Use Snow License Manager to review your Microsoft SQL Server estate, assign licenses using the appropriate metrics, and monitor compliance. This article covers inventoried installations across physical and virtual servers, including installation counts, versions, editions, locations, and resource use and allocation. It also explains how to add and assign licenses and create saved compliance reports.

Microsoft SQL Server applications

The list of all applications in Snow License Manager can contain many SQL Server applications, making it difficult to know where to start. Snow Recognition Services provides useful filters to switch between metrics and bundles. From a license compliance perspective, the editions you may need to manage include Enterprise, Standard, Web, and the older Datacenter edition.

This article focuses on Enterprise and Standard editions. SQL Server Express and Developer are free of charge, Datacenter is obsolete, and Web edition is available only through SPLA providers.

Start by reviewing a single SQL Server application. In this example, select Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard and open the Compliance tab (Picture 1).

Picture 1

In this example, the license requirement for every SQL Server 2012 Standard installation is calculated using the number of cores. The Compliance tab shows the actual number of cores in use across the estate (247) and the adjusted number of cores required for compliance (302). Calculations based on cores do not prevent you from applying a different metric, such as the Server + CAL model. License assignment using different metrics is covered in the Microsoft SQL Server licenses section.

Microsoft SQL Server application family

On the application page shown in Picture 1, select the Microsoft SQL Server application family link below the application name, highlighted by the red rectangle. The application family page contains information about all Microsoft SQL Server installations in your IT estate.

Picture 2

The top section (Picture 2) highlights the different SQL Server editions and shows the overall compliance percentage. The lower section (Picture 3) provides details about your SQL Server estate that can support business decisions. The first tab contains information about SQL Server license purchases, including the quantities purchased and whether the licenses have active Software Assurance.

Picture 3

The last tab, Processor/Core summary (Picture 4), shows details about each SQL Server installation, including the server type, edition, version, and processor and core resources used. This information helps you assign the appropriate license based on the applicable metric.

Picture 4

Application details and the SQL Server application family provide useful information. To collect and analyze the data needed to assign all SQL Server licenses, use the reports available in the report category.

Microsoft SQL Server reports

This section uses two built-in reports to help you understand your SQL Server estate and monitor compliance for each SQL Server installation. The goal is to determine which installations need which specific SQL Server licenses so you can assign them accordingly.

The two default reports used in this example are:

1. Microsoft SQL-Server hardware comparison
2. License tracking per computer

Microsoft SQL-Server hardware comparison

In the Microsoft SQL-Server hardware comparison report, remove and add the following columns to improve the overview of your SQL Server estate.

Removed columns:

• Organisation. Keep this column if you need to know which business unit a SQL Server belongs to. It is removed in this example.
• Applications licensed per processor
• Licensed processors
• Applications licensed per core
• Licensed cores

Added columns:

• Is Virtual
• Processor type. Use this column to identify the physical processor type of each physical server for the core factor calculation.

NOTE: Snow License Manager automatically takes the core factor into account.

Picture 5 shows an example of the resulting report.

Picture 5

The report lists SQL Server installations grouped by version and edition. It shows which installations run on physical standalone servers and which run on virtual machines. The processor count, core count, and processor type are important for compliance.

To review the physical hosts of virtual machines when assigning SQL Server licenses to the physical layer and using virtualization rights, use the SQL Server application family information (Picture 4) or the License tracking per computer report described next.

License tracking per computer

In the License tracking per computer report, apply the following two filters, joined by and (Picture 6):

• Application manufacturer: Select like and enter Microsoft corporation.
• Application name: Select like and enter Microsoft SQL Server%.

Picture 6

Remove and add the following columns to improve the overview of your SQL Server estate.

Removed columns:

• Organisation. Keep this column if you need to know which business unit a SQL Server belongs to. It is removed in this example.
• Manufacturer
• Assignment type

Added columns:

• Compliance
• Datacenter name
• Host computer name
• Requirement adjustment reasons

Picture 7 shows the customized report. No Microsoft SQL Server licenses have been added to Snow License Manager at this point in the example, so the Compliance column shows a shortage for every SQL Server installation. The top section of the report lists physical standalone servers.

Picture 7

Select or filter by a particular datacenter to view the datacenter and its hosts (Picture 8). Use this overview to help decide whether to license the physical layer or individual virtual servers, based on the number of virtual servers running SQL Server.

Picture 8

In this example, save the customized report in the personal report group Microsoft Reports with the name Microsoft SQL Server installation on physical servers and virtual servers, including compliance position.

Microsoft SQL Server licenses

Reviewing the application list and application family provides information about the Microsoft SQL Server applications running in your estate. The two reports provide the additional information needed to start assigning SQL Server license entitlements.

In this example, a review of the Microsoft agreements and licenses identifies the following entitlements:

• 9 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard licenses (Server + CAL).
• 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise licenses (Server + CAL).
• 18 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Core licenses (2-packs, equivalent to 36 cores in Snow License Manager).
• 27 Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Core licenses (2-packs, equivalent to 54 cores in Snow License Manager).
• 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard licenses (Server + CAL).

Picture 9 shows the compliance summary for Microsoft SQL Server before the licenses are added.

Picture 9. Compliance summary report, with criteria set to Microsoft as the manufacturer and SQL as the application family.

Add the Microsoft SQL Server licenses one at a time and assign each license to the correct machine, regardless of the license metric.

To determine which license each machine needs, consult the relevant people in your organization to understand the SQL database, its components, and how they are used.

Contact your Microsoft trusted advisor or reseller (LSP) for help with the SQL Server licensing rules and product terms that apply to your situation.

Assign Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard licenses

Start with the nine Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard licenses. In this example, five licenses are assigned to SQL Server 2000 Standard installations using downgrade rights.

To assign these licenses, on the Purchase tab, set Assignment type to Computer/datacenter, as shown in Picture 10.

Picture 10

On the Assignment tab, assign the licenses to the specific servers running SQL Server 2000 Standard, as shown in Picture 11.

Picture 11

Assign Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Core licenses

After assigning the two Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise licenses, continue with the 18 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Core licenses. Add them as one purchase record containing 36 cores (18 × 2), as shown in Picture 12.

Picture 12

Use the saved License tracking per computer report, Microsoft SQL Server installation on physical servers and virtual servers, including compliance position, to assign the available Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Core licenses, as shown in Picture 13.

Picture 13

Complete license assignment and review compliance

Assign the remaining licenses: 27 Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Core licenses and 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard licenses. Review the results in the compliance report (Picture 14) and the saved license tracking report (Picture 15).

Picture 14

Picture 15