This may sound like a strange question, but it's incredibly relevant to my company.  If it's legit to purchase previously used VL keys for SQL Server 2008 and have them legally transferred over to us through VLSC, that would fill a huge gap for us.  We have an application that runs on SQL Server 2008 (not R2).  If you read the licensing guidelines for SQL 2008, you can deploy as many virtual machines PER SOCKET as you want, as long as you've licensed all sockets.  We run a SaaS application that is backed by SQL Server. As you can imagine, the licensing change to core-based licensing is quite literally a "million dollar" decision for us as we continue to roll out new Production hypervisors and SQL virtual servers.  Thus far, we've been able to find retail copies of SQL 2008 as we build out new servers, but I assume as some point the retail supply of 2008 Ent Per-Proc licenses will be exhausted.  However, since Microsoft no longer offers upgrade "discounts" for SQL Server, If you bought a perpetual VLK license of 2008 (without software assurance), you have to pay full price for 2012 if you want to upgrade.  This would mean that there is a large population of SQL 2008 volume licenses that are basically used, right?  If so, does anyone know if Microsoft has a provision to transfer ownership of these volume licenses to a different company?  Lastly, if all of the above is accurate, does anyone have unused SQL 2008 Enterprise Per-Proc VL keys they would like to sell?
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This is a  about Licensing.    Questions on licensing are off-topic on Server Fault.  If your question has been closed as a duplicate of this question, then this is because we want to help you understand why licence questions are off topic rather than just telling you "it just is". In all likelihood, this question will not address your question directly, it was not meant to.    I have a question regarding software licensing. Can the Server Fault community please help with the following:   How many licenses do I need? Is this licensing configuration valid? What CALs do I need to be properly licensed? Can I run this product in a virtual environment? Can I downgrade this product to an earlier version? Am I entitled to feature X with license Y?
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At the moment I am running Vista 32 bit and use VPC 2007 a lot. I have several Windows 2000 Virtual Machines set up with complex software configurations. For me, one of the advantages of working with VPCs is that a Virtual Machine can easily be copied to another PC (like a notebook). Also, when I move to a new PC, I can immediately work with my existing Virtual Machines without the need to reinstall all applications.   I am thinking about buying a new pc with Windows 7 64 bit pro, and using the XP-Mode Virtual Machine that comes with Windows 7. The advantages would be support for more memory (so being able to run more Virtual Machines simultaneously) and having a licenced XP Virtual Machine.  I would like to know if you can transfer a VHD that is based on the XP-mode VHD to another machine without Activation issues. The other machine will of course, also be running Windows 7. I would guess that this would not be a problem.   However, I did read about a guy who had to reinstall his Windows 7 because of a harddisk failure, and could not access his XP-mode VHD anymore because it demanded re-activation.  So can you transfer a Windows 7 XP-mode VHD to a new PC without the need for reactivation?
111017
SQL Server instance on my server is using almost full memory available in my Physical Server. Say if i am having 8GB of RAM than SQL Server is using 7.8 GB of RAM from system. I also have read articles and also read many similar questions regarding same on this forum and i understand that memory is reserved and it is using memory.  But i have 2 same servers and 2 SQL Servers, why this is happening on a single SQL Instance not on other. Also when i run DBCC MemoryStatus than it is showing up...  VM Reserved 8282008 VM Committed 537936   so from this we know that SQL reserved whole 8GB memory, but why this VM Committed keeps increasing. What i understand is VM Committed is:      VM Committed: This value shows the overall amount of VAS that SQL Server has committed. VAS that is committed has been associated with physical memory.   So this is the memory SQL Server has committed (from this i understand that physical memory actually SQL Server is using at instance).  So like to know the reason behind this ever increasing VM Committed memory on my server and not on another. Thanks in Advance.
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I would like to say that i have gone through some of the sql blog and MSDN BOL, but still there is some confusion in mind like.   The limitation of SQL Server 2012 Express is 10 GB. It is the limitation of instance based or per database based? No. of connections for SQL Server 2012 Express: the number of connections is limited or unlimited.  If I shall use Server version of OS then what can be the max concurrent user connections. The limitation comes from DB level or OS level. If I shall use Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2012 Express SP1 then what will be the max concurrent connections? How many databases can we keep under the hood of single SQL Server instance.   Any help or suggestion would be appreciated
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Windows 8 setup asks for the product key at the beginning of the setup without letting you install it.  I got the Windows 8 ISO from MSDN but I didn't get enough keys to install it on all my 7 computers. Also, my MSDN subscription level doesn't allow me to get the VL product key to Windows 8 Enterprise.  Is there any way I can install Windows 8 for a limited time period like we used to do for Windows 7 ?
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I have bought a windows 10 pro license for my laptop that I no longer need and wanted to transfer to my desktop. I wouldn't like to buy a new license for my desktop since I won't use laptop anymore....  is this doable under microsoft license?   I tried to search this for quite a while but couldn't figure out. I sent e-mail to microsoft support but got some stupid generic help talking about subject that I didn't even asked...  please help
64066
I've been working on setting up clustered environment with a two new DTC roles, DTC1 and DTC2. I set up DTC1 which allows both clustered VM's and SQL Server Instances to function correctly. However, when I disable DTC1, DTC2 will remain online but no DTC transactions will work. I'm actually going through this issue with a Microsoft tech right now (without much luck). Both DTC services are set up with similar configurations. Anyone here have an idea as to what might be going on?  Here's my setup:   One clustered environment Two DTC Roles Two Separate ISCSI disks, one for each role Two VM's (same configuration) Two SQL Server Instances, on on each VM   Networking configuration is allowed, everything looks to be set up properly.
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I have a Windows 7 64-bit installation on my current PC, and I want to move it to a new PC .. I do NOT have a problem with licensing, as the new system already has its own new Windows 7 license, which I intend to use.  I want to use my existing installation, because it has 3 years worth of installed office related software development software, which installing again could take weeks !  I'm assuming that I can use Windows 7's Backup and Restore feature to backup a system image to a network location, then restore that network stored system image on the new PC ?  Again, like I said, I don't have a WIndows 7 licensing issue, as both machines are corporate provided and come with their own licences.
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Not sure this is something which people will know on here are not.    We currently have a BI setup where we have Integration services on one SQL instance and the data warehouse database on a separate SQL Instance.    My question is, as no users physically connect to the Integration services SQL instance and it is purely used to execute package from the integrations service catalog via SQL agent, do we need to License every user i.e. Cal's for that SQL instance.  Basically i'm wanting to know if I could utilize SQL 2016 for an integration services instance and use features like Json manipulation etc and then load this data into the 2014 version instance...but what level of licensing will I need?
21108
We have a deployment with what I would call an Enterprise Cloud Provider. It's VMWare Infrastructure 3.5.x and includes VMotion / VMWare HA instances, etc.  At Provider 1 VMWare Tools was installed:   vmware-guestd is running and; at least two kernel modules are loaded, vmmemctl &amp; vmhgfs   Provider 1 does nightly VM Snapshots.  We are beginning a new deployment at Provider 2 (also an Enterprise Cloud Provider). They did not install VMWare Tools. Provider 2 does not do nightly VM Snapshots but rather file-system backups (using an agent).  From my reading it seems like at the very least VMWare Tools should be installed for the Memory Balloon Driver (vmmemctl) and from reading sources like  it suggests that certain VirtualCenter management operations also depend upon VMWare Tools being installed in the Linux guest.  Note that all of our instances are headless (default runlevel is 3) and RHEL.  It is hard to find authoritative information on this question and the aforementioned source is somewhat dated.  Can someone shed some light on this? What are the factors/criteria that would lead to an answer in the affirmative or negative?  TIA  Cheers
63819
We're moving from SQL 2005 [Instance and DB have collation of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS]  to SQL 2008 [which defaults to Latin1_General_CI_AS].  I completed a SQL 2008 R2 installation, and used default Latin1_General_CI_AS collation, with the restoration of the database still on SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. The excepted problems occurred - the #temp tables where in  Latin1_General_CI_AS whilst the db was in  SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS and this is where I am now - I need advice on the pitfalls now please.  On installation of SQL 2008 R2, I have the option on installation to use 'SQL Collation, used for backwards compatibility' where I have the option to select the same collation as the 2005 database : SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.   This will allow me to not have problems with #temp tables, but are there pitfalls? Would I lose any functionality or features of any kind by not using a "current" collation of SQL 2008? What about when we move (e.g. in 2 years ) from 2008 to SQL 2012? Will I have problems then? Would I at some point be forced to go to Latin1_General_CI_AS? I read that some DBA's script complete the rows of complete databases, and then run the insert script into the database with the new collation - I'm very scared and wary of this - would you recommend doing this?
30222
We are beginning to provision a set of physical servers for a virtual cluster of SQL Server 2016 nodes within VMware. We will be utilizing Enterprise Edition licenses.  We plan on setting up 6 nodes, but there is a bit of a debate on what the ideal way to provision the physical servers with regards to CPU clock speed versus CPU core count.  I know this is largely dependent on transaction volume and number of databases stored among other software-specific factors, but is there a general rule of thumb that is advised?  For instance, is a dual 8-core, 3.2 GHz physical server (16 cores) more preferential to a dual 16-core, 2.6 GHz server (32 cores)?  Has anyone come across a white paper that further delves into this type of topic?
66700
I've read that Windows 7 cannot be virtualized on non-licensed PCs. Ubuntu isn't licensed with Microsoft's license, of course, which means that I cannot use it to virtualize Windows 7. I've read that there are other versions that are "OEM" or "non-OEM" or something like that and which have different terms and conditions.  What is the exact name of the version of Windows 7 that I should buy in order to be legally able to use it in VirtualBox on Ubuntu?
121315
Is there a way to copy maintenance plans from one SQL Server 2012 to another? Both servers are not accessible via the same copy of Management Studio at the same time (on different networks).
20100
Could somebody provide me with a better insight about the compatibility mode feature? It is behaving different than I expected.  As far as I understand compatibility modes, it is about the availability and support of certain language structures between the various versions of SQL Server.  It does not affect the inner workings of the database engine version. It would try to prevent use of features and constructs that were not yet available in earlier versions.  I just created a new database with compat level 80 in SQL Server 2008 R2. Created a table with a single int column and populated it with a few rows.  Then executed a select statement with a row_number() function.  My thought was, since the row_number function was only introduced in 2005, this would throw an error in compat 80 mode.  But to my surprise this worked fine. Then, surely, the compat rules are only evaluated once you 'save something'. So I created a stored proc for my row_number statement.  The stored proc creation went fine and I can perfectly execute it and obtain results.  Could someone help me to better understand the working of compatibility mode? My understanding is obviously flawed.
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This is the announcement post of the Stack Exchange Data Explorer. Its answers were meant to iron out the initial glitches 6 to 8 years ago.  If you have found a bug or need support  today with any of SEDEs features, please ask a new question and tag it with   What does it do? Allows you to run arbitrary SQL queries on the data dumps, and share those queries with your friends. Technical details It is hosted on the Stack Exchange infrastructure , the database is hosted on the same SQL Server version all other sites are hosted on. You can use most of the TSQL commands, even create temporary objects (but not User Defined Functions). The controls used are jQuery based, the grid is  . All query results are cached, so sharing a link to a query will not result in the server going in to a tailspin. The query edit control is a slightly modified  control, I also am considering bespin cause the inter iframe communication is nasty complicated. It gives up nice syntax highlighting for queries. Parameters There is support for parameterized queries, to get it to work name your params like ##this##. For example have a . Query name and description A query can have a name and description, to name it lead with a comment, to describe it continue commenting, for example: -- This is my query name  -- This is my description -- I can span multiple lines  SELECT 1  Anonymous users can initially name a query, but can not change the names of any existing queries. Tutorial There's a  which helps you getting started in writing your own SQL queries. Logging in You can use your openid provider to log in, at the moment once logged in we will track the list of queries you execute (giving you basic history support) Also if there are any params named UserId they will be populated automatically if your EmailHash matches the one on the site being queried. Magic columns If you alias an id column with as [Post Link] it will automatically create a link in the result set to the parent site. Similarly if you alias an id column with as [User Link] it will display a link to the user page. select top 10 * from Posts will show you how tags are done. (Magic columns for images is planned) example (most controversial posts:  ) So what are you waiting for, check it out at  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I hope to have the login section working fairly soon and allow voting on the best queries and commenting. Featured Queries At the moment, admins have permission to feature interesting queries on this page , I am looking for better ways to manage the huge query list that is building up.
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I have two questions for you guys. I really appreciate your help.  1.- Is there a way to rename an Availability Group?  2.- Is there a way to get the T-SQL statements in order to re create a Availability Group in case that I need to drop it and create it again?  If there's information that you want me to share, please let me know and I will provide it.