Google Cloud is committed to providing an enterprise-class experience forMicrosoft workloads to meet the needs of your organization. This page documentsthe most common concepts and questions related to Microsoft licensing and bestpractices.

Types of Microsoft Licensing

Microsoft licensing on Google Cloud generally falls into two categories:

• On-demand Licenses from Google Cloud
• Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

On-demand Licenses from Google Cloud

The on-demand licensing model lets you pay for Microsoft licenses directly fromGoogle Cloud, and only pay for the licensing costs on the resources you consume.This simplifies deployment because you don't need to manage separatelicensing agreements and billing with Microsoft.

On-demand licenses for prebuilt and custom images

On-demand licenses are available directly from prebuilt images provided byGoogle Cloud in the Google Cloud console. You can also attach an on-demand licenseto your custom image during the image import process. Google Cloud provideson-demand licenses for the following Microsoft products:

• Windows Server
• SQL Server

The following are the potential advantages of on-demand licenses:

• Simplified billing and compliance: Google handles the licensing and youpay an hourly fee that includes both the base compute cost and the Microsoftlicense.
• No upfront investment: You don't need to purchase licenses in advance,making it ideal for short-term projects, testing, or scaling needs.
• Automatic updates: Google handles software updates and patches,potentially easing administrative burden.
• Get started quickly: If you don't have existing Microsoft licenses,on-demand licenses on Google Cloud offer a quick way to get started withMicrosoft products without additional licensing agreements.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

If you have existing Microsoft licenses being used in your on-premises datacenters, you might be eligible to use them with Google Cloud. When using yourexisting licenses on a resource in Google Cloud, you are only billed for theCompute Engine infrastructure that you consume for that resource. For example,a virtual machine (VM) running your own BYOL-eligible Windows Server licensewill only accrue infrastructure costs, but no additional Windows Serverlicensing costs are applied.

The following are the potential advantages of using your own license:

• Cost savings: If you have existing licenses with active softwareassurance, you might save costs compared to Google's on-demand licensing,especially for long-term, stable workloads. However, if your licenses requirededicated hardware with sole-tenant nodes, you might need to factor in thisadditional cost to your Google Cloud deployment.
• Hybrid-cloud flexibility: In some scenarios, BYOL can offer flexibilityin how you deploy and manage your Microsoft workloads in a multicloud orhybrid cloud scenario.

Every licensing situation is unique

While this page attempts to give an overview of using your own Microsoftlicense on Google Cloud, there are many possible situations that are uniqueto your use case and licensing agreements with Microsoft.

You are responsible for ensuring that use of your licenses is compliant withyour agreement with Microsoft, and any potential advantages are dependent uponyour specific terms and workload.

For an in-depth assessment of your licenses or software rights, work with yourlegal team, license vendor, or consult theMicrosoft Licensing Guide for Google Cloud (PDF download) prepared forGoogle Cloud by SoftwareOne.

For any other questions about your licensing situation, you can connect with adedicated licensing expert from SoftwareOne for no additional fee.

Common options for BYOL Microsoft licenses on Google Cloud

There are two common pathways for using your own Microsoft licenses onGoogle Cloud:

• Software Assurance with License Mobility
• Outsourcing Software Management Rights

Software Assurance with License Mobility

Software Assurance is an add-on program from Microsoft that you canpurchase alongside core Microsoft software licenses through volume licensingagreements. Think of it as a premium upgrade package for your Microsoftlicenses, offering a range of benefits beyond the license itself.

License Mobility is one of the included benefits of Software Assurance. Ithelps you transition your Microsoft application servers to Google Cloud usingperpetual or term subscription licenses acquired through their Microsoft volumelicensing agreements.

Products eligible for License Mobility

Not all Microsoft products are eligible for BYOL with License Mobility.Application server licenses like SQL Server and Sharepoint Server are typicallyeligible for BYOL with License Mobility. Windows Server licenses are typicallynot eligible for BYOL using License Mobility, but might be eligible for BYOLbyOutsourcing Software Management Rights.For more information on determining the eligibility of your Windows Serverlicenses, seeBYOL Windows Server FAQs.

For the most up to date complete list of products covered by License Mobility,seeMicrosoft's Resources for Software Assurance.

Additional information

With License Mobility, you are responsible for managing true ups and renewalsaccording to your agreements. For the licenses to remain valid, you mustmaintain Software Assurance coverage with Microsoft.

License Mobility is subject to the following restrictions:

• You must be an existing Microsoft Volume Licensing customer witheligible server applications that are covered by active Software Assurancecontracts with License Mobility.
• You must maintain appropriate Client Access Licenses (CALs) with SoftwareAssurance in your Volume Licensing agreement.
• After deploying a license within aregion, youcannot move that license to another region for 90 days. For more information,see theMicrosoft Product Terms site.

Outsourcing Software Management Rights

Some Microsoft products are eligible for BYOL without Software Assurance. Thisoption can be useful when you want to use your own licenses on Google Cloud forproducts that are not covered by License Mobility, such as Windows Server 2019.

Check your agreement with Microsoft to determine whether your OutsourcingSoftware Management Rights provide flexibility on where you can run yourworkload.

Your Windows Server license might beeligible for use on Google Cloud usingOutsourcing Software Management Rights if it meets the followingconditions, provided that you are not otherwise prevented from outsourcing themanagement of your software:

• Products released in 2019 or earlier: The license covers a Microsoftproduct version released before October 1, 2019. For example, Windows 2019might be eligible for BYOL with Outsourcing Software Management Rights, butWindows Server 2022 is not eligible.
• Acquired or effective before October 1, 2019: You acquired the Microsoftlicense under an enrollment effective before October 1, 2019, OR you acquiredthe Microsoft license after October 1, 2019 under aMicrosoft's Enterprise Agreement True-up (PDF download), for an enrollmentwith an effective date before October 1, 2019. This includes both the serverlicenses and any CALs.
• Sole-tenant nodes (dedicated hardware) are required: You can only usesoftware brought using Outsourcing Software Management Rights with dedicatedservers such assole-tenant nodes.Microsoft doesn't allow the use of Outsourcing Software Management right in amulti-tenant environment, and therefore you cannot use the software with thedefault tenancy for Compute Engine VMs.

What's next

• Read theMicrosoft licensing FAQ.

• Learn more aboutsole-tenant nodes.

• Learn more about theoperating system images thatCompute Engine provides.

• Estimate the costs of your project by doing the following:

  • Using thePricing calculator.

  • Viewing the estimated costs of your instances and resources when youcreate them in theGoogle Cloud console.

  • Viewing and downloading prices from the pricing table in theGoogle Cloud console.

  • Accessing pricing information programmatically by using theCloud Billing API.