Microsoft licensing
We are beginning to go a usage audit to true-up our Microsoft licensing. For the most part, the licensing is straight forward. Use a product, get a license. Don’t use the product, don’t get a license. But where confusion creeps in is around items such as virtualization, Public web access, Clustering. In this blog I’ll discuss Microsoft licensing in the virtualization arena. I’ll write another entry on public web access and clustering within the next day.
Licensing in the virtualization arena:
You have three options for licensing the Windows Server operating system. The first is that you buy a license for each virtual machine based on whether it is running Windows 2003 Standard or Enterprise: Easy enough. Option two is a bit more tricky, according to the Microsoft licensing for Virtualization web page, you can run “…you to run up to four software instances at a time in virtual operating system environments (OSEs) on a server under a single server license.” The third option is to purchase a license of Windows 2003 Datacenter, which is licensed per socket, for each of your Physical Hypervisor Hosts. This allows you to run an unlimited number of Windows Server based guest VMs on that particular host.
Lets look at a quick cost benefit analysis of each licensing type. We will use a two node cluster of dual processor Quad core servers. We will exclude networking, storage, electrical and cooling consumption. Those would be similar under any of the three licensing options. I also won’t even begin to do a hardware cost comparison between physical and virtual as there is enough information on the web to make an accountant cry about how much you will save virtualizing your environment. We will use a Server vCPU to pCPU ratio of 5:1, which should give us roughly 40 vCPUs. Given that we need the overhead to allow a hardware failure, we will not account for the second Host node. We’ll break down the license usage as 34 Windows 2003 Standard and 6 Windows 2003 Enterprise Guests.
License option 1: (one license for each Guest VM)
| MSRP | Amount | Option 1 Cost | ||
| Std |
$1,000 |
34 |
$34,000 |
|
| Ent |
$4,000 |
6 |
$24,000 |
|
|
$58,000 |
||||
As you can see in the graphic above, the MSRP of those 40 servers would be approximately $58,000.
License option 2: (Windows Server Enterprise – 4 free on the same server)
| MSRP | Amount | Option 2 Cost | ||
| Ent |
$4,000 |
12 |
$48,000 |
|
Here is where it can a little dicey, the license states that you can run 4 instances of the OS on one server. When you license in the two node environment, especially when using a product such as VMware Infrastructure DRS; you can not be sure how many VMs will reside on one physical host at any one time. It might be 20-20 or it might be 22-18, etc.. While it would look like you only need 10 Enterprise licenses to cover those 40 servers, you would probably need at least 1 extra for each node to ensure that you never have more guest VMs running on one node. Even with purchasing two extra licenses of Windows Enterprise, you still save $6,000 over the one-license per guest option. Another benefit is that you can run either Standard or Enterprise and still be in the good graces of Microsoft.
License option 3: (Windows Server Datacenter – run what you brung!)
| MSRP | Amount | Option 3 Cost | ||
| DataCenter |
$3,000 |
4 |
$12,000 |
|
Here is where Microsoft licensing in the virtualized arena begins to shine. Microsoft DataCenter licensing has an MSRP of $2,999 per physical processor. Not per core, per physical socket. That means that for each node in the cluster, we need $6,000 worth of Microsoft OS, to cover everything. This licensing option also allows us the opportunity to load whatever OS, the business unit needs. Or, we just standardize on Windows Enterprise for the Virtualized servers and not worry about any features that are disabled on the standard version.
Microsoft Licensing for Virtualization: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/virtualization.mspx
Virtualization Server Sprawl
When a firm is contemplating virtualization, there are many positives: server consolidation, improved DR, reduced energy consumption, reduced infrastructure costs, etc…. There are also negatives: increased risk due to single point of failure, additional complexity, server sprawl…
Server sprawl has long been a part of the Windows Server realm, due to the overwhelming mindset of one application – One Server. One of the few things that kept server sprawl in check was the cost to procure another server. The firm would need to purchase a new server, this normally entails
- Research (find systems that meet the application requirements)
- Verify datacenter can absorb additional server (are there enough network ports, are power and cooling sufficient, is there space in the rack?)
- Requesting quotes (must work with multiple vendors to ensure best value proposition)
- Select quote (best value proposition, not always lowest cost)
- Submitting the PO to purchasing (wait out the steeping period)
- Purchasing department orders the server
- Waiting for vendor to ship (anywhere from a week to a month)
- Request storage and networking ports from the groups responsible.
- Waiting for equipment to arrive in datacenter (we work in a union facility where we are not allowed to move equipment, this usually takes a week)
- Submit change request to rack mount the server and bring it on the network (this usually must happen after hours when the server is being installed in racks that have production servers)
Now, the administrator can begin configuring the server.
- Install OS
- Install Service Packs
- Patch
- Install VirusScan
- Install backup software
- Install monitoring software
- Configure monitoring
- Install support features for the application
- Patch support features
- Install application
- Test
- Verify
Now, what does this have to do with server sprawl? After virtualization, skip most of the steps required to purchase a server. Instead of the approximately two months to purchase new hardware, as soon as the request is made, the VM can built almost immediately and at almost zero cost to the firm. Of course there are costs, OS licensing, backup, virusscan, monitoring, storage. But the portion of the costs that are immediately seen by the purchasing department are only for the application.
When your firm decides to move forward on your virtualization project, do not underestimate the concept of server sprawl. My previous two firms after the virtualization infrastructure was in place, experienced significant server sprawl. Projects that were originally slated for two servers became 10. Applications that were on the bubble, immediately became a go. Applications that would have previously been denied due to limited use by only a few in the company, became feasible.
IWUG and Essential Business Server presentation
Last night’s Indiana Windows Users Group (IWUG) was a web conference presented by Nick King, A Microsoft Technical manager for the Essential Business Server team. While we were sitting enjoying Dinner , Nick was sitting in Redmond Washington.
What is Essential Business Server (EBS)? A Product sku designed for medium business that have one or two IT Pros on staff. It fills the gap between Small Business Server and just purchasing an assortment of Microsoft products. EBS comes in two flavors, Standard and Premium. Standard includes 3 licenses of 64bit Windows Server 2008 Standard, 2 licenses of Exchange 2007, 1 license of System Center Essentials 2007, 1 license of Forefront Security for Exchange, and 1 license of Forefront Threat Management Gateway Medium Business Edition (formerly ISA Server). Premium edition includes all of the licenses in the standard version plus and additional license of Server 2008 Standard and one license of SQL 2008 Standard. More Information can be found on Microsoft’s website at the EBS home page.
EBS is more than just a collection of Microsoft SKUs. Microsoft has created and administrative portal that leverages Power Shell to create a new status at a glance portal. It also provides wizards allowing you to create users, groups, computers, SharePoint sites, etc… all from a single point. One question, I had while watching the demo was, “wasn’t this the grand vision of the MMC?” it was supposed to be the only place the administrator went to manage their server. Oh, well another Windows version, another way to manage it. Moving on. EBS is a good deal cost wise, according to the Nick, the EBS skus, represent a 30% savings, over purchasing the components individually. Standard has a list price of $5472 and Premium has a list of $7163.
EBS also helps with the rollout for administrators who rolling out either their first AD environment or are upgrading from Small Business Server (SBS). Microsoft has reduced the install screens from roughly 120 down to approximately 30. Also, the management portal is tabbed to help focus the administrators on exactly what they need. According to the presenter, the portal allows the admin to perform 85% of all their Microsoft infrastructure work without leaving the portal.
What questions did I come away with?
First is that the requirements are 64 bit processors for all 3 servers in the standard sku, the SQL server in premium includes either 32 or 64 bit. All new servers come with 64 bit procs, but many smaller companies might not want to purchase new hardware, just to move to this version.
Second, the memory requirements are 4 GB each for the management and the Exchange server and 2GB for the Security Server. If you have to purchase new hardware, no big deal, but some older hardware might require more capital expenditures.
Overall, the Essential business server appears to be a good deal. We use a general rule of $4K per server for an HP Proliant DL380. If you need to purchase new hardware, you are looking at $12K for hardware and $5K for the ESB standard. This is roughly $17K before we even add in general file storage or backups. Add in an additional $6K to jump to the Premium sku and additional server.
The presenter’s blog can be found at http://blogs.technet.com/nking/
Microsoft Remote Desktop on IPhone
As a Windows administrator, there are many times where you are out and get the emergency call that a service is down and you need to come into the office. You need to drop everything and run to the office or the datacenter. Smart phones, specifically the Apple Iphone can help out. An application WinAdmin allows you to RDP into your server or desktop and work on the issue.
sounds good, what do I need to do?
- Have an Iphone or Ipod Touch
- Either connect through wireless broadband or WiFi
- Download WinAdmin through Apple Store on your unit
- Configure and connect through VPN client if outside of internal network
- Start WinAdmin and add new server
- connect to the server and work.
About mordtech
Experience:
I’m an IT professional with over ten years of Microsoft Server support. I’ve also supported Checkpoint and VMware. I’m currently employed by a large IT outsourcing corporation in the US.
I’ve implemented Windows Active Directory, Checkpoint VPN/Firewalls, VMware Infrastructure, Sharepoint/Project Server amongst others.
Personal:
I’m married and a father of two boys, which is by far the most trying job of my life: the boys, not the marriage. We reside in the midwest and aren’t looking forward to the fast approaching winter.
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