Over the last couple of weeks I’ve posted a series on Licensing SQL Server.  The purpose of this blog post is to tie the series up with a summary.

So here is a list of the posts in the series and what was covered as well as some other posts that are related.

Part 1 – Server and CAL licensing

Part 2 – Processor based Licensing

Part 3 – Virtualization (also check out this post for more details)

SQL Server and Licensing for redundant servers

Parting comments

I want to leave this series with some guidelines that I recommend you take into account when making licensing decisions around SQL Server 2008.

If you are considering the processor vs Server and CAL models, edition migrations is something to take into account.  This is particularly important if you are on SQL Standard where we are working hard to make the Enterprise edition of SQL Server much more compelling.  I predict that this will be a big consideration for the future.  Watch this space.

Secondly if you are looking to virtualize SQL Server, you want to look at SQL Server Enterprise – as this eases the cost burden in virtual environments because you license the physical hardware, not the virtual hardware – not to mention that you can take advantage of the other benefits of SQL Server Enterprise.

Finally, we’ve just released a new licensing option if you are on an Enterprise Agreement and interested in licensing lots of SQL Servers (good for swapping from Oracle to SQL).  It provides 15-40% off the price of SQL Server, gives you unlimited deployment rights and problem resolution and can be customised for larger customers depending on what you are working to do over a 1-3 year period.  Read more about it in this PDF.

If you have a scenario that you want some help or comments on, send them through and I’ll post answers here.