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When migrating your Microsoft workloads to AWS, developing a thoughtful licensing approach is crucial. AWS provides numerous solutions to accommodate your licensing requirements and clarify your options. Whether your goal is to reduce expenses, boost security, or enhance the performance of your applications, AWS offers three strategies to help you achieve your objectives.

The infographic below outlines these three strategies to optimize your licensing framework: “Bring Your Own Licenses,” license-included, and modernization. In this article, we will delve into the benefits and drawbacks of each option.

Option 1: Bring Your Own Licenses (BYOL)

As you contemplate transitioning your on-premises Windows workloads to AWS, a significant hurdle is determining how to handle the considerable investments made in purchased Windows Server and SQL Server licenses. Fortunately, AWS provides several avenues for bringing your own licenses during migration.

Advantages of BYOL

Cost Savings: Take advantage of AWS’s cloud efficiency while minimizing costs by utilizing your previously acquired licenses and software. Any licensing expenses tied to the product you bring are excluded from the instance price.
License Management: BYOL allows you to retain control over your license deployment. With AWS License Manager, you can ensure compliance throughout your license lifecycle.
Extended Software Lifecycle: By bringing your own licenses, you can prolong the lifespan of legacy software versions—subject to Microsoft’s terms. We’ve even seen customers running SQL Server 2000, proving that anything is feasible!
Diverse Product Deployment: If you’re using a product not available as license-included, there are multiple BYOL options to facilitate its use on AWS.

License Eligibility

Determining BYOL eligibility can depend on purchase dates, tenancy, or version requirements. While eligibility is dictated by each product’s licensing terms, the following Microsoft agreements may permit BYOL:

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA)
Microsoft Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)
Microsoft Enterprise Subscription Agreement (EAS)
Microsoft Product and Services Agreement (MPSA)
Microsoft Open Value and Open Value Subscription

Keep in mind that Windows Server and SQL Server licenses obtained through a cloud solution provider (CSP) are not eligible for BYOL on AWS.

License Mobility

License Mobility, a benefit of Microsoft Software Assurance (SA), permits the transfer of specific product licenses to shared cloud infrastructure, including default Amazon EC2 instances. To be eligible for License Mobility, active Microsoft Software Assurance is required. Microsoft mandates filling out the License Mobility Verification Form when utilizing this benefit.

Products Without License Mobility

If you bring Microsoft software without License Mobility, you can still cut costs by leveraging Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts. This allows you to apply your existing per-socket, per-core, or per-server software licenses, such as Windows Server Datacenter or SQL Server Enterprise, on AWS. You can transfer products without License Mobility, given that the licenses are perpetual and were purchased before October 1, 2019, and are running versions released prior to that date. Windows Server 2019 or earlier versions qualify for BYOL on AWS. Utilizing Windows Server Datacenter or SQL Server Enterprise core licenses on Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts provides a virtualization advantage through licensing by total physical cores.

AWS License Manager

As you migrate software to the cloud, it’s essential to remain compliant with evolving license terms and avoid exceeding your licensed capacity. AWS License Manager simplifies the management of your software licenses across AWS and on-premises environments. Gain visibility and control over your license usage, set limits on overages, and mitigate the risks of non-compliance and misreporting. You can also integrate AWS License Manager with other AWS services, such as Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts.

AWS Makes License Migration Seamless

When migrating licenses to AWS, you’ll need to provide your own media, software, and images. AWS VM Import facilitates this by assisting in the transfer of virtual machine images from your on-premises setup to AWS.

In summary, BYOL is an excellent choice for organizations with stable workloads, allowing them to leverage AWS Cloud benefits while utilizing existing licenses.

Option 2: License-included Instances

The license-included option allows you to utilize instances with bundled licensing costs. This pay-as-you-go model ensures you only pay for resources when necessary. For instance, an online retailer experiencing increased traffic during holidays wouldn’t want to pay upfront for licenses and hardware needed only during peak times. By adopting a license-included, pay-as-you-go strategy, you can minimize unnecessary costs by paying solely for the resources you need.

Customers are charged for instances that include Windows Server and SQL Server licensing on a per-virtual core, per-second basis. You can check the AWS Pricing Calculator for examples.

Benefits of License-included

Pay as You Go: Pay for resources only when needed, stopping payments when not in use.
Run Various Software Versions: The license-included option supports both current and legacy Microsoft software versions. AWS provides Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for any supported version of Windows Server or SQL Server.
Reduce Vendor Lock-in: With pay-as-you-go, license-included EC2 instances, you won’t be tied to complicated licensing terms or ongoing maintenance costs associated with Software Assurance.
Access New Software Versions: There’s no need to pay for Software Assurance to access the latest software versions; AWS makes these available at no additional charge.
Compliance Management: AWS manages and secures the data center and ensures license compliance, allowing you to focus on your business.
Modernization Readiness: If you plan to transition from Windows Server or SQL Server to AWS services, license-included instances facilitate a smooth transition. When ready, you can simply cease using and paying for your Windows Server or SQL Server license-included instances.

Windows Server and SQL Server with included licenses are offered on shared Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances, and Amazon EC2 Spot instances. Additionally, Windows Server license included is available on Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts.

For cloud desktop and application streaming, AWS also offers the following license-included options:

Workspaces
Windows 10 Experience built on Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019, with the option to add Office Professional as license-included.

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