SQL
Server 2014 and the SQL Server Backup to Microsoft Azure Tool both hit their
"general availability"
milestones today.
Earlier
this month, the SQL Server 2014 product was at therelease-to-manufacturing stage. General availability, per Microsoft's
terminology, implies that that the product can be purchased and used in a
commercial setting. The SQL Server 2014 editions are described at this
Microsoft "Buy" page.
Licensing
details for SQL Server 2014 can be found in Microsoft's "Licensing
Datasheet" publication (PDF), but it's an
abbreviated description of the terms. Microsoft's more detailed April
"Product Use Rights" document for SQL Server 2014 can be found at this link.
SQL
Server 2014 is available for download today as a 180-day free trial version
through Microsoft's TechNet Evaluation Center here.
Also
reaching general availability today is the SQL Server Backup to Microsoft Azure
Tool, which lets organizations with older versions of SQL Server tap the
Microsoft Azure service for backup purposes. That tool might be available at this link, but at press
time an Oct. 25-dated version was the only download option. A Microsoft
spokesperson explained that Microsoft is "working to get the [general
availability] bits officially uploaded by end of this week."
Licensing Changes
The new licensing changes in SQL Server 2014 will affect organizations mostly in terms of their Software Assurance (SA) coverage. Those details are best described so far by Rob Horwitz in "Licensing Changes for SQL Server 2014," a publication that's freely available for an unspecified period of time. Horwitz is cofounder of Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based independent consultancy focused on Microsoft technologies.
The new licensing changes in SQL Server 2014 will affect organizations mostly in terms of their Software Assurance (SA) coverage. Those details are best described so far by Rob Horwitz in "Licensing Changes for SQL Server 2014," a publication that's freely available for an unspecified period of time. Horwitz is cofounder of Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based independent consultancy focused on Microsoft technologies.
SQL
Server 2014 has the same editions and pricing as SQL Server 2012, according to
Horwitz. He cited a few instances where organizations may face SA costs
associated with the new SQL Server 2014 licensing.
For
instance, Microsoft once allowed an exemption for instances of SQL Server that
were used for passive failovers. Now, a passive failover machine
"explicitly requires SA" coverage, according to the Directions on
Microsoft publication. Organizations also likely face this circumstance if
using older versions of SQL Server.
"However,
dropping SA not only precludes the ability to use or claim passive failover
rights for deployments of SQL Server 2012 or 2014 but it likely does the same
even for deployments of older versions," Horwitz wrote. And that
restriction may also pertain to organizations exercising SQL Server downgrade
rights, he added.
The
one solace in this licensing change is that the AlwaysOn Availability Groups
technology used for high availability in SQL Server 2014 doesn't use passive
servers, "therefore, the passive failover exemption does not apply,"
he explained.
Editions of SQL Server 2014
Organizations wanting some of SQL Server 2014's new and improved technologies, such as its in-memory online transaction processing and high availability features, can only get them by buying the SQL Server 2014 Enterprise edition, Horwitz noted. Microsoft also offers a Business Intelligence edition and a Standard edition of SQL Server 2014. The Enterprise edition is licensed by counting cores. The Business Intelligence edition is licensed by Server and Client Access Licenses (CALs). The Standard edition can be either licensed either via Server plus CALs or per core.
Organizations wanting some of SQL Server 2014's new and improved technologies, such as its in-memory online transaction processing and high availability features, can only get them by buying the SQL Server 2014 Enterprise edition, Horwitz noted. Microsoft also offers a Business Intelligence edition and a Standard edition of SQL Server 2014. The Enterprise edition is licensed by counting cores. The Business Intelligence edition is licensed by Server and Client Access Licenses (CALs). The Standard edition can be either licensed either via Server plus CALs or per core.
The
Standard edition of SQL Server 2014 has access to 128 GB of physical memory,
which is double what was available under SQL Server 2012 licensing, but its
buffer pool is limited to "four times the RAM available to SQL
Server," per Horwitz. The Enterprise edition, on the other hand, supports
2 terabytes of RAM or more, and "up to 32 times the RAM managed by SQL
Server."
Microsoft
is working to appease its customers, somewhat, by expanding the memory support
in the Standard edition, according to Horwitz. The previous memory limitation
had caused "significant consternation in the SQL Server community,"
he wrote.
Microsoft
added "a waiver for batch jobs" with regard to requiring CALs with
the Business Intelligence edition of SQL Server 2014. It corrects a licensing
issue where all clients feeding data to the Business Intelligence edition might
have required having CALs.
"By
correcting a serious deficiency in SQL Server BI edition's original licensing
model, the CAL waiver could make BI edition more attractive to customers as a
departmental BI solution,"