Managing Microsoft Windows Server Licensing | 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.

Microsoft Windows Server Licensing

To change how Microsoft Windows Servers are licensed go to Microsoft Servers > Windows Servers . This will display a list of Physical Windows Servers, Clusters (VMware, Xen, Hyper-V etc.).

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 Windows 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:

This will allow you to select whether or not to license the highest version/edition or to apply Datacenter licenses either Processor or Core. It is important to understand your license entitlement for Windows Servers so you select the appropriate license category. The best fit for licensing will often not be the best fit with your existing entitlement.

This will apply the appropriate Product and Metric to the relevant server. So for example, a VMware Cluster or Hyper-V host may be licensed with Windows Server Datacenter. Whether or not this is licensed by Core or Processor will be dependent on the entitlement.

In a cluster, individual virtual machines can be excluded from the position by clicking on the OSE’s link and using the Action item from the right click menu, as in the example below:

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