Per-Core Licensing
User/Device Client Access Licenses (CALs)
Remote Desktop Services Client Access Licenses (RDS CALs)
Microsoft SQL Server Standard
Microsoft SQL Server Standard "Additional Server"
Windows Server Essentials 2022
Recent versions of Windows Server (2016/2019/2022) use the "per core" licensing model. In summary:
The table below shows the number of cores on the most common CPUs available from Dell and the amount of "per core" licenses required by Windows Server:
Every user or device that connects to a Microsoft Windows server to access its services should be licensed to do so with a corresponding CAL. For example:
There are two types of CALs: USER CALs and DEVICE CALs
You can find more details about the RDS licenses installation and server activation process on the following articles:
Install and Activate an RDS Session Host without a Connection Broker (Workgroup) - Windows Server 2022
You can buy the Standard edition of SQL Server when buying a PowerEdge server in https://www.dell.com/.
Recent versions of Microsoft SQL Server use two licensing models:
Server + CAL licensing model: With this model, you install a Microsoft SQL Server license on the server (whether its physical or virtual) and you do not have to worry about the number of CPU cores present on that server. However, in addition to that server license, you must purchase a CAL for each user or device that connects to this SQL Server.
Core licensing model: With this option, you license the physical or virtual server where SQL is installed and running. You must purchase the right number of SQL per-core licenses to cover all the cores in the server. However, you do not need to purchase SQL Server CALs for users or devices - you get unlimited access for internal and external users.
In both licensing models note the following:
This SKU is sometimes selected thinking that it is a scaled down version of SQL server because of the lower price listed. It is not.
The "Additional Server" SKU allows you to license an additional instance of SQL on a server that already has a licensed SQL server installation.
In simpler terms, an SQL Server instance can be thought of as a unique installation or copy SQL Server that runs as a separate/independent service within Windows. You can run multiple instances of SQL on a single computer. If you do that, each instance of SQL server requires its own separate license.
When a server is ordered with Windows Server Essentials 2022, it arrives with a COA sticker that has a product key. To activate the OS, you can use this product key in a DISM command that looks like this.
Dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PQRST-UVWXY /AcceptEula
Notice that you must specify the standard edition in the command even though the Product Key is for the Essentials edition. This is because there is no specialized installation media for Windows Server Essentials. Licensing compliance is enforced by the product key. The server shuts down if it detects that there are more users or devices than what is permitted by the EULA.
You can find more information about the Essentials edition in these articles:
Windows Server 2022 Essentials Showing as Windows Server 2022 Standard with No Essentials Features
PSQN | Windows Server 2022 Essentials Branding Explained
Purchasing Windows Server as a secondary OS is an option when selecting the software for some Dell Hardware. This allows to install and license Windows Server on the same hardware that will run another third-party Operating System. The Secondary OS SKUs are almost invariably used in virtualization scenarios. For example, a physical server runs on a VMware hypervisor to host Windows VMs. In such a scenario, the same licensing points discussed above pertaining to per-core licensing, virtualization rights, and so on, are applicable to the Windows Virtual machines completely independent from the third-party OS licensing requirements.
Enabling RDS Cal with MPSA license