Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Cal Licensing Guide

The Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Cal comes in two main editions: Standard and Enterprise. Both editions allow their customers to deploy Big Data Clusters. The role of Big Data Clusters is to provide flexibility and manage a big data environment. It offers crucial elements of a data lake- Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Spark, and analytics tools. You can then use the data for machine learning, AI, and other analytical tasks.

An overview of what the two editions give their users is defined below:

SQL Server Standard Edition brings a fully-featured database for mid-tier applications & data marts. It also provides for security innovations and fast performance. You can easily upgrade the SQL Server Standard Edition to Enterprise Edition. So as workloads scale up, you can upgrade to handle mission-critical tasks. You do not need an application re-write, contact our support team, and they can do the rest for you.

Enterprise Edition delivers the highest mission-critical scalability, availability, and performance. It also provides the most significant virtualization rights with Software Assurance. SQL Server 2019 Cals now come with Apache Spark and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). It includes intelligence over all the data.

Does SQL Server 2019 come with CALs?

Many of you ask- Does SQL Server come with CALs? Every device or user trying to access the SQL Server software requires a SQL Cal. So yes, be it SQL Server 2019 or other versions, it comes with Cals. Some customers access the SQL server through another application or hardware device. Users/ Devices using the SQL software indirectly will still need a CAL.

If you use Microsoft SQL Server to power your data, you need CALs. The Cals here ensure that all necessary users and devices can access your server. Read the asked question to find the right SQL server CAL for your organization.

What is the difference between User CAL and Device CAL?

So if you ask, What type of SQL 2019 CAL do I need? To answer this, you need to understand that there are two types of Cals- user or device. Each of these two licenses has its advantages. Depending on the usage, your organization can enjoy many benefits. The license + CAL model is helpful for organizations that have a finite amount of users/ devices. Further, they want to keep the cost of licensing within a budget. To them, the two options are-

1. User CAL - 1 User w/ Many Devices
2. Device CAL - 1 Device w/ Many Users

Yet, some businesses do not count the number of users or devices. It may be best to consider licensing SQL per core in such cases. To know more about the right fit for your organization, consider taking an expert opinion.

Device CALs work best for customers with many users for one device, such as shift workers. But if you want SQL Server 2019 User Cal, it works for every named user. If you have employees that work remotely, then the User Cal is ideal. Users can access a server from any device regardless of the number of devices.

Is SQL Server 2019 free?

No, Some of the SQL Server 2019 editions come free of cost. So if you are wondering, is there more editions other than standard and enterprise? Well, yes!.

There are two main editions in SQL server 2019: Standard and Enterprise. There are some special editions: Developer, Express, and Web editions.

Developer: The developer edition is free and licensed for development in a non-production environment.

Express: The express is also a free edition of SQL Server. It is ideal for developing and producing web, desktop, and small server applications.

Web: The web edition offers a low cost-of-ownership option for Web hosters and Web VAPs. It provides scalability, affordability, and manageability capabilities.

You can also deploy Microsoft SQL Server 2019 on Linux and Docker platforms. Containers provide operating system-level virtualization, allowing many isolated applications to run on a single system. They make it easy for rapid deployment and scale up and down application services. Choose the SQL server 2019 Standard edition to get started with your deployments.