The Flexible Virtualization Benefit applies to the desktop applications too, and so customers with Office LTSC Standard or Professional Plus 2021/2024 licenses with Software Assurance can run the Office applications from an Authorized Outsourcer’s shared hardware for access from licensed…
The Flexible Virtualization Benefit also applies to Windows 11, enabling customers to deploy desktop operating systems software on an Authorized Outsourcer’s shared servers. This can then be accessed by licensed users or by users using licensed devices. Customers can either…
The introduction of the Flexible Virtualization Benefit enables Windows Server licenses to be used for the first time on third-party shared hardware outside of Azure. The new licensing option to license Windows Server by virtual machine was also introduced in…
The rules for licensing products in an Authorized Outsourcer’s shared or dedicated environment are the same as the rules for licensing the products in a customer’s on-premises infrastructure. The following sections give a bit more detail on Windows Server, Windows…
Listed Providers or Authorized Outsourcers An outsourcing organization is a third party that customers use to handle their IT infrastructure which probably includes hardware, IT services, and software. Microsoft categorize all outsourcing organizations into either Listed Providers or Authorized Outsourcers.…
Microsoft introduced the Flexible Virtualization Benefit in October 2022 to enable customers to use their (eligible) licenses to install and run software on an Authorized Outsourcer’s hardware that is shared between multiple customers.
The Azure Hybrid Benefit allows a customer to use their licenses in an on-premises infrastructure OR in Azure virtual machines OR with Azure SQL PaaS solutions. There is, however, an exception to this rule: when customers are migrating existing workloads…
The Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server is not enabled automatically; however, it’s a simple task for an administrator to adjust a database’s configuration settings to turn this option on for any database.
Existing SQL Server Standard or Enterprise Core licenses with SA or Software Subscriptions cover a certain number of vCores for either Azure SQL Managed Instance or Azure SQL Database solutions, dependent on the tier that is chosen, as shown below:…
If you run SQL Server 2012 virtual machines in Azure, you’ll automatically receive Extended Security Updates, free of charge, through existing SQL update channels. SQL Server 2012 reached the end of its support lifecycle on July 12, 2022, and three…