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Windows Server 2012 Virtualization Concern.

Tags:
  • microsoft windows server
  • Windows Server
  • Virtualization
  • Business Computing
Last response: in Business Computing
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July 29, 2014 1:59:36 PM

So, I called Microsoft support, and apparently, the guy, after going on for half an hour looking for manuals and licenses, couldn't really give me an answer.

So I know that with the Datacenter edition you can have unlimited virtualizations, and with the standard edition you can only have 2.

Everything is clear, what is not clear is, if I install, for example, VirtualBox, or VMware or whatever else on the server, will I be able to run unlimited instances for example, of linux? Or they have a sneaky way to block it? I'm not sure!

Thank you!

More about : windows server 2012 virtualization concern

July 29, 2014 2:27:06 PM

Microsoft Virtualization has some system resource advantages in use as compared to VirtualBox or VMware - but they can't limit your installations of active installs as far as I know....they only hold the licensing on their product.
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July 29, 2014 2:32:34 PM

Even in Windows 8, you can have as many virtual machines as you have hardware resources for.

For instance, I've run 3 at once (WinXP, Server 2012, and Linux) in individual VirtualBox instances.

What they may be talking about is actual Server 2012 licenses. Each VM requires its own license. Datacenter many allow unlimited, while Standard only 2.
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July 29, 2014 4:58:52 PM

USAFRet is right with this one. You can technically run an unlimited number of virtual machines in Hyper-V (both Windows Server and Windows 8 Pro) but of course are just limited by the amount of hardware resources you have to allocate really. However, you can only use that single license of Windows Server 2012 Standard on two of your virtual machines. Or if you buy Datacenter then they can all use that same license. But for example you could have a single physical host server with Server 2012 Standard installed with the Hyper-V role (and ONLY that role) and then have two VMs with Server 2012 Standard with that same license, plus a dozen Linux VMs, a couple Windows 7 VMs (each with their own Windows 7 license), plus another VM with Windows Server 2008 (if you have that license), etc.
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July 30, 2014 6:48:38 AM

If Microsoft Licensing could ever make sense - both of you have now made it so....thank you for the clarification :-)
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