SQL Server Licensing Questions

SQL Server Administration
1

I'm looking into migrating some SQL 2014 and 2016 instances to 2017.

  1. Is licensing by core the most common type of SQL license?
  2. If I install Visual Studio onto a database server, is there a license cost for VS?

Thanks.

2

You can license by the core or what they call the "server + CAL" model. Server + CAL is only appropriate if you have a very few number of specific people that will access the data.

Microsoft SQL Server | Microsoft Licensing Resources

Visual Studio has a community edition. I'm not sure if there are any restrictions on installing that on a server.

Pricing and Purchasing Options | Visual Studio (microsoft.com)

I've had good luck putting Visual Studio Code on servers. It lets you edit code and is a fantastic file editor.

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3

Thank you, graz. We are implementing SQL Server 2017. Any ideas for obtaining license pricing? I want to compare Standard to Enterprise. Thanks.

4

Unfortunately most of my clients buy licenses in ways I don't pay attention to -- except for the core count :wink: Google is probably as good as anything. Or whoever you buy MS licenses from. Just remember they sell in 2-core packs -- not per individual core.

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