SQL Server 2008 Pricing and Licensing

Updated July 2008

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Processor License. A Processor License is required for

each processor installed on each operating system
SQL Server 2008 is available under three licensing models: environment running SQL Server or any of its components
Server plus device client access license (CAL). (for example, Analysis Services). It includes access for an
Requires a license for the computer running the unlimited number of users or devices to connect from either
Microsoft server product, as well as CALs for each inside or outside the firewall. Customers do not need to
client device. purchase additional client access licenses (CALs) when
Server plus user client access license (CAL). Requires licensed under the per processor model.
a license for the computer running the Microsoft server Processor licenses are available in Enterprise, Standard,
product, as well as CALs for each user. Web and Workgroup editions and offer more simplicity for
Processor license. Requires a single license for each certain scenarios.
CPU in the operating system environment running
SQL Server. This license includes unlimited client
device access. MULTIPLEXING: USE OF MIDDLEWARE,
This document explains key licensing considerations for TRANSACTION SERVERS, AND MULTITIERED
SQL Server 2008 customers. ARCHITECTURES
Sometimes organizations develop network scenarios that
SQL SERVER 2008 SERVER PLUS CAL LICENSING
use various forms of hardware and/or software that reduce
SQL Server 2008 offers separate Server licenses (in the number of devices or users that directly access or use
Workgroup, Standard and Enterprise editions) in the software on a particular server, often called
conjunction with per device or per user client access multiplexing or pooling hardware or software. Use of such
licenses (CALs). Server plus CAL licenses are useful to multiplexing or pooling hardware and/or software does
customers using SQL Server in non-Web-based scenarios. not reduce the number of CALs required to access or
Server License. A Server license (for Workgroup, use SQL Server software. A CAL is required for each
Standard, or Enterprise editions) is required for every distinct device or user that is connected to the multiplexing
operating system environment on which that edition of SQL or pooling software or hardware front end.
Server software or any of its components (for example,
Analysis Services) is running. Without Multiplexing With Multiplexing

Device CAL. A SQL Server Device CAL is required in

order for a device (for example, a PC, workstation, Windows Server
CAL
CAL
terminal, PDA, mobile phone, and so on) to access or use required Data input required
the services or functionality of Microsoft SQL Server. The & query User 2
Data input
Server plus device CAL model will likely be the more cost- User 1
& query SQL Server
effective choice if there are multiple users per device (for CAL Data input
example, in a call center). Please see multiplexing section required Pooling & query
CAL
to ensure every device is licensed properly. Exceptions Device
hardware
required
or software
include communication exclusively between SQL Servers
and manual data transfer between employees. Device

User CAL. A SQL Server User CAL is required in order

Figure 1. Multiplexing. Users / devices that access a SQL
for a user (employee, customer, partner, and so on) to
server indirectly require a CAL
access or use the services or functionality of Microsoft SQL
Server. The Server plus user CAL model will likely be more This is true no matter how many tiers of hardware or
cost effective if there are multiple devices per user (for software exist between the SQL Server and the client
example, a user who has a desktop PC, laptop, PDA, and devices that ultimately use its data, services or
so forth). functionality. An exception to this includes the manual
A CAL is not software; it is a legal document granting a transfer of data from employee to employee. For example,
device or user access to server software. A single device if an employee sends an Excel version of a report to
CAL grants access to multiple servers for one device (CAL another employee, the receiving employee does not require
must be same version as latest version of any of the a CAL (as long as the report does not access a SQL Server
servers). A single user CAL grants access to multiple in some way). An additional exception is communication
servers for one user. exclusively between SQL servers.

SQL SERVER 2008 PROCESSOR LICENSING

Microsoft offers a processor-based licensing model to help
alleviate complexity. Processor licenses can be used for
any type of application (not limited to Web-based
scenarios).

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SQL SERVER 2008 PRICING AND LICENSING
active server for 30 days. Afterward, it must be
Without Multiplexing
No CAL
licensed accordingly.
required
Manually
User 1
CAL forward
User 2 Database Mirroring and Failover Clustering will be
Windows Server
required email available for Standard and Enterprise editions..

SQL Server With Multiplexing

Prod. Passive
Server Mirror
No CAL
required

User 3 Manually
forward User 4
Pooling CAL
required email
hardware
or software

Queries
Figure 2. Multiplexing. Manual transfers of reports, that
subsequently don’t access a SQL Server don’t require
CALs. Figure 3. Passive Servers. The passive server does not
require a license given that no queries are being executed
against it.
PASSIVE SERVERS / FAILOVER SUPPORT

Two or more servers, each running SQL Server, can be Prod. Passive
configured such that if one server fails, its processing will Server Mirror
be picked-up, recovered and continued by the other. SQL
Server 2008 offers 3 types of failover support:

 Database mirroring is a SQL Server 2008

technology for increasing database availability. Queries Snapshot Reporting
Database mirroring transfers transaction log
records directly from one server to another and
can quickly failover to the standby server. Figure 4. Passive Servers. The passive server requires a
license, given that queries are being run against snapshot
 Failover clustering. Failover clustering is a
reporting.
process in which the operating system and SQL
Server 2008 work together to provide availability
in the event of an application failure, hardware MULTICORE
failure, or operating-system error. Failover
Multicore processors, which consist of multiple processing
clustering provides hardware redundancy through
execution units or “cores” on one chip, are seen as a
a configuration in which mission-critical resources
promising way to boost computing power. Microsoft has
are transferred from a failing machine to an
been driving thought leadership in this area by charging the
equally configured server automatically.
same amount per processor, regardless of how many cores
 Backup Log-Shipping. Log-shipping increases a
are in the processor. In contrast, Oracle asks customers to
SQL Server database's availability by
multiply each “core” by different factors depending on
automatically copying and restoring the
processor type. IBM has a dual policy where customers
database's transaction logs to another database
with x86 platforms are charged per processor and
on a standby server. Because the standby
customers on IBM’s POWER5-based systems are charged
database receives all changes to the original
per core.
database, it's an exact duplicate of the original
database—out of date only by the delay in the
copy-and-load process. You then have the ability
to make the standby server a new primary server
if the original primary server becomes unavailable.
When the original primary server becomes
available again, you can make it a new standby
server—effectively reversing the servers' roles.
Single Core Dual Core Four Core
Processor Processor Processor
When doing failover support, a server is designated as
the passive server. The purpose of the passive server
is to absorb the data and information held in another
server that fails. A passive server does not need a Figure 3. Multicore. In each of these scenarios, a single
license, provided that the number of processors in the processor license is required for SQL Server, unlike Oracle
passive server is equal or less than those of the active and IBM licensing requirements.
server. The passive server can take the duties of the

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SQL SERVER 2008 PRICING AND LICENSING
physical and an unlimited number of virtual operating
environments on that same machine.
VIRTUALIZATION AND MULTI-INSTANCING Passive copies / Transferability of VMs
Virtualization is defined broadly as the running of software
on a “virtual environment.” A virtual environment takes Passive copies of SQL Server 2008 that are on virtual
place when an operating system (OS) is somehow environments which are not running on a machine do not
emulated, or does not run directly on the physical require the purchase of licenses. Copies of SQL Server
hardware. 2008 that are run on a virtual machine, can only be
transferred from server to server every 90 days. Running
When software is virtualized, one or several applications copies of the VMs can be moved across licensed servers
and their associated operating systems can run on one at any time.
physical server inside their respective virtual environments.
One of the benefits of a virtualized scenario is that multiple SQL SQL SQL
...
SQL SQL SQL
...
WG WG WG SE SE SE
applications can run concurrently on a server with isolation Virtual
OS
at the OS level. Environments

An option to virtualizing software is multi-instancing. In this

case, multiple copies of an application run concurrently on Physical
OS
a single copy of an OS. Multi-instancing for SQL Server Environment
2008 can take place both in a virtual environment or in a
physical environment. While multi-instancing offers a Server “A”
relatively high degree of isolation between copies of
SQL2008, this isolation takes place at the application level
(instead of at the OS level). Figure 4. In this example, we have two Virtual Operating
Environments. Each contains 3 running instances of SQL WG
When SQL Server 2008 runs inside a virtual operating or SE. Only one SQL license is required per each VOE, for a
total of 2 SQL licenses
environment, it requires at least one license per virtual
operating environment, except for SQL Server Enterprise
SQL SQL SQL SQL BTS BTS BTS BTS
edition. Several copies or instances of SQL Server 2008 Virtual
can run inside a virtual operating environment. These must OS
Environments
be licensed as follows:
Virt. Virt. Virt. Virt.
Proc Proc Proc Proc
When licensed Server / CAL
Physical
Workgroup and Standard editions now allow you to run any OS
Environment
number of instances of the server software in one physical
or virtual operating system environment on the licensed Server
server at a time. Previously, only the Enterprise edition of Proc Proc Proc Proc “A”
the Server license allowed multi-instancing. This is a great
incentive for customers to adopt the Server/CAL model.
Figure 5. In this example, we have a box with 4 physical
For Enterprise edition, for each server to which you assign processors. On it, two Virtual Operating Environments are running
SQL. In this case, two SQL Processor Licenses are required.
a software license, you may run, at any one time, any
number of instances of the server software in one physical
SQL SQL SQL SQL SQL BTS
and any number of virtual operating system environments Virtual
on that server. OS
Environments

When licensed Per Processor Virt.

Proc
Virt.
Proc
Virt.
Proc
Virt.
Proc
Virt.
Proc
Virt.
Proc

With Workgroup, Web, and Standard editions, for each Physical

server to which you have assigned the required number of OS
Environment
per processor licenses, you may run, at any one time, any
number of instances of the server software in physical and Proc Proc Proc Proc
Server
“A”
virtual operating system environments on the licensed
server. However, the total number of physical and virtual
processors used by those operating system environments Figure 6. In this example, we have a box with 4 physical
cannot exceed the number of software licenses assigned to processors. On it, five Virtual Operating Environments are running
that server SQL, each virtually accessing one processor. In this case, five
processor licenses are required for SQL.
For enterprise edition there is an added option: if all
physical processors in a machine have been licensed, then
you may run unlimited instances of SQL server 2008 in one

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SQL SERVER 2008 PRICING AND LICENSING
Virtualization for proc SQL SQL AS RS
licensing
SQL SQL SQL SQL SQL

WS WS WS WS WS
Proc 1 Proc 2 Proc 3 Proc 4
Figure 7. Licensing Servers with running components. In Scenario
1, a SQL Server is running with all of its components in one server:
WS/ Virtualization layer only one license is required. In Scenario 2, the database is running
in one server, analysis services in a second one, and reporting
Server services in a third one. In this case, three server licenses are
required.
Figure 7. This example shows the extra option available with the
enterprise edition only. Number of proc licenses required for EE : WORKGROUP EDITION
4 SQL Processor Licenses.
Workgroup edition is the easiest to use and most affordable
Number of proc licenses required for Standard, Workgroup: 5 solution for smaller departments and growing businesses.
SQL Processor licenses For SQL Server 2008, Workgroup is available in Server + 5
CAL bundles, individual CALs, and Per Processor licenses.
Workgroup has its own CALs called Workgroup CALs.
Virtualization for server/cal Workgroup CALs can only be used with Workgroup edition.
licensing SQL CALs can be used with any edition of SQL Server
2008, including SQL Workgroup edition.

SQL SQL SQL SQL Ent.

Server
Std.
Server
Wkgp.
Server

WS WS WS WS
WS/ Virtualization layer
Workgroup CAL
SQL CAL
Server
Figure 8. This example shows the extra option available with the Figure 8. SQL Workgroup. Workgroup CALs can only be used
against a SQL Server Workgroup edition. SQL CALs can be used
enterprise edition only. Required license using additional rights against any edition.
for EE : 1 SQL Server License. Required licenses for all other
workgroup and standard:4 SQL Server licenses
SQL SERVER CALS
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE / COMPONENTS IN With the exception of Workgroup CALs, all SQL Server
ADDITIONAL SERVERS 2008 CALs can be used against any licensed SQL Server
2008 server, regardless of the platform. For example, a 32
The Business Intelligence components for SQL Server bit SQL CAL can be used against a server running SQL
2008 include Analysis Services, Reporting Services, and Server Enterprise edition (64 bit). Likewise, a 64 bit SQL
Integration Services. To use any of these components, the CAL can be used against a server licensed for Workgroup
server on which Business Intelligence is installed must edition (32 bit). As previously mentioned, Workgroup CALs
have a valid SQL Server 2008 license. If these components can only be used against SQL Server Workgroup edition.
are in a separate server than the main database server,
then they require an additional license of each additional
server where they are installed. SQL SERVER 2008 WEB
SQL Server 2008 Web is a low-TCO, scalable and
manageable database option for web hosters and end
customers looking to deploy publicly facing web
applications and services. Please visit the SQL Server
2008 Editions pages for more information.

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SQL SERVER 2008 PRICING AND LICENSING
purchasing Software Assurance with the current version
SQL SERVER 2008 EXPRESS licenses to guarantee future version upgrades.
SQL Server 2008 Express edition is the fastest way for
developers and enthusiasts to learn, build, and deploy On top of new version rights, SA offers spread payments,
simple data driven applications. It’s available as a free TechNet Plus, Problem Resolution Support, Extended
download at www.microsoft.com/downloads. Please visit Lifecycle Hotfix support, “cold” backups for Disaster
the SQL Server 2008 Editions pages for more information. Recovery, corporate error reporting, and TechNet Online
Concierge chat. For more information on SA please go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/sa/default.ms
SQL SERVER 2008 DEVELOPER px
SQL Server 2008 Developer edition is a separate product
and is used for development and testing purposes only. It is PRICING AND DISCOUNTING
exactly the same as SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition
but licensed per developer or tester (person). Please visit SQL Server offers highly competitive Estimated Retail
the SQL Server 2008 Editions pages for more information. Pricing (ERP). Further, Microsoft has several options for
customers making volume purchases to realize significant
discounts off ERP through volume licensing programs (VL).
SQL SERVER 2008 EVALUATION
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Evaluation edition is for FOR MORE INFORMATION
evaluation purposes only and for up to 180 days of use. It
is downloadable for free or can be ordered on DVD from For more information, go to:
the www.microsoft.com. Please visit the SQL Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/how-to-
Editions pages for more information. buy.aspx

SPLA PROGRAM .

SPLA is the only licensing program that allows service This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
providers to offer SQL Server in a hosted environment.
DOCUMENT. Microsoft and Windows are either registered
Licensing in SPLA is either per hosted processor or per
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
server access license (SAL). A processor is required for
United States and/or other countries.
each processor accessed by end customers in a hosted
environment, while a SAL is required for each end
user/device accessing the server in a hosted environment.
For more information on the SPLA program please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/licensing/default
.mspx

ISV PROGRAM
The Microsoft® Independent Software Vendor (ISV)
Royalty Licensing Program is a software licensing program
designed for ISVs who incorporate Microsoft software into
their value-added software business solutions. The ISV
Royalty Licensing program makes it easy for ISV partners
to combine Microsoft technology with their own software
business application for commercial distribution to their
customers. It is a one-size-fits-all program that scales
across partners selling to large, small, or midmarket
customers. For more information on the ISV Program
please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/isv/licensing/default.aspx

DOWNGRADE RIGHTS FOR PREVIOUS VERSIONS

Customers can acquire SQL Server 2008 licenses and run
prior versions of SQL Server per downgrade rights outlined
in the EULAs (license agreements). Licenses can be added
to existing prior version installations with this same method.

UPGRADES AND SOFTWARE ASSURANCE

Customers can choose to upgrade their SQL Server
licenses by purchasing the new product outright, or by

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