Choosing the Right SQL Server Edition is the one decision that will directly impact what SQL Server features are available to you and how much the SQL Server will cost you in licensing. Getting it right is vital in getting the best return on your data platform.
I often encounter customers and businesses who don’t have a DBA, and I often help IT managers, heads of IT, CTOs, IT Directors and the like to better understand their SQL Servers and hopefully remove some of the headaches SQL Servers can cause them if they don’t have the right skills in house.
If the above paragraph describes you to some degree, then I think you’ll be interested in a series of blog posts I have planned where I am going to discuss what IT Leaders need to do to ensure that their SQL Servers keep supporting the business and deliver them more value than the headache’s that they cause.
I was attending the PASS Data Community Summit last week, and during the keynote, it was announced that SQL Server 2022 has been released. It’s always exciting, well, it is for me, when a new version of SQL Server drops. It has a lot of features that integrate nicely with Azure. Granted, a new version is not normally a driver for upgrading versions, but a new version in SQL Server 2022 combined with SQL Server 2012 going out of support it might just be an opportunity to upgrade to the latest and great version.
What edition do you need?
You will need to decide on an edition. This will dictate what features and limitations are available to you. There are technically three editions to choose from for your production environment.
- Express
- Standard
- Enterprise
It is best not to use Express
As a rule of thumb, because of the severe limitations of Express, you will likely outgrow it in a matter of weeks, I don’t recommend you use this in production. The big selling point for you, dear IT leader, is the license is free to use in production. The problem, though, is it will cause your more trouble and possibly money in the medium term than that nice little freebie is worth.
This leaves the two paid versions that can be used in production.
Standard or Enterprise Edition
If you are using SQL Server to support a third-party or vendor application, your supplier may have had some requirements around this, so it would be worth checking with them first. As a rule of thumb, I advise customers to use the Standard edition unless they need enterprise edition features.
As a cautious note, many features may be useful to you in the Enterprise edition; You can read the comparison here. Hopefully, that can help you make a decision. Also, your vendor might need a particular feature that is an enterprise-only feature which may influence your final decision.
The reason for my generic advice is “use the Standard edition unless you need enterprise edition features.” Comes down to cost and pricing. Licensing for SQL Server is reasonably complex, and I can’t find any details on cost for SQL Server 2022 yet, but looking at SQL Server 2019 pricing, you’ll quickly see why I give the above advice.
There are always deviations from my “rules of thumb”. If you do need Enterprise edition, then I feel you have a very good business case for bringing in either a DBA to work for you or hiring some skills in to make sure you are getting the most out of your investment. We can help you with that just contact us.
The minimum cost of SQL Server Enterprise Edition
Based on SQL Server 2019 licensing and figures from the Microsoft website. SQL is licensed on a per-core model, with a minimum of four cores. Core licenses are sold in 2-core packs. A two-core pack costs $13, 748. Let’s multiply that by two, as we need at least four cores and we have $27,496. That would be This is the LOWEST PRICE SQL Server Enterprise Edition server you could provision
How to license SQL Server Standard edition
With the Standard edition, you can choose a licensing model that best suits your needs. It can either be per core or a Server plus Client Access License (CAL) model. You can use the one best suits your needs.
Standard edition per core cost
The rules are the same on the per-core licensing model. So a minimum of four cores, sold in a 2-core pack. The cost of the two-core pack is much less than Enterprise. a two-core license costs $3,586. With a minimum of four cores so you will look at licensing cost of $7,172
Standard Edition Server license plus Client Access License (CAL)
If you can, count the number of people/applications that need a license and if that number is below about 30. I do know that this approach won’t be available or cost-effective for many then you can use a server CAL License. Let’s do some maths
- Server licence – $899
- CAL – $209
It is important to remember that CALs are required for every user or device accessing a server in the “Server + CAL licensing model” So if it’s driving your website, where you can’t count the users, you can’t use this model.
Pricing for the “Server + CAL licensing model” for 29 CALs would be $6,960
Summary
Choosing the correct edition dictates what features are available to you and how much your SQL Server licensing will cost. Getting it right is important, as a mistake here could be very costly. SQL Server licensing is a complex business, we can help you with that, or we can recommend an excellent reseller partner to help you too. If you have any questions about editions are licensing, please do reach out and contact us.
Useful Queries
You might be interested in the following posts.
Four SQL Server problems you might be suffering from – PetchaKutcha Style
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