Since SAP more or less supported the usage of VMWare and Hyper-V as Software Virtualization layer for Windows (see SAP OSS note #674851 and https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/windows ) one question came up more and more. Which is: How do I license Windows and SQL Server in typical SAP scenarios where processor licenses are used?

Windows Licensing for Software Virtualization

For Windows Server 2003 the following licensing conditions got applied with Windows Server 2003 R2

• Standard Edition: Allows 1 Physcial OR 1 Virtual Instance
• Enterprise Edition: Allows 1 Physical AND 4 additional Virtual Instances
• Datacenter: Allows 1 Physical AND unlimited number of Virtual Instances

  For Windows Server 2008 the following conditions apply:

• Standard Edition: Allows 1 Physcial AND 1 Virtual Instance
• Enterprise Edition: Allows 1 Physical AND 4 additional Virtual Instances
• Datacenter: Allows 1 Physical AND unlimited number of Virtual Instances

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