SQL Server is the single most common source of large Microsoft audit findings, and the exposure is almost always built before the audit ever arrives. Core based licensing, the rules that govern virtualization, and the conditions attached to Software Assurance mobility combine into a model that is easy to deploy against and hard to license correctly. This white paper sets out the buyer side method for understanding that exposure and reducing it before an audit forces the conversation. The cheapest finding is the one you resolve before the auditor counts the cores.
SQL Server produces more large audit findings than any other product in the Microsoft estate, and the reason is structural. The product is licensed by core, deployed across virtual infrastructure that moves, and governed by mobility rules that depend on a Software Assurance status many organizations cannot reliably evidence. The combination makes it easy to run more SQL Server than is licensed without anyone intending to, and an audit converts that quiet gap into a sudden liability priced at list. This paper reframes SQL Server licensing as an exposure to be managed continuously rather than a problem to be discovered under audit. It walks through core based licensing and where the count goes wrong, the virtualization rules that drive most findings, the conditions on Software Assurance mobility, and the concrete steps that reduce exposure before an audit begins. The method is the one the practice runs on live engagements: find the gap before the auditor does, and resolve it on the buyer's terms.
This paper reflects method developed across hundreds of Microsoft engagements. The figures below are firm level and reflect cumulative results across the practice.
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