Cost-based licensing optimization for Microsoft clusters

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 5 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Cost-based licensing optimization for Microsoft clusters

    The cost-based licensing optimization for Microsoft clusters in ServiceNow's Software Asset Management enables automatic balancing of license compliance and cost-effectiveness, maximizing savings in on-premise cluster deployments. This optimization supports various Microsoft license types, including per core licenses for SQL Server and Windows Server.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • License Consumption Analysis: Automatically determines the most cost-effective licensing approach—whether to use licenses on physical hosts, VMs, or both—while ensuring compliance.
    • Multiple Editions Optimization: Evaluates the cost-effectiveness of using different Microsoft software product editions, like SQL Server Standard vs. Enterprise, based on virtualization density and processor core counts.
    • Software Assurance Evaluation: Compares licenses with and without Microsoft Software Assurance to determine the most economical choice for clusters, highlighting the benefits of Software Assurance in high-density environments.
    • License Consumption Order: Scans the entire cluster deployment to prioritize the use of more expensive license editions based on processor cores and VM counts.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging this licensing optimization, ServiceNow customers can expect to:

    • Maximize cost savings while ensuring compliance across their Microsoft cluster environments.
    • Make informed decisions about which licenses to apply based on consumption patterns and software editions.
    • Effectively manage and optimize licensing for both clusters and standalone physical hosts, enhancing overall operational efficiency.

    The cost-based licensing optimization for Microsoft clusters enables you to automatically balance license compliance with cost effectiveness so that you can maximize cost savings throughout your on-premise cluster deployments.

    This licensing optimization is supported by the following Microsoft license types:
    • Per core licenses for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft BizTalk Server
    • Per core (with CAL) licenses for Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Core Infrastructure Server, and Microsoft System Center
    See Supported Microsoft license types for more information on per core and per core (with CAL) licenses.
    Note:
    To use this licensing optimization for your per core licenses, you must enable the Ratio of the entitlement cost of a Microsoft SQL Server Standard with Software Assurance to the cost of Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise with Software Assurance (com.snc.samp.sqlserver.standard_sa.to.enterprise_sa.cost.ratio) and Ratio of the entitlement cost of a Microsoft Software Assurance entitlement to the cost of a Microsoft Non-Software Assurance entitlement (com.snc.samp.ms.sa.to.nonsa.cost.ratio) Software Asset Management properties. To use this licensing optimization for your per core (with CAL) licenses, you must enable the Microsoft Windows Server for Datacenter license cost optimization threshold (com.snc.samp.windowserver.license.threshold) Software Asset Management property. See Software Asset Management properties for more information on these properties.
    With this licensing optimization, the Software Asset Management application automatically determines the most cost-effective licensing solution for each of your Microsoft clusters based on the following factors:
    License consumption
    The Software Asset Management application determines whether it is more cost-effective to consume licenses on physical hosts only, VMs only, or a combination of both physical hosts and VMs.
    Note:
    When determining the most cost-effective license consumption solution for each cluster, the Software Asset Management application also accounts for license compliance.
    Microsoft software product edition

    If you have licenses for multiple Microsoft software product editions, such as Microsoft SQL Server Standard and Enterprise edition, the Software Asset Management application determines whether it is more cost-effective to use only one license edition or a combination of license editions. For example, although Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition licenses cost four times more than Standard Edition licenses, they may be more cost-effective to be used in clusters that either have a high virtualization density or contain physical hosts with a large number of processor cores, as they can use Software Assurance benefits like unlimited virtualization. The Software Asset Management application automatically determines the most cost-effective manner in which to apply these Enterprise Edition licenses.

    Microsoft Software Assurance (applying Software Assurance entitlements vs Non-Software Assurance entitlements)

    If you have both licenses with and without Microsoft Software Assurance (SA), which is the software maintenance program that provides volume licensing benefits such as license mobility and unlimited virtualization, the Software Asset Management application determines which license type is more cost-effective to use. For example, licenses with Software Assurance may be more cost-effective to be used in clusters with a high virtualization density since they offer unlimited virtualization. However, licenses without Software Assurance may be more cost-effective to be used on standalone physical hosts since these hosts do not require any license mobility benefits.

    Important:
    Active Microsoft SA or Microsoft software subscription licenses are required for licensing virtual machines (VMs).

    See Software license maintenance for more information on Microsoft Software Assurance.

    License consumption order across on-premise clusters
    If you are using licenses for multiple Microsoft software product editions, the Software Asset Management application scans the entire on-premise cluster deployment infrastructure to determine where to use the more expensive license editions first. The Software Asset Management application makes this determination based on the number of processor cores within each physical host and VM, the number of VMs within each cluster, and any installations that are detected for the more expensive edition. The Software Asset Management application prioritizes using the more expensive license editions on clusters with a higher total number of VM processor cores.
    Note:
    If your Microsoft environment contains both clusters and standalone physical hosts, the Software Asset Management application processes and licenses all clusters first. After all clusters are successfully licensed, the Software Asset Management application processes and licenses all standalone physical hosts.

    If you want to test or debug Microsoft Windows Server clusters that are using per core (with CAL) licenses, you can view the recommended licensing optimizations for each cluster using the Potential savings by optimizing licenses [samp_license_optimization_summary] table.