We have a boat load of older servers. Dual core machines that used to run SQL Server in production. Newer technologies and demands on IT have required us to buy newer servers with quad and hex cores. So who says we have to retire these perfectly good dual core machines? Unfortunately Microsoft does. Licensing by the CPU means we can get quad and hex core licensing for the same price as dual core CPU's. With licensing being incredibly expensive at the enterprise level we cannot reasonably license these older servers and upgrade to newer technologies.
Here is a recent conversation I had with a Microsoft technology specialist on the idea of bundling together these older servers for cheaper licensing:
So here I am still wondering how I can make those servers useful.
Here is a recent conversation I had with a Microsoft technology specialist on the idea of bundling together these older servers for cheaper licensing:
I have a question that someone at the SQL Saturday event said you would have some comment on even if the answer is basically no. I have a bunch of HP DL320's laying around with Dual Core processors. Now it is not economically sound to license these servers with enterprise SQL Server and yet they can still serve a purpose if it wasn't so darn expensive to license by CPU these older models. I was hoping the acquisition of Datallegro in 2008 would lead to more than just a competitive reach in data warehousing for Microsoft. I was hoping someone would see the value in allowing older servers to be bundled as one using something like Datallegro so that we could still use these servers in production. I would love to bundle up 4 of these servers and license as one server with 8 cores. So my question is very open here. What do you recommend other than buying new servers (which we have already done)? Can we use these older servers in production without killing ourselves on licensing? Has Microsoft considered this issue with older servers? What other solutions can you recommend? - Tony
Sorry, but the Parallel Data Warehouse solution we will be delivering later this year (and built from the DATAllegro technology) is a self-contain data warehouse appliance and doesn’t represent a change to our licensing model in terms of the ability to bundle otherwise stand-alone servers.
Most of our customers who have older hardware which cannot not be used for production purposes redeploy them for development and testing purposes where Developer Edition can be employed. Developer Edition is available for a nominal charge (if not already covered through existing agreements). Outside of the licensing concerns, older hardware is more prone to failure and replacement parts can be hard to come by. For this reason alone, we wouldn’t recommend using older systems in a production setting. - Microsoft rep
So here I am still wondering how I can make those servers useful.
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