Licensing SQL Server Standard

Option #1

SERVER + CAL:

Provides the option to license users and/or devices, with cost-effective access to incremental deployments of SQL Server.

Each server running the SQL Server software requires a server license. Each user and/or device accessing a licensed SQL Server requires a SQL Server CAL of the same version or newer – for example, to access a SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition server, a user would need a SQL Server 2012 or 2019 CAL. Each SQL Server CAL allows access to multiple licensed SQL Servers, including Standard Edition and legacy Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Edition servers.

Option #2

BY CORE:

Provides a more precise measurement of computing power and a more consistent metric, regardless of whether solutions are deployed on-premises in physical servers or in virtual/cloud environments.

Core-based licensing is appropriate when customers are unable to count users/devices, have Internet/Extranet workloads, or have systems that integrate with external workloads. To license a physical server—when running SQL Server on a physical Operating System Environment (OSE)—all physical cores on the server must be licensed. A minimum of four core licenses is required for each physical processor on the server.