Windows Server 2016 Licensing Vmware Esxi

A virtual machine is never licensed.

Windows server 2016 licensing vmware esxi.

For windows server 2016 version licensing model a ll physical cores in the server must be licensed. Esxi hosts are licensed with vsphere licenses. Vsphere desktop that is intended for vdi environments is licensed on per virtual machine basis. 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.

I am new to the infrastructure world i wanted to understand how does windows server licensing work on esxi. I understand i ll have to licenses each physical core. You use a license key to activate a vm but that does not mean that the license is assigned to the vm. A license is always assigned to the physical host.

With 2016 standard licensing you ll get 2 ose per standard license. Majority of our vms will be running with guest os as windows server 2019 2016. A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor. Each vsphere license has a certain cpu capacity that you can use to license multiple physical cpus on esxi hosts.

Currently we are running our vms on hyper v and are planning to migrate to vsphere. 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. And both standard and datacenter are per core. For windows server 2016 standard you are only licensing 2 x virtual oses and that does not grant you license mobility rights to move those virtual servers between hosts.

Servers are licensed based on the number of processor cores in the physical server. This step by step how to guide is aimed at readers who have yet to install a windows os on a vmware hypervisor. With 2016 datacenter licensing you ll get unlimited ose.