Dual Processor Licensing

I intend to run SQL 2k on a dual processor server, my company wish however
to be very economic with licenses and i'd like to know if you run SQL 2k or
2005 for that matter, is it possible from inside SQL to set the application
to only run on one of the processors?
I know this is a bit of a dunb question and there are some very smart
answers that could be said, but i just need to ask the question, so i can go
back to company people and tell them they are being very tight!!
And get them to buy another enterprise server processor licence.
RgdsFrom the SQL Server licensing FAQ
(http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/faq.mspx)
<Excerpt>
Do I have to acquire licenses for all of the processors in a server?
A. You have to acquire licenses only for processors that are accessible to
any copy of the operating system upon which SQL Server 2005 is installed. In
a virtualized environment, processor licenses are required for every
processor that is accessed by a virtual machine. Please see the
virtualization licensing brief and virtualization white paper for more
information on how to license under a virtualized environment.
</Excerpt>
The same applies to SQL 2000. Although you can set SQL Server processor
affinity to restrict processor utilization, this does not reduce the number
of licenses required.
Hope this helps.
Dan Guzman
SQL Server MVP
"Stu" <lbwer@.blah.com> wrote in message
news:OxhPN5VtGHA.3552@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I intend to run SQL 2k on a dual processor server, my company wish however
>to be very economic with licenses and i'd like to know if you run SQL 2k or
>2005 for that matter, is it possible from inside SQL to set the application
>to only run on one of the processors?
> I know this is a bit of a dunb question and there are some very smart
> answers that could be said, but i just need to ask the question, so i can
> go back to company people and tell them they are being very tight!!
> And get them to buy another enterprise server processor licence.
> Rgds
>|||"Stu" <lbwer@.blah.com> wrote in message
news:OxhPN5VtGHA.3552@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I intend to run SQL 2k on a dual processor server, my company wish however
>to be very economic with licenses and i'd like to know if you run SQL 2k or
>2005 for that matter, is it possible from inside SQL to set the application
>to only run on one of the processors?
>
Yes. You can set SQL Server's CPU Affinity mask to have SQL run on a subset
of the processors. However this has no affect on licensing.
affinity mask Option
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187104.aspx

> I know this is a bit of a dunb question and there are some very smart
> answers that could be said, but i just need to ask the question, so i can
> go back to company people and tell them they are being very tight!!
> And get them to buy another enterprise server processor licence.
>
SQL Sever must be licensed on all processors that the Windows instance can
see. So unless you can turn off one of the CPU's in the BIOS, or you
install SQL Server on a Virtual Server that can only "see" one CPU, you must
license both processors.
SQL Server Pricing and Licensing
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtob...rlicensing.mspx
David|||Meaning I guess that because the application is installed on a dual
processor box, it will need 2 licences no matter now many are being
utilised?
"David Browne" <davidbaxterbrowne no potted meat@.hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:%234SpDIWtGHA.1512@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> "Stu" <lbwer@.blah.com> wrote in message
> news:OxhPN5VtGHA.3552@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Yes. You can set SQL Server's CPU Affinity mask to have SQL run on a
> subset of the processors. However this has no affect on licensing.
> affinity mask Option
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187104.aspx
>
> SQL Sever must be licensed on all processors that the Windows instance can
> see. So unless you can turn off one of the CPU's in the BIOS, or you
> install SQL Server on a Virtual Server that can only "see" one CPU, you
> must license both processors.
> SQL Server Pricing and Licensing
> http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtob...rlicensing.mspx
> David
>|||"Stu" <lbwer@.blah.com> wrote in message
news:e2XEVNWtGHA.4140@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Meaning I guess that because the application is installed on a dual
> processor box, it will need 2 licences no matter now many are being
> utilised?
Yes. Of course for licensing you count "sockets" not "cores".
David|||For SQL 2000, it is necessary to license for each CPU in the computer -even
if they are not used by SQL Server.
However, it SQL 2005, if you used VM Ware (or MS Virtual Server) to create
totally separate environments, then you can license for only the number of
CPU's that are used by SQL Server in that environment.
That could be cost effective for you.
See:
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...censingv1.1.doc
Arnie Rowland, Ph.D.
Westwood Consulting, Inc
Most good judgment comes from experience.
Most experience comes from bad judgment.
- Anonymous
"Stu" <lbwer@.blah.com> wrote in message
news:e2XEVNWtGHA.4140@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Meaning I guess that because the application is installed on a dual
> processor box, it will need 2 licences no matter now many are being
> utilised?
> "David Browne" <davidbaxterbrowne no potted meat@.hotmail.com> wrote in
> message news:%234SpDIWtGHA.1512@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>