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How To Use SQL Enterprise 2012 Under A Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA)

November 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I once had a sales leader say to me “where there is change, there is opportunity.” What we”ve found regarding SQL 2012 is there is a lot of confusion around virtualization, how this will affect the datacenter environment, and ultimately how will this affect costs. At the same time, it might mean opportunity!

I wrote in a previous blog post about SQL 2012 in a general sense, and today I would like to review my two reasons on why switching to SQL Enterprise 2012 may be a good move.

  1. SQL Enterprise  2012 allows unlimited virtualization
  2. SQL Enterprise 2012 allows license mobility

Those two things alone “might” be a reason to switch. With unlimited virtualization, you can license every physical core (minimum 4 cores per processor) on the host machine that allow you to spin up as many virtual instances of SQL on that host machine. This is a good move considering the cost of SQL Datacenter 2008R2 was outrageous. The issue now is SQL 2012 is licensed by the core not by the physical processor. For those service providers that built very robust servers with multiple cores this may be a price increase. (Thus, the “might” part in my explanation above in reasons to switch.)

So now that you have unlimited virtualization, what happens if those virtual instances (VM’s) can move from host to host or even across data centers?Theoretically you would need to license those physical hosts right?

To quote ESPN’s Lee Corso… “Not so fast my friend.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Licensing, SPLA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

SQL EAP Licensing changes now in effect (long term benefits still remain)

April 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Customers who Signed By to April 1st Saw Advantages in EAP Agreement Terms

In a recent survey conducted by Softchoice in March, nearly 70% of customers surveyed had either never heard of an EAP Agreement (Enrollment Application Platform Agreement) or expressed specific interest in learning more. Surprisingly, only 15% of customers were currently leveraging EAP advantages in their organization.

As of April 1st, significant changes took effect with regards to the minimum number of processors required for an initial EAP and not everyone took advantage.

Prior to April 1st, Microsoft outlined a 6 processor requirement to enroll in an EAP and after April 1st, the new EAP requires a 50 core minimum (12.5 processors at an average of 4 cores per processor). This change effectively doubles the amount of processors running SQL needed to get into the enrollment.

If your organization was one of the many who took advantage of an EAP before the licensing changes of SQL 2012 took effect on April 1st, well done!  The decision will yield benefits for years to come.  But what if you didn’t act in time?  SQL 2012 packs many reasons why customers should look to switch or upgrade.  The EAP is still the best purchasing vehicle for customer running SQL and should be investigated in most circumstances.

Although we’ve outlined the benefits of an EAP several times with content provided in our SQL 2012 Licensing Field Guide and via our blog in postings like this, here’s a quick recap on how working with an EAP through Softchoice can help you navigate the SQL licensing waters.

What is it? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Licensing, Pricing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Softchoice’s SQL 2012 Field Guide Now Available!

April 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last month Softchoice surveyed our broad base of Microsoft customers to find out more about their interest and readiness to begin a migration to SQL 2012. As a thank you for their participation, we offered them an advance peek at our Softchoice exclusive SQL 2012 Licensing Field Guide. Now available for wide release, we’re posting the Field Guide as a free download to all of our Softchoice followers.

Our ebook includes insight on:

  • Industry trends: What’s affecting our IT environments?
  • Reasons to migrate to SQL 2012: Key benefits for your business
  • What’s new with SQL 2012 Licensing Models & Pricing Changes
  • How Softchoice can help you evaluate your adoption strategy with our SQL TechCheck

Download your complimentary field guide today for key insights into how to best prepare for a migration to SQL 2012.

Filed Under: Business Solutions, Licensing, Pricing, Product Roadmaps Tagged With: , , , ,

All About the Core – Key SQL 2012 Update for SPLA Partners

January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

There’s significant buzz about the updates and changes afoot for SQL 2012, but what does it mean for our SPLA partners?

In general, the key takeaways from this product update include:

  • Replacement of Processor License with Core Licenses
  • Retirement of the Datacenter edition and the Workgroup edition
  • Retirement of SQL Enterprise SAL
  • Introduction of the new Business Intelligence SAL
  • SQL Web remaining with SPLA/Removed for other Microsoft vol. licensing programs

So what does all that mean to you?  Beginning in spring when SQL 2012 launches (or whenever you choose to deploy) you’ll be paying for the power that you need instead of the physical processors.  In addition, SQL Enterprise will offer unlimited virtualization rights. Given how pricey the Datacenter SKU has historically been, this could mean cost savings for service providers that were previously licensing Datacenter.

The new way of licensing SQL 2012 is a bit interesting.  Instead of licensing by the physical processor you will need to license by the core.  The cores will be approximately ¼ of the costs of SQL 2008R2 processor license.  However, there’s a 4 core minimum in order to report this SKU.  In other words, if you have a machine with two cores, you still need to report four cores! 

Here are some simple guidelines:

  1. Count the number of cores on the server
  2. Minimum four core licenses are required per physical processor
  3. Purchase the appropriate number of core licenses for the future
  4. Licenses are sold in packs – each pack includes two core packs. 

The transition process is a bit cloudy, (no pun intended).   One of the key benefits of SPLA is the ability to use the latest version and downgrade to previous SKU. This is an option within the parameters of specific dates:

  • Spring 2012: General availability for SQL 2012
  • January 2013:  SQL 2012 will be available on the SPUR and on the pricelists. There will be two SKUs for each product (1 for SQL 2008R2 and 1 for SQL 2012)
  • Spring 2012 – January 2013: SQL 2008R2 and SQL 2012 will be on the pricelist.  This means if you are not ready to move to 2012, you can continue to license 200R2 in the same fashion you’re doing it today (per physical CPU).  Once you migrate to 2012, you need to adhere to the 2012 use rights and report 2012 SKU.

More information on this coming soon!  Look for another blog post on SQL 2012 as more information becomes available.  If you have a volume licensing agreement, check out the other blogs on this at http://blogs.softchoice.com/microsoftnavigator/2011/11/04/sql-2012-denali-microsoft-outlines-upcoming-licensing-changes/

Filed Under: Licensing, Pricing, SPLA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Seven SQL 2012 Wonders: Why the Switch to “Denali” is A Savvy Move

November 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Making the move to a new version of a relational database management system is no small task. The migration effort can be downright daunting in its complexity. As with the installation of a new OS, organizations face a tremendous implementation, testing and validation effort. In many cases, custom code and stored procedures may have to be re-written, or applications updated, or other processes need to be modified in order to take full advantage of the new database platform.

In the face of all of that effort and investment, why migrate to SQL Server 2012? The Softchoice Navigator has compiled what we view as the seven wonders of SQL 2012 that make the move worthwhile for any organization.

1.)    AlwaysOn – High Availability and Disaster Recovery

Many applications and distributed systems rely on SQL Server databases in order to function. While you might be able to accept a downed server or two in an array of web servers, an outage in SQL Server is frequently the last thing your business can sustain. 

In SQL 2012, Microsoft introduces AlwaysOn to address the need for a highly available SQL Server infrastructure. AlwaysOn is a (high-availability (HA) and disaster-recovery (DR) ready-for-the-enterprise solution that provides a new option for DBAs who previously might have leveraged other options, such as database mirroring or Windows Server Clustering in their SQL environments.

There’s still a great deal for Developers, DBAs, and Systems Engineers to uncover about the AlwaysOn solution and how it will enable seamless failover but the buzz about this feature is considerable. If there’s a key benefit in SQL 2012 that is generating excitement, this is it.

2.)    Give Me Speed

SQL Server 2012 is going to be fast. New technologies like In-Memory Column Store are showing dramatic improvements in the ability to return a dataset from a query. Microsoft reports that in some cases, execution of queries has been up to one hundred times faster than in previous versions of SQL Server. In-Memory Column Store (codenamed “Apollo”)  is an underlying technology in PowerPivot, and is now a core technology in the SQL platform.

Existing features are faster too, including Full-Text Search, which has also been improved to provide faster query execution. Changes to the way that Full-Text Search uses memory, block in db operations, and other changes have resulted in dramatic improvements in its performance.

3.)    Better Data Quality Services

Data input to a SQL database table isn’t always going to be 100% correct, and sometimes it needs to be cleaned up before accurate reports can be produced. But what if there are millions of rows in a table with dozens of fields? A manual effort could take weeks, and probably introduce even more errors.

Data Quality Services (DQS) in SQL 2012 leverages an internal Knowledge Base about what data in specific fields should look like, and once that KB is populated with information about your data, DQS will be able to ensure high quality data and that your reports will be accurate. What’s best about the DQS feature is that it doesn’t take a highly skilled DBA to configure and use – end users can manage that process themselves.

4.)    Beefed Up BI Capabilities

SQL 2012 includes improved Business Intelligence capabilities, powered by a Project “Crescent”. Crescent is part of SQL Reporting Services, and allows users to visually represent data, enabling an interactive way to gain real business intelligence from the information at hand.

A further benefit of using AlwaysOn is that mirror servers can be used to create and run reports. Using Crescent, those reports, or ad-hoc queries, can be run against target servers that are part of a Database Availability Group, which allows real-time reporting without affecting production systems.

The Sematic Model within Denali enables business intelligence solutions to scale to very large organizations and includes one mode of use for all types of end users – users who create simple reports, or who are building customer BI applications.

5.)    Shiny New Developer Tools

SQL 2012 will include a new set of developer tools that are compatible with Microsoft’s Visual Studio suite, and that are also backward-compatible with previous versions of SQL Server. These tools are intended to make the lives of developers not only easier, but also more productive too.

Juneau is comprised of a set of tools to enable developers to build, test, debug, control revisions, and modify databases and associated applications for various platforms, such as downlevel SQL Server instances, or SQL Azure. Also included are query tools, which may make visits to the SQL Server Management Studio increasingly rare for developers and DBAs.

6.)    Server Core Support

SQL Server 2012 is now supported on Windows Server 2008 Core. No version of the Windows OS is completely free from the need to apply updates (ie: say “Patch Tuesday” and everyone knows what you mean), but by installing SQL Server 2012 on Windows Server Core, you’ve significantly reduced the number of OS components that need to be updated. That in turn can reduce the number of updates that require a restart of the OS. And both of those things can, again, translate into improved ability to meet your SLAs.

7.)    Cloud Capabilities

Even better news, SQL Server 2012 is cloud ready. This means:

  • flexible options for deploying SQL 2012 using the same version of SQL that you would use in a traditional deployment scenario
  • quickly deploying SQL and managing it with the same tools that you would use to manage a traditional implantation
  • integration with platforms such as SQL Azure, which will allow organizations to scale services out rapidly without needing to change platforms.

SQL Server 2012 CTP 3 is available for download today with the final version release date currently scheduled for Q1 of 2012.

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