Licensing Microsoft products for a virtual computing environment is essentially the same as it is for a physical environment. You can apply the same Microsoft licensing models, for instance, server and Client Access Licenses (CAL) licensing, to your virtual environment.
Microsoft customers can also benefit from unique license rights for server virtualization products. These rights are designed to help you take advantage of existing and future virtualization technologies.
Microsoft’s new server-based virtualization licensing offers enhanced flexibility and value:
Licensing by active instance:
Create and store an unlimited number of instances, and pay only for the maximum number of running instances at any given time.
Expanded license rights:
Move active instances from one licensed server to another licensed server without limitation, with no added costs or administrative overhead.
Greater flexibility:
With Microsoft Server products that are currently licensed by processor, such as Microsoft SQL Server, you can run multiple virtual instances (VMs) on a machine, licensing each instance by the number of virtual processors being used.
Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI)
Customers can purchase Windows Server, System Center, and Forefront Client Security together in a per-processor license, while saving 13% to 29%, using the Enrollment for Core Infrastructure.
For more about ECI licensing, click here.
For more details about Microsoft's virtualization licensing, go to Microsoft Licensing for Virtualization.
