Re: Are multiple-instances on a single cluster supported with SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition?

Maria,

I am not a Licensing expert (yes, we have Licensing experts in Microsoft) but to find the answer to your qs

" We currently have four processor licenses. Each node has four processors. This is an Active/Passive configuration. Why would all processors on all hosts require licensing for a new instance in an
active/passive configuration?"

I searched the "SQL Server 2005 Licensing: Frequently Asked Questions"
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/faq.mspx

and found the following

Q. If I am doing log shipping in an active/passive failover configuration, how should I license the backup server?
A. In this scenario, the passive server does not require a license, unless the passive server has more processors than the active server, and the active server is licensed under the per processor model.


Since you will have 4 processor licenses and you are going to have an active/passive failover configuration, you do not need licenses for the passive node.

Now coming to your qs on running multiple instances on the active node

Q. How does licensing work with the multi-instance feature in SQL Server 2005?
A. You can run multiple instances of SQL Server 2005 on a single computer. Multiple instances are used by organizations that have several applications running on a server but want them to run in isolation so that any
problem in one instance will not affect the other instances. In SQL Server 2005, you can now run multiple instances with the Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise editions when they are licensed server/CAL or on a
per-processor basis.


So, if you have processor licenses, you can run multiple-instances on the active node.

Note that if you have an active/active failover scenario then you will have to license the procs on both the active nodes.

BTW - For SQL Server 2005, one can have upto 25 clustered instances on the same cluster. 16 was the limit for SQL Server 2000.


Best Regards,

Uttam Parui
Microsoft Corporation

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