Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/14/microsoft_vm_mobility_licensing_change/
Microsoft may lift VM licensing restrictions next week
Don't tie me up with those ties, Ty
Posted in Virtualization, 14th August 2008 22:55 GMT
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It may have finally dawned on Microsoft that its current software licensing restrictions kill one of the major benefits of virtualization — the ability to move a virtual machine freely about physical servers.
According to InfoWorld, [1], Microsoft may change its licensing policy from one where virtual machines are tied to hardware only to a model that complements the mobility of virtual machines. And a Microsoft spokesman reportedly said to expect the change as early as next Tuesday.
Currently a customer must reassign the license for software such as Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, and Exchange Server 2007 if they want to move the code to a different physical server. Furthermore, Microsoft doesn't allow a transfer between physical hosts more than once every 90 days.
This policy has drawn its fair share of critics, including whitepaper grieving [2] from VMware, which sells VMotion to shift its virtual machines around without downtime. Citrix also sells a similar solution with XenMotion.
Clearly, now that Microsoft is in the virtualization game itself, it needs to rethink the licensing model a bit. Microsoft currently lacks management software of its own for VM transfer magic — but says it's working on it.
Late to the party as usual, but if the report is true, it's a good sign progress is being made. ®