Windows Server 2016 Licensing Vmware Esxi

Majority of our vms will be running with guest os as windows server 2019 2016.

Windows server 2016 licensing vmware esxi.

This step by step how to guide is aimed at readers who have yet to install a windows os on a vmware hypervisor. You use a license key to activate a vm but that does not mean that the license is assigned to the vm. And both standard and datacenter are per core. I understand i ll have to licenses each physical core.

With 2016 standard licensing you ll get 2 ose per standard license. A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor. For windows server 2016 version licensing model a ll physical cores in the server must be licensed. Currently we are running our vms on hyper v and are planning to migrate to vsphere.

A virtual machine is never licensed. Esxi hosts are licensed with vsphere licenses. In today s post i ll be showing you how to install windows server 2016 with desktop experience on an esxi 6 5 u1 host managed by a vcsa 6 5 u1 instance. A minimum of 16 core licenses is required for each server.

From windows server 2016 onwards licensing for all editions standard and datacenter will now be based on physical cores per cpu a minimum of 16 core license sold in packs of 2 so a minimum of 8 licenses to cover 16 cores is required per each physical server. With 2016 datacenter licensing you ll get unlimited ose. A license is always assigned to the physical host. So that s either 4 x standard licenses or 1 x datacenter licenses.

Vsphere desktop that is intended for vdi environments is licensed on per virtual machine basis. Servers are licensed based on the number of processor cores in the physical server. When you assign a vsphere license to a host the amount of cpu capacity that is consumed is equal to the number of physical cpus in the host.