important to ensure that the virtualisation connectors have been configured before continuing with the analysis of SQL Servers.

Excluding Servers or Clusters

Servers or clusters can be excluded or included from licensing, for example, those covered under MSDN or those licensed via Cloud Subscriptions. If selecting Exclude you are required to give a reason for the exclusion.

Changing the License Type

To change the licensing of a server or cluster, right click and under the Actions menu, select Set License Category , as in the example below:

Select the appropriate Edition/Version/Metric in the drop down list:

This will allow you to select whether or not to license the server or cluster and how:

• The highest version/edition

• Individual virtual machines

• Use SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance

It is important to understand your license entitlement for SQL Servers so you select the appropriate license category. The best fit for licensing will often not be the best fit for your existing entitlement.

If the cluster is licensed this will show SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance to cover all cores in the cluster, as in the example below:

If individual virtual machines are licensed then you may need to exclude some from licensing, for example:

• Those covered under MSDN

• Licensed via Cloud Subscriptions

• Runtime licenses included with third party or Microsoft products (such as SCCM)

If selecting Exclude you are required to give a reason for the exclusion. To change the licensing of a Virtual Machine, Right Click and select Exclude.

Some virtual machines running SQL Server Standard may have been licensed under the Server/CAL model. To change the metric from Core to Server/CAL use Set License Category available via the Action item from the right click menu, and select the appropriate Version/Edition/Metric in the drop down list, as shown in the example below:

Once all the changes have been made to the SQL Server licensing, the overall license position can be viewed in Microsoft Licensing > SQL Servers . You may have to tweak the license categories under Microsoft Servers > SQL Servers to provide a best fit for your entitlement.