One of the important news in licensing side is the imminent changing of Windows Server Datacenter licensing model from Socket (CPU) to Core. Reading blog post https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/ausoemteam/2016/07/26/windows-server-2016-licensing-model/ new model regard only windows standard and datacenter edition 2016.
From service provider perspective this could be impact the cost per VM for some hosts build with the standard dual socket, because the choice of more than 4-6-8 core could increase that cost.
Is not a secret that service providers in mixed and dedicated environment are engineering their prices considering infrastructure (capex and opex) and licensing. WMware vCAN (ex VSPP) is one the mandatory program/licensing model to realize a single o multitenant cloud environment for customers (you cannot sell VMs with other licenses). This license covers virtual machine only, and is calculated metering the “powered on” GB vRAM. If a service provider (ex hosting provider) wants to sell a Windows virtual machine there are/were two options:
- license for a single VM with a standard edition
- license covering the entire physical host for all windows VMs using the datacenter edition (break-even comes with the 6th delivered windows virtual machine)
With this new model something could change in datacenter scenario: this because host may have 4,6,8… cores per single socket… and this could increase the monthly cost of the environment and consequently the cost of a single VM
Let’s see what happens and k.i.t.