SQL Server Licensing in Virtual Machines with Hyper Threading
A reseller recently asked me to clarify the impact of Hyper-Threading, and I thought it would be helpful todocument my explanation. When running SQL Server in a virtualised environment, licensing can be complex, especially whenhyper-threading is enabled. This article...
SQL Server 2016 – End of Support and Extended Security Update (ESU) Guidance
Overview Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is approaching its End of Support (EOS) milestone. If you are running SQL Server 2016 you should be aware of the key dates, the availability of Extended Security Updates (ESUs), and the implications for ongoing security and...
Helping Clients Save Big on Microsoft Licensing
At The SAM Club, we’re passionate about finding smart ways to help our clients reduce costs. With Microsoft’s price increases scheduled for July 2026, one of our clients faced their annual Microsoft True-up for their Enterprise Agreement (EA). Here’s what we did:...
Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 – Everything You Need to Know
Client Question “We have our Cyber Essentials audit today and they have asked for evidence that we have extended support for Server 2012. My understanding was that any VM running in Azure is automatically extended but I can’t find anything that confirms my thinking?...