Windows Server Assessment reports

Snow License Manager 9

2022-03-09

Introduction

Licensing Windows Server environments is often one of the key challenges for software asset managers; it is time-consuming, and virtualization adds complexity. The Windows Server Assessment reports in Snow License Manager help you to find the most cost-effective way to make sure that every host is covered, regardless if it is running on a single server, or in clusters in a datacenter with thousands of virtual machines.

The Windows Server risks report shows possible risk descriptions and suggestions to resolve potential issues.

note

The Windows Server Assessment reports assess the requirements for each host and provide a recommendation for the lowest cost option. The reports do not take existing licenses into account.
The column Already licensed in the Windows Server Assessment reports was introduced with Snow License Manager 9.2.0. When this column is configured to "No", Windows Server hosts that are already fully licensed will be left out from the results. The resulting hosts still require a license to be assigned or purchased. This can be used to plan for a Microsoft True-up or order, which also includes accurate cost planning.

Prerequisites

To be able to provide recommendations, application costs need to be entered for the relevant Windows Server application. If application costs are not entered, the recommendations field will be blank, and this will be noted in the Identified risks column of the reports.

Change cost, recalculate compliance

If application cost is added or changed for a Windows Server application, compliance needs to be recalculated for the change to be visible in the Windows Server Assessment reports.

To manually recalculate compliance, select your name on the top-right side of Snow License Manager, and select Recalculate compliance.

note

Application cost is defined in the License settings tab, which is made visible by editing an application.

Reports

These are the Windows Server Assessment reports in Snow License Manager:

Windows Server Assessment - 2012 licensing
Windows Server Assessment - 2016 licensing
Windows Server Assessment - 2019 licensing
Windows Server Assessment - 2022 or later licensing
Windows Server Assessment - Lowest-cost licensing

Use the report that matches your licensing of Windows Server.

Licensing model	Report name
Windows Server 2012 R2 processor-based rules	Windows Server Assessment - 2012 licensing
Windows Server 2016 processor core-based rules	Windows Server Assessment - 2016 licensing
Windows Server 2019 processor core-based rules	Windows Server Assessment - 2019 licensing
Windows Server 2022 or later processor core-based rules	Windows Server Assessment 2022 or later licensing
A mixture of licensing	Windows Server Assessment - Lowest-cost licensing

Identified risks

All of the Windows Server Assessment reports contain the Identified risks column. The different risks are detailed here:

Identified risk	Description
Old Windows Server version in estate	A Windows Server version that is older than Windows Server 2008 is either installed on the host and/or on one or more virtual machines running on the host. These versions of Windows Server are no longer within the date for the end of extended support by Microsoft. You should consider upgrading these to a later version.
Non-inventoried Windows Server VMs	<x> Windows Server VMs running on this server are not inventoried. The installed Windows Server version or edition may be missing, which impacts licensing results. Consider inventorying the VMs.
No application cost add for <os name>	The application cost for Windows Server <Version and Edition> has not been added. This cost is used to calculate the lowest cost version that can be used to license each host.
Has suspended or powered off Windows virtual machines	There is one or more Windows Server VMs on this server that is suspended or powered off. The current recommended edition to license this server is based on the running Windows Server VMs - however if more Windows Server VMs are powered on this could change.
Inventoried Windows Server VMs that do not report power state	<x> Windows Server VMs have no information about their power state, which may impact our license calculations. Ensure that a connector is configured to the hypervisor that manages this host.
Windows Server VMs that report an unknown power state	<x> Windows Server VMs report an unknown power state, which may impact our license calculations. Consider reviewing the power state of the VMs in your hypervisor.
Possible overspend of Datacenter licenses due to low number of Windows Server virtual machines	This host has a low number of Windows Server VMs that can potentially run on it, however one or more VMs have datacenter edition installed. This means that Datacenter editions is recommended to be legally compliant, however licensing this host with Windows Server Standard would be less expensive due to the virtualization rights. Consider moving installations of Datacenter to a different host, or running more Windows Server VMs to make use of the unlimited virtualization granted by the datacenter edition licensing.
Low virtualization on host with Datacenter edition installations	Licensing with Standard edition would cost less. Move Windows Server VMs to this host to maximise virtualization or remove installations of Datacenter so that you can license using Standard instead.
Non-Windows Server VMs running on datacenter host	<x> non-Windows Server VMs run on this host. Move non-Windows VMs to another host and add Windows Server VMs to this host to maximize use of the unlimited virtualization rights that are provided by licensing with Datacenter edition.
Hosts with fewer than eight cores per processor	<x> processors have fewer than eight cores. Windows Server 2016, 2019 and 2022 require a minimum of 8 cores per processor. Consider an upgrade of your processors to increase resources without adding license cost.
Host with less than 16 cores per server	This host has fewer than 16 cores. Windows Server 2016, 2019 and 2022 require a minimum of 16 cores per server. Consider an upgrade of your processors to increase resources without adding license cost.
Host without inventoried Windows Server VMs	This host contains no inventoried Windows Server VMs. To calculate license compliance for this host, at least one VM must be inventoried.
Non-inventoried VMs that do not include operating system information	<x> VMs that run on this host do not display operating system. If Windows Server is used as operating system for these VMs it may impact our recommendations. Inventory these VMs to resolve the matter.
Suspended or powered-off Windows Server VMs on a Windows Server Standard host	<x> Windows Server VMs on this host are suspended or powered-off. If more Windows Server VMs become powered-on, it may be more cost effective to license host with Datacenter edition.
Windows Server Support End Date reached	<x> Windows Server VMs run on this host. Their Windows Server version is no longer entitled to extended support.
The cost for Windows Server <version> has not been added	The application cost for Windows Server <version> has not been added. This cost is used to calculate the lowest cost version and edition that can be used to license each server.
Host is quarantined	The information about this host may not be up to date. Validate if this server is no longer reporting in or has been retired.
Windows Server VMs are quarantined	<x> Windows Server VMs that could run on this host may have information that is not up to date. Validate if the VMs are no longer reporting in or have been retired.
Host is inactive but has active VMs	The host is defined as inactive, but hosts Windows Server VMs that are either active or quarantined. This will impact compliance calculations.

Windows Server Assessment - 2012 licensing

This report is recommended to use if you license Windows Server under the 2012 R2 processor-based rules.

The results are by default grouped by Datacenter name. Every host will be listed by its datacenter name, in alphabetical order.