Microsoft offers free Windows Server 2016 Datacenter licenses for customers who refuse VMware

In the corporate blog of Microsoft Windows Server Team yesterday, there was news that from September 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, customers who are ready to transfer their workload from VMware to Hyper-V will receive Windows Server 2016 for free.

Microsoft is focusing on a large number of new features in the new hypervisor and operating system, such as Shielded Virtual Machines, Rolling OS Cluster Upgrades, Storage Spaces Direct, Storage Replica, SDN Load Balancer, Network Controller, Distributed Firewall , Azure Data Plane for starters, etc.
')
It is noted that experts Gartner not only confirm the fact that Microsoft is not the first year in the square leaders in the field of virtualization, but also steadily approaching the positions of VMware.



Other Microsoft arguments can be found on a special section of the Hyper-V vs VMware Comparison corporate website.

But as we understand, Microsoft would not have been itself if the proposal had not borne the hidden costs.

1. You will only receive licenses if you pay for Software Assurance . The cost of Software Assurance for two years is 50% of the value of the product. So half you pay anyway.

2. You will need new Windows Server CAL licenses , otherwise the meaning will be lost in expensive Datacenter licenses. Add 1225 rubles per user.

3. Compared to Windows Server 2012 R2, the new product is licensed per core, not per processor. If you use a rather modest 4-6 core processors, you won’t be able to save money, since the minimum number of licenses for one physical server is 16 cores. You can console yourself with the fact that the cost of 16 cores of Windows Server 2016 is comparable to 2 CPUs of Windows Server 2012 R2. But in any case, at least $ 6155 ($ 3077 for Software Assurance - 200,000 rubles at the current rate) will have to be paid.

4. Add to the calculations the cost of a System Center 2016 license for each physical host ($ 3,607, 235,000 rubles). Without it, the functionality of the Microsoft solution will be very far from the capabilities of vSphere.

It turns out that each "free" Windows Server 2016 Datacenter will cost you $ 6,684 (435,000 rubles)

5. To confirm the seriousness of your intentions , the migration seems to be performed by an authorized partner ( Engage your partner to start the migration process ), and this procedure is far from free.

6. It does not take into account how much you will lose by abandoning such an expensive software asset as a VMware license . Of course, if you use the old version of the product and do not extend technical support, the asset depreciates every day. But if you have been provided with VMware licenses for a long time and pay only for support, the benefit again becomes not so obvious.

7. From the comments. It’s not so easy to take and migrate from VMware to Hyper-V. Plan for new server and storage costs.
How is Host Failures Cluster Tolerates admission control policy configured in your cluster? One host? You will install Windows Server on it, start a fascinating migration process, and then, as luck would have it, a host will fall in the old cluster. Do you have a plan for this case? So a couple of servers will not be redundant. Throw another million.
How many free space on your storage? It is impossible to turn VMFS into NTFS by magic. You will certainly need new LUNs, and the migration plan should take into account the sequential deletion of unused datastore to free up space.

Well, if you seriously intend to abandon VMware products and switch to KVM Hyper-V, and the new (and very decent) functionality of Windows Server 2016 will be in demand in your company, this offer can save you by approximate calculations 25-35% of the budget .

But it should be remembered that the first dose of free free cheese is only in a mousetrap, and Microsoft is not a charitable organization. Therefore, there are numerous additional costs behind the apparent savings.