Windows Server Standard 2 Core - Perpetua License

The foundation your company's operation runs on.

Windows Server Standard is the server operating system behind your shared files, your user directory, your network printers, your business applications and your database.

The licence is perpetual: you buy it once and it is yours, with no annual renewal, unlike subscription cloud services.

Before buying, though, you need to understand how Microsoft requires this to be licensed, because this is where most mistakes happen.

Licensing is by processor core rather than by server, and every physical core in the machine must be covered.

The manufacturer's mandatory minimum is 16 cores per server and 8 cores per processor, even if your server has fewer.

In practice: a single processor server with 8 cores still requires 16 licensed cores, that is 8 two core packs. A dual processor server with 12 cores each requires 24 cores, that is 12 packs.

Buying below that minimum leaves the server without a valid licence, even if it technically runs.

The Standard edition lets you run up to two Windows Server virtual machines on the same licensed hardware, which covers most small and mid sized businesses.

And beyond the operating system, every user or device that accesses the server needs its own Client Access Licence (CAL). That is not optional.

If your operation is larger and virtualises heavily, the edition to evaluate is Datacenter.

We calculate how many packs your server needs based on its processor and core count, define the CALs that apply and support your team through installation.