Its Extended (and Extended) Support Time!

About to be hit by the RHEL6 and Windows 2008 double whammy?

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If you're just organizing your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Life (ELS) phase for the end of November don't forget Windows Server 2008 Extended Security (ESU) phase is about to rollover to year 2 in January!

Unlike RHEL6 with WS2008 you'll need to cover all of the base licenses with ESU entitlements, and at 75% of the current list price that can prove to be a very expensive exercise. So if you won't have time to migrate off WS2008 your best option - depending on numbers - is to isolate them, either via host affinity in your virtual farms or by pushing them onto physical servers.

Fortunately Red Hat licensing allows the choice of either physical sockets or virtual machines, so you can mix and match to suit. The tipping point is around 6 VMs, and again you can limit your exposure by applying host affinity rules in your virtual farms. There has been some conjecture as to whether the VM license covers one or two VMs - we are reliable informed that it does indeed cover two.

The bottom line is of course, keep ahead of product lifecycles - it will always be more cost effective from a licensing point of view, but of course often difficult in the business context. The same situation will be upon us soon enough with WS2012 and RHEL7, so time to look ahead, ramp up the urgency, and get migrations on the agenda.

So what do I get and what will it cost?

Firstly - Microsoft:

You'll need to be an Windows Server (for as many servers as need cover) Active Software Assurance (SA) customer. Costs are then dependent on the type of installation:

In Azure: Customers running Windows Server in an Azure Virtual Machine will get Extended Security Updates for no additional charges above the cost of running the virtual machine. 

On-premises: Customers with active Software Assurance or subscription licenses can purchase Extended Security Updates for approximately 75% of the on-premises license cost annually. 

Hosted environments: Customers who license Windows Server through an authorised SPLA hoster will need to separately purchase Extended Security Updates under an Enterprise or Server and Cloud Enrolment, either directly from Microsoft for approximately 75% of the full on-premises license cost annually or from their Microsoft reseller for use in the hosted environment.

And the Rules:

Customers cannot license individual Windows Server virtual machines. They must license the full physical server. Licensing requirements for Extended Security Updates for on-premises align to the licensing requirements for the underlying Software Assurance coverage or subscription. Customers will only need to know their Windows Server licence position for a given server, to know how many Extended Security Update licences they need. Customers who have covered all the underlying cores of the physical server with Windows Server Datacentre licences should buy Extended Security Updates for the number of physical cores, irrespective of the number of VMs running on that physical server. Customers who have covered all the underlying cores of the physical server with Windows Server Standard licences should buy Extended Security Updates for the number of physical cores, but will only be licensed to run and update two virtual machines on the server. Customers who wish to run and update more than two virtual machines on a server licensed with Windows Server Standard must re-license all of the physical cores on the server with both Windows Server Standard and Extended Security Updates for each additional pair of virtual machines.

For Red Hat:

You must have already have paid for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription before purchasing the ELS Add-On subscription for it. ELS Add-On is applicable to Standard or Premium subscriptions and can not be applied to self-support subscriptions. Note that ELS should be purchased prior to the start date of the ELS period (December 1, 2020 for RHEL 6), otherwise the ELS Add-On subscription will be back-dated to the start date.

The cost on the Red Hat store is US$250 for Standard or US$775 for Data Center, so around AU$500 (2x VMs) to AU$1500 (Socket Pair).

And the Rules:

 Count just as in production, either by physical sockets or VMs to suit.