Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Cloud Hosting : doubt about MS spla licensing

[pablocg]

Hello,

I have heard different things about licensing of windows server for virtual machines and I'm wondering if anyone could clarify it.

MS spla specialists say that in order to rent virtual machines using windows as the OS, one MUST use spla licenses.

In the other hand, software resellers in Brazil tell me if I buy a licence for windows datacenter I can create infinite VM instances and rent those VM's with datacenter to my clients. Many hosts in Brazil seem to actually use this option, as they offer win datacenter for under US$ 20.

Can anyone please confirm if this second option is valid or are these resellers trying to rip me off?

Thanks,

[srfreeman]

I believe Microsoft spells it out rather well, in this case:

What is the difference between SPLA and other Microsoft Volume Licensing programs?
Microsoft Volume Licensing programs offer several licensing options for customers to acquire Microsoft software licenses for internal use. Hosting providers who want to offer software services to their customers and who will include software licenses as part of their service offering should use SPLA. Microsoft SPLA is the only Microsoft Volume Licensing program that allows Microsoft products to be used for commercial hosting.

[appliedi]

Have you contacted Microsoft? Check out the hosting-university.com site for some details.

Jess

[backtogeek]

Also worth mentioning that you can get DC edition under SPLA too.

The other condition of SPLA as I understand it is that you must OWN the server so SPLA is no use to rented servers although that may be a grey area.

[dediserve]

Yes, you need to own the kit, and you can run unlimited -hyper-v- with windows DC edition (under SPLA).

As I understand, if you run xen, vmware, etc, you license the VMs just like physical servers

[CloudWeb]

As a hosting provider, you have to use SPLA. However you can resell your hosts SPLA.

Ie: you purchase servers from provider X with Microsoft products, provider X can charge you for those Microsoft licenses per SPLA on a monthly basis and you can in turn charge your customers for it.

You would pay per server, per active installation of the software, etc.

[gavint]

Originally Posted by dediserve

As I understand, if you run xen, vmware, etc, you license the VMs just like physical servers

That's not correct, SPLA licensing for virtual machines is hypervisor-agnostic, so you can licence a XenServer or VMware host for Windows Datacenter Edition and have all the VMs on it covered. There is no requirement to use Hyper-V.

Gavin

[MrRadic]

Originally Posted by dediserve

Yes, you need to own the kit, and you can run unlimited -hyper-v- with windows DC edition (under SPLA).

As I understand, if you run xen, vmware, etc, you license the VMs just like physical servers

As far as I know this is exactly how it has to be run as well. The parent must be hyper-v.