For each additional 1 or 2 VMs, all the physical cores in the server must be licensed again Standard Edition provides rights for up to 2 Operating System Environments or Windows Servers containers with Hyper-V isolation when all physical cores in the server are licensed.Core licenses are sold in packs of two.A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses is required for each server.Servers are licensed based on the number of processor cores in the physical server.įind the below points which gives you more clear picture on that Each Window Server CAL allows access to multiple licenses of Windows Server.Ĭore-based Licensing – Windows Server 2016 Standard and DatacenterĬore-based licensing requires all physical cores in the server to be licensed. A Windows Server CAL gives a user or device the right to access any edition of Windows Server of the same or earlier version. Each user and/or device accessing a licensed Windows Server Standard, Datacenter, or Multipoint edition requires a Windows Server CAL or Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services CAL. The Windows Server 2016 licensing model includes both Cores + Client Access Licenses (CALs).

New features exclusive to Datacenter Edition include Shielded Virtual Machines, softwaredefined networking, Storage Spaces Direct, and Storage Replica customers receive rights to unlimited OSEs or Windows Server containers with Hyper-V isolation New features in Standard Edition include Nano Server and unlimited Windows Server containers customers also receive rights to two Operating System Environments (OSEs) or Windows Server containers with Hyper-V isolation. Windows Server 2016 customers benefit from a variety of new features. Essentials is a good option for customers currently using the Foundation Edition, which is not available with Windows Server 2016. Standard Edition :- Ideal for low density or non-virtualized environments.Įssentials Edition :- It is a cloud-connected first server, ideal for small businesses with up to 25 users and 50 devices. ĭatacenter Edition :- Ideal for highly virtualized and softwaredefined datacenter environments. Windows Server have three editions, based on the size of the organization as well as virtualization and datacenter requirements you can choose the Edition. Windows Server 2016 onward Microsoft has new licensing model, which consider number of cores per socket.Let’s Check the Editions of the Window Server, Features and Licensing Model For the previous windows server versions, Microsoft had a Licensing model that only considered physical CPU sockets. With release of Windows Server 2016 family Microsoft changed their Windows Server licensing model.

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