Which version of windows server to choose?

Question

Windows Server

Greetings!
Please tell me which version of windows server 2022 to choose, Standard or Datacenter?
I want to raise 100 virtual machines.
I read that in the Standard version (2 virtual machines and one Hyper-V host per license), but I didn’t quite understand this point, it turns out that in the standard version you can only create 2 virtual machines in Hyper V?

Answer 1

it turns out that in the standard version it is possible to create only 2 virtual machines in Hyper V?

- technically any number of VMs will work, 2VMs will be licensed clean (there is a host used only for Hyper-V).

I want to raise 100 virtual machines.

The general rule is this: all physical cores of the server are licensed, the minimum order is 16 cores (even if your server has 4 cores - buy 16).
Let's say you have a 2 CPU server, each CPU contains 32 cores (64 threads) - 64 physical cores in total. Now we consider:
- Standard: 16-core license X 4 pieces = approximately 320K-350K r; 100 VMs = 50 licenses. Accordingly, you need 200 pieces of 16-core licenses, each costs about 80K-85K. Total = 16M rub.
- Datacenter: 16-core license X 4pcs = approximately 2M p; number of VMs = unlimited. Total = 2M rub.
There was a comparison that the Standard edition becomes unprofitable already at 12-14-16 VM ... Plus, some features are missing or cut in Standard (Storage Spaces Direct, for example)

Answer 2

Windows server is licensed per physical host, per core (minimum 16 cores).
The license does not limit the number of virtual machines on a physical host.
But each virtual machine must be licensed.
If you have windows server virtual machines, they must have an advising license.
The standart license allows you to run two windows server virtual machines within the same host.
The datacenter license allows you to run any number of windows server virtual machines within one host.
Running virtual machines of other operating systems is licensed according to the licensing policy of these operating systems.
An important nuance, given the number of virtual machines you specified, you probably want to run them for other organizations, you cannot transfer a regular windows server license to another organization, neither the standard nor the datacenter. Those. your license will not cover virtual machines that are not used by you, even if the physical host is yours and you have a datacenter.