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Windows Server Licenses and Running Windows Servers on KVM?
Alright so windows is like a foreign language to me, thus I figured who better to ask about it than the LEB/LET community. Recently we setup some KVM nodes with some decent hardware and we'll begin offering those plans soon, but I wanted to see about getting windows server 2003/2008 licenses and testing them out on our nodes before we finalized our pricing.
So where would you get licenses from and would you strip a windows disk and create an ISO of it or would you download one from somewhere (cough: microsoft.com)?
Do you think that windows licenses are a necessity when it comes to KVM and why?
I don't mean to sound like I don't know what I'm doing, but when it comes to windows I'm clueless and I'd rather learn as much as possible about it before I dive into offering it to my clients. If its a problem child I won't be featuring it at the initial opening.
Comments
To be honest I want a VPS to be hosted on a Linux only node since Windows can cause a lot of troubles on a shared platform, unless you monitor the performance and give users right instruction about virtual memory and optimization.
And about license, I can get Windows server license from WebsiteSpark, but I merely use that. Usually the 180 day trial of Windows Server is quite enough. ISO's can be obtained directly from M$: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd459137.
Cough licensing for Windows is a requirement.
From What I understand though you can buy a contractual agreement through your DC to license your entire node for the amount of cores the node has and have unlimited number of VM's running windows on the node. I don't have experience with Colo'ing so your best off approaching your DC.
You can always ask your clients to bring their own license
Just be ready to justify if there is ever a crackdown.
Microsoft have the iso's ready for download through their download.ms portal.
What Zigga said --- that kind of licensing is called SPLA and is what most Windows providers offer. You could also do a BYOL deal, where you make the necessary ISOs available in SolusVM and leave liability to the customer.
I have some experience with both Hyper-V and VMWare VMs running on a Windows Server host -- more active VMs than logical cores, with the total memory dedicated to them less than the physical RAM. Never had a problem with any of them not obeying the CPU/RAM constraints ("fair share"). AFAIK KVM lets you "oversell" by swapping to disk if necessary, but otherwise I doubt Linux will let the containers misbehave.
Yup, spla is the way to go. If you do a lot of windows vm then you can license the node with the datacenter version and sell all vm you like. Else you can license the single standard or web windows vm (you have to do your math)
I'm referring to excessive I/O caused by some people using virtual memory (pagefile) as real memory. And that's not rare on Windows containers at LEB pricing.
From BuyVM's wiki:
Please set reasonable Pagefile/Swap sizes as excessive IO caused by abusing these will result in suspension, repeated abuse will result in termination without credit nor refund.
@fan: I see...yes, that could be a problem. The solution would be to customize the ISOs (or the templates) with a script that sets the page file to 2x the RAM (or whatever) upon first boot. For the die-hard disk-thrashers, a BuyVM-style disclaimer would be wise too.
As far as I know SPLA is the only way to go if you're offering Windows to VPS customers.
Regarding whether allowing customers to use their own license is OK - this is a tricky question, perhaps you might want to check with one of their resellers for an answer. Somehow I feel that SPLA is complicated, and don't be surprised that you get different answers from different resellers.
I don't play in that space, but somehow I suspect letting customers bring their own license is asking for trouble. "Well, of course I have a license for Windows Server Datacenter Edition. Why do you think it's odd that I paid $3,000 that to run it on my $25/month VPS?"
@raindog308 - ROFL I can for-see that happening now. So yeah I think we'll do this: If you have a windows license send us verification proof, once we have that you can use it on our KVMs...
What about MSDN licenses? Microsoft is very liberal with those.
Good point u4ia...still waiting for proper VMs on azure, personally.
@raindog308 In fact, with my company's last MSDN subscription, they gave us 10 Technet subscriptions for employees also
Might just offer the windows 8 trial and tell people once it's gone, it's gone :P
SPLA licensing would be the way to go with this. You can license a whole node for around $150 per physical CPU or a per user basis for around $15 a month (Both prices in AUD and for Server 2008 R2 Standard). Use as much as you want or as little as you want and report at the end of each month. Very easy and saves a lot of money.
@BlueVM This one KVM VPS I have has the beta ISO but it fails when booting with an error. Probably virtualization related.
^^^^ I think there's a reason most of the Linux host - Windows guest VPS providers I've seen use Xen HVM as the hypervisor.
@raindog308, @u4ia
Well, you can't just buy an OEM DC edition and start offering Windows. It doesn't work that way.
SPLA is the "only" legal way for hosting providers. All the rest are just... not so legal, including the use of MSDN licenses. There are exceptions though (e.g. WebsiteSpark partnership, etc), and there's something they term as "license mobility".
@eLohkCalb I wasn't suggesting the provider use MSDN licensing. I was saying that I could purchase service from him, install my own Microsoft OS and use my MSDN license for my container only.
@BlueVM
if you want a windows server licence send me a pm
i'm a student (ict) and i got access to some serials
@Joodle those licenses are not the way to go for a hosting provider. You as a student can use them for your school assignments, running vm's and such, but it is not free. Your school has an agreement with microsoft, they pay for it. also, when you finish your study you cannot use those licenses anymore. Which school are you at? (mbo, hbo, wo? ikzelf heb technische informatica gedaan).
@Raymii
Actually, if you read the acceptance policy of dreamspark and MSDNAA then it says that you can keep whatever software you downloaded for as long as you want after you leave education, you just aren't allowed to download more software.
True
i never used one of the servers licences
only visual studio
@titanicsaled They (as in teachers) told me back then you could still use the software but your license would not be valid anymore because you were not at the school anymore.. Those three years were the only years I've used Windows...
It is true that the license says you can keep it after your subscription (MSDN) ends, presumably it is the same for a student license. However, transferring a license through any means (selling, giving, etc) is not allowed.
Windows on KVM is terrible, I ended up having to ban it;
I have a lot of windows box running on RHEV (the commercial Red Hat KVM product) and with proper paravirtual drivers (RHEV Tools) windows run very well.
@u4ia
I might not have mentioned it clearly. Allowing customers to use their own MSDN license is also one of the "not-so-legal" ways.
How much the cost for MSDN License / subscription?
In 2012 when this thread was last posted to? Who knows.