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BBrayton

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Liscensing for Hyper-v for 4 VM's on 2016 stnd.

We are going to setup a new server running Server 2016 Standard.
It has a 8 core processor and we are purchasing 2 16 core licenses.
64 BG Ram

I know with one license you are allowed 2 Hyper-v VM's
With 2 licenses are we allowed up to 4 Hyper V guests?
or would we have to purchase 3rd license to get 4 guests?
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Cliff Galiher
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As always, my obligatory disclaimer:  Taking licensing advice from strangers on the internet is never a good idea.  Call the vendor.

With that said, 2016 has a minimum of 16 cores per server, and 8 cores per processor.  

For a server to run 4 VMs, you'd need 32 core licenses for a single server with an 8 core processor.
That's good. The core count discussion aside:

 + Windows Server Standard = 2 VMs
 + Windows Server Datacenter = Unlimited VMs

So, 2x Standard License in this case = 4 VMs.

I have two very thorough EE articles on all things Hyper-V:

Some Hyper-V Hardware and Software Best Practices
Practical Hyper-V Performance Expectations
You can't really set the core count discussion aside. 2016 is only licensed per core. While there are core packs that are roughly the same price and do roughly the same thing as "one license" of 2012 R2,  they are not directly comparable.

For example, a higher end server with 2-12 core processors could *not* legally run 4 VMs with 2-16core packs. You'd need 40 cores for such a server, not 32.

So really, counting cores and understanding per server and per processor minimums is essential to properly licensing 2016.
What cliff mentioned is absolutely correct

To add that, if you have server with single CPU (with 8 cores), still you need to purchase 16 cores (in pack of two) to license complete server
If you taken only 8 core license corresponding to 8 CPU cores of your single physical CPU, it only license single physical CPU and hence you are not authorized to run free instance of VMs on this physical server
Microsoft needs you to at least purchase 16 cores (in pack of two) to fully license server (again if you have more than 16 cores, you need to pay cost of incremental licenses for those extra cores)

So you need to purchase 32 core licenses (in pack of two) to run 4 VMs at time on given server
OP indicated CPUs are 8 cores each thus a total of 16 cores.

One Server Standard license includes a 16 core count. Thus, the core count discussion is moot.
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BBrayton

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yes if you see my statement it says I am purchasing 2 16 core licenses.
So that means I can have 4 VM's?  That's my question.
Correct. The two Standard licenses covers 4x VMs on the single host running just the Hyper-V Role.
Maybe I'm being semantic, but understanding cores is still important and there is no such thing as a single standard license. There are ONLY core license should in various pack sizes. Summarizing it as "a single license" is, at betsllst, inaccurate and leads to misunderstandings later, if a server is upgraded, moved, etc.

Not dissimilar to the "misunderstanding" when people believed SBS had to be the only DC on a network.

I think details matter and are never moot.
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Mahesh
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There's one more thing that sometimes gets overlooked in these discussions: each of those Standard licenses covers two VMs only if you use the physical server strictly as a Hyper-V host. If you add other roles to that server (and believe me, plenty of people do) and create the maximum number of licensed VMs, you're in violation of the license agreement.
Thanks for the input Guys you are all very helpful..
Why Only Me?
I agree, this should be a point split. Several experts provided useful, relevant information.