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Windows Server 2012 Licenses for a web server

Answered Windows Server 2012 Licenses for a web server

  • Sunday, January 06, 2013 3:18 AM
     
     
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    Ok, I want to put one web server online and I don't care about cloud, I don't have any employees, and I am certainly not interested in volume pricing for licenses.

    I have a SBS2003 web server online now, and would like to upgrade from that if possible.  But every time I start reading about licenses, they push me to the volume pricing section of their site.

    Heres what I need.

    • 1 web server (physical box) with 2 quad core CPU's.
    • No employees or virtual users, this will be a webserver/database server only.
    • I may want to spawn a few VMs to manage different kinds of businesses.
    • I may host this under a Linux box using VMWare as my support people already administer VMWare and are not interested in learning a whole new scenario.
    • no Office, Exchange, or any other productivity software

    So: for 1 physical box, with 2 quad cores, let's say 1-4 VMs, what the heck do I need to set that up?  This is just me hosting web sites, not an "Enterprise".

    I'd rather live with false hope than with false despair.

     

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  • Sunday, January 06, 2013 5:16 PM
     
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    If you just want one server with no virtualization you could get away with server 2012 essentials which will also include a few users CALS just like in SBS. If not you would be looking at Standard edition.

      

    8B17

    • Proposed As Answer by 8B17 Sunday, January 06, 2013 5:16 PM
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  • Sunday, January 06, 2013 10:47 PM
     
     
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    Ok, it seems that Server 2012 (even essentials) is geared at Enterprise (or small company)  Cloud Computing (services internal to the company, behind a firewall)  Is this what Microsoft is pushing as a solution as an internet facing web server?  I'd have to think that the needs of a web server and that security concerns are quite different for an internet-facing server. 

    I really don't want ANY cloud features.  I don't want anyone to ever log into this thing remotely and update their PCs or edit documents - really the only thing I want an outsider to be able to do is maintain the IIS and SQL servers.

    Q: Why did Microsoft create Windows Server 2012 Essentials?
    A: There are roughly 36 million small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) worldwide with more than one PC, and many see IT as a strategic imperative to grow their business. SMBs are typically short on IT resources, but need powerful technology solutions similar to those used by even the largest companies. Building on the design philosophy of the current, award-winning Windows Small Business Server product, Windows Server 2012 Essentials provides small businesses with a flexible, affordable server solution that will help save time and money while significantly increasing employee productivity. Windows Server 2012 Essentials is the simplest way for small businesses to unleash the power of Windows Server 2012 and cloud-enable their IT.

    I'd rather live with false hope than with false despair.

     
  • Monday, January 07, 2013 11:47 AM
     
     
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    Well like all of the server 2012 editions and all servers there are many different roles you can
    install and each edition can run as many different types of servers .e.g domain
    controllers, web servers, database servers. Although the OS is the same the
    application of the server and application running on the server is different.
    Yes Microsoft is pushing Cloud but you don’t have to use the features and you don’t
    need to enable them, I believe they are saying it is a Cloud ready server OS.

    Have you thought about just using a standard OS .e.g Win7 or Win8 to host IIS and SQL for you? If you don’t
    want anything big there may not be a need to run it on a server OS. Having said
    that you will get better support tools, and stability out of a server over a
    client focus OS. The cost different will be the only benefit to running it on
    XP, Win7 or Win8.

    Essentials will do what every other edition of server 2012 does however comes with some user CALS so
    you don’t need to worry about that side of the licensing and is much cheaper
    than Standard. It does not however include virtualization but from what you
    have said this does not seem to be an issue.


    8B17


    • Edited by 8B17 Monday, January 07, 2013 1:52 PM Formatting
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  • Monday, January 07, 2013 5:00 PM
     
     
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    When you say that Essentials "does not include virtualization" do you mean that it does not include software for running multiple VMs, or that it will refuse to run on a VMWare Virtual machine?

    Sorry - I have been bit before by Microsoft making some claim that seemed like what I want, but was not as I had anticipated.

    I'd rather live with false hope than with false despair.

     
  • Monday, January 07, 2013 7:39 PM
     
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    Essentials will run on VMware but does not include any licensing for any virtual instances. Someone please correct me if I am incorrect but I think this means that you cant have more than one instance however with standard you could have it installed + 2 virtual servers on top.

    I may be incorrect as I am not an expert in Microsoft Licencing

    8B17

     
  • Monday, January 07, 2013 9:25 PM
     
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    Ok, I want to put one web server online and I don't care about cloud, I don't have any employees, and I am certainly not interested in volume pricing for licenses.

    I have a SBS2003 web server online now, and would like to upgrade from that if possible.  But every time I start reading about licenses, they push me to the volume pricing section of their site.

    Heres what I need.

    • 1 web server (physical box) with 2 quad core CPU's.
    • No employees or virtual users, this will be a webserver/database server only.
    • I may want to spawn a few VMs to manage different kinds of businesses.
    • I may host this under a Linux box using VMWare as my support people already administer VMWare and are not interested in learning a whole new scenario.
    • no Office, Exchange, or any other productivity software

    So: for 1 physical box, with 2 quad cores, let's say 1-4 VMs, what the heck do I need to set that up?  This is just me hosting web sites, not an "Enterprise".

    I'd rather live with false hope than with false despair.

    To answer your question bluntly as asked without the hub-bub....

    Server 2012 offers 2 Free Virtual Instances on top of the host. 1 Host, 2 virtual guests... 1 License of Standard Edition.

    Essentials and Foundation editions offer no hypervisor support and you would need to buy or source a different hypervisor solution. Asside of that, a license for each Windows Server virtual guest.

    The answer stands as just the OS purchase if you aren't authenticating any users to Active Directory. When Active Directory is being used over an open-source LDAP project for Windows, you're then in the boundaries of Microsoft's Client Access Licenses(CAL) terms and you'll need to purchase some.

    Not sure why the need for more than 2 Virtual windows guests for a web server but to each their own. As long as you are only authenticating them as application based, such as sql entities, you should be fine within the guidelines of your licensing for your web server.

    Hope that helps. =)

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/buy.aspx

    Steve Kline
    Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator
    Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Active Directory, Network Infrastructure, Application Platform, Windows 7
    Microsoft Certified Product Specialist & Network Product Specialist
    Red Hat Certified System Administrator
    Microsoft® Community Contributor Award 2011
    All opinions expressed on my own behalf and not that of my company.
    This posting is "as is" without warranties and confers no rights.

     
  • Tuesday, January 08, 2013 7:58 AM
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    Hi Bryan,


    Add to Steve’s excellent post, for licensing related questions, we recommend to contact Microsoft Volume Licensing specialist for help.


    Best Regards.

    Jeremy Wu
    TechNet Community Support



     
  • Tuesday, January 08, 2013 2:57 PM
     
     
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    HiBryan,


    Add to Steve’s excellent post, for licensing related questions, we recommend to contact Microsoft Volume Licensing specialist for help.


    Best Regards.

    Jeremy Wu
    TechNet Community Support


    Thanks Jeremy,

    I completely agree that the licensing specialists are pretty efficient... I've come to them for some really quirky configuration questions and sometimes I think I have spent more time reading those Product Usage Rights documents than they have because they've had to go back to double check. They are very helpful for setup scenario questions and helping you determine the licensing you need to maintain compliance with the End-User License Agreements (EULA), Terms of Use (TOU), and Product Usage Rights (PUR)... such as a single standard license for the host and 2 guest machines.

    Steve Kline
    Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator
    Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Active Directory, Network Infrastructure, Application Platform, Windows 7
    Microsoft Certified Product Specialist & Network Product Specialist
    Red Hat Certified System Administrator
    Microsoft® Community Contributor Award 2011
    All opinions expressed on my own behalf and not that of my company.
    This posting is "as is" without warranties and confers no rights.