Mastering Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V

instances running the Windows Server operating system. If you need to run
something other than Windows Server (for example, Linux virtual machines or
Windows Client virtual machines such as for a VDI environment), then these virtual
instances do not apply and you need to license those operating systems to whatever
licensing scheme is required. There is no limit to the number of virtual machines that
you can run on Windows Server Standard Hyper-V, and it would be possible to have
hundreds of virtual machines running Linux or Windows Client without the need to
use Datacenter or have multiple Standard licenses.

In fact, there is another option if a virtual environment needs to run Linux or
Windows Client exclusively, and no virtual instance rights for Windows Server are
required. Microsoft makes available Microsoft Hyper-V Server, which is a free
download from Microsoft that is designed for environments that don’t wish to run
Windows Server virtual machines and don’t need the virtual instance rights included
with the Standard or Datacenter edition, making it perfect for Linux and VDI
environments. Microsoft Hyper-V Server is updated with each version of Windows
Server, making the version that’s currently available Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012
R 2 , and it has all of the same capabilities of the version of Hyper-V that is available in
Windows Server, but only the Hyper-V role is included. It cannot be a file server or a
domain controller or be used for any other role, nor can the graphical interface or
server management tools be installed; it runs in the Server Core configuration level.

Windows Server 2016 Changes to Licensing and Versions

While the virtual OSE rights of Standard and Datacenter remain the same for
Windows Server 2016 , there are two major changes:

There are differences in features between the Standard and Datacenter SKUs.

Windows Server has moved to per core licensing instead of per socket.

STANDARD VS. DATACENTER

The introduction of changes in functionality between Standard and Datacenter may
concern some readers that the technology they currently enjoy in the Standard edition
will be missing in Windows Server 2016. However, that is not the case. No
functionality is being removed from the Standard SKU of Windows Server 2016 , but
rather some of the new features in the 2016 version will be available only in the
Datacenter SKU, specifically:

Enterprise storage features, specifically Storage Spaces Direct and Storage Replica

New network virtualization stack inspired and consistent with Azure

Shielded VMs

Other features, such as Nano Server, containers, clustering changes, and everything
else unless otherwise stated will be common to both the Standard and Datacenter
SKU.