AWS license-included and BYOL for Microsoft workloads describes the two routes by which Microsoft software is licensed on Amazon Web Services. With license-included instances, “you get new, fully compliant Windows Server and SQL Server licenses from AWS” as part of the Amazon EC2 or Amazon RDS price.[2] With bring your own license (BYOL), the customer deploys licenses it already owns; AWS describes BYOL as “the process of bringing previously purchased, on-premises licenses to AWS”, after which “the licensing cost of the product you bring is no longer included in the price of the instance.”[1] Which BYOL route is available depends on the product, on whether the licenses carry Microsoft Software Assurance with License Mobility, and on whether they were bought before 1 October 2019. AWS repeatedly states that use of Microsoft software is subject to Microsoft’s terms and that customers are responsible for compliance.[1][4] The Microsoft-side rules are summarized in Microsoft licensing on third-party clouds.
Editions
AWS offers license-included options for Windows Server and SQL Server on Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, Amazon EVS and AWS Outposts; Remote Desktop Services, Office and Visual Studio on EC2 and Amazon WorkSpaces; and Project and Visio on WorkSpaces.[1] The editions and products that can and cannot be bought from AWS are:
| Product | Available from AWS | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Server | Yes, license included on EC2, including Bare Metal | Windows Server AMIs on Dedicated Hosts cost $0.046 per vCPU-hour in all Regions.[1][6] |
| SQL Server Web, Standard, Enterprise | Yes, on EC2 and RDS | RDS also offers Express license included.[1][9] |
| Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise 2022 | Yes, as per-user subscriptions on EC2 | Through License Manager user-based subscriptions.[1][11] |
| Office LTSC Professional Plus and Standard | Yes, as per-user subscriptions on EC2 | Invoiced per user per month with Remote Desktop Services SALs.[1][11] |
| Windows client (Windows 10, 11) | No | “AWS does not sell any Windows Client operating system licenses on any of our services.”[1] |
| MSDN | No | “AWS does not sell MSDN licenses.”[1] |
Metrics
License-included Windows Server is priced per vCPU with the instance, and customers using the EC2 Optimize CPUs feature on license-included Windows and SQL Server AMIs “pay licensing fees based on the number of vCPUs that are configured for your instance.”[8] The catalog metric is vCPU. Office and Visual Studio bought from AWS are counted per user: “a user is only counted once” irrespective of the number of instances, while “Windows Server licenses are bundled with the EC2 instances and are charged per vCPU along with the instance charges.”[14] For BYOL, the count follows the Microsoft licensing model; on Dedicated Hosts “EC2 provides you with the number of physical cores installed on the Dedicated Host” for SQL Server calculations, recorded as Cores.[1]
Counting / floors
Client access
License-included Windows Server needs no Windows Server CALs, “as access is included in the price”, and each instance includes two remote connections for administrative use only; further or non-administrative connections require Remote Desktop Services CALs.[1] License-included SQL Server needs no SQL Server CALs, and “An unlimited number of end users can access SQL Server on a license included instance.”[1] Customers bringing SQL Server licensed Server/CAL keep their CALs, which “would remain on-premises and enable end user access SQL Server running on AWS.”[1] See the rule no CALs for license-included instances.
Passive and standby instances
BYOL customers with Software Assurance or subscription licenses have passive failover rights under License Mobility, provided the licenses needed for the passive instances do not exceed those for the corresponding active instances; the operating system must still be licensed.[1] For license-included SQL Server, Amazon EC2 High Availability for SQL Server “waives SQL Server licensing fees” on standby nodes, so they are billed at Windows rates.[7] An active node can cover standby nodes “as long as its vCPU count is equal to or greater than the total vCPUs of the standby instances that it covers”, vCPUs from different active nodes cannot be combined, and the feature does not work with Reserved Instances.[7] It applies to SQL Server Standard and Enterprise 2017 and later on Windows Server 2019 and later.[7]
Web Edition
License-included SQL Server Web Edition “may be used only to support public and Internet accessible Web pages, Web sites, Web applications, or Web services” and not line-of-business applications such as CRM or ERP (Service Terms Section 10.5.1).[4]
Virtualization & partitioning
AWS’s dedicated infrastructure options for licenses that require it are EC2 Dedicated Hosts, EC2 Dedicated Instances, Amazon EVS, BYOL WorkSpaces and AWS Outposts.[1] The FAQ notes that “most BYOL scenarios are supported through the use of Dedicated Hosts, while only certain scenarios are supported by Dedicated Instances”, and recommends Dedicated Hosts for products licensed at the physical level, because they provide “visibility into physical processor and core counts and host affinity”.[1] The EC2 User Guide limits Dedicated Instance BYOL to SQL Server with License Mobility through Software Assurance and Windows VDA licenses.[5] Microsoft rules that a license cannot move for 90 days are tracked on Dedicated Hosts with instance affinity and host targeting.[1] The detail is in Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts and AWS License Manager.
Cloud / BYOL
Contractual conditions
Section 5.7 of the AWS Service Terms makes BYOL of Microsoft software conditional, unless the Microsoft agreement says otherwise, on using Dedicated Instances or Dedicated Hosts and launching from VMs “sourced from software binaries provided by you”; by using the program the customer agrees to Microsoft’s EULA and confirms its use complies with Microsoft’s terms.[4] In practice AWS requires the customer’s own media: “No, you must import and license your own media”, imported through VM Import/Export and activated against the customer’s own KMS.[1] The catalog records this as the BYOL Program.
License Mobility through Software Assurance
License Mobility is “a Microsoft Software Assurance benefit that allows you to bring specific product licenses to shared cloud infrastructure, including default (shared) tenant Amazon EC2.”[1] The AWS License Mobility page lists the eligibility requirements: active Software Assurance; an eligible server application (among them Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, SQL Server Standard and Enterprise, System Center Server, Remote Desktop Services and BizTalk Server); CALs with Software Assurance; exclusion of Windows client, desktop applications such as Office, and Windows Server; a 90-day restriction on moving licenses between AWS Regions; and use of the customer’s own media.[3] Customers complete Microsoft’s verification process, naming Amazon Web Services as the Authorized Mobility Partner, and may deploy up to ten days before submitting the form.[3] See License Mobility on AWS and the rule 90 days per Region.
The 1 October 2019 cut-off
Licenses without License Mobility can be brought only to dedicated infrastructure, and only if they are perpetual, “originally purchased before October 1, 2019” (or bought as a true-up under an Enterprise Enrollment effective before that date), for versions available before that date.[1] The product-specific consequences are:
| Product | BYOL rule on AWS | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Server | Dedicated Hosts only; bought before 2019-10-01; version available before 2019-10-01; Software Assurance not required; not eligible for License Mobility; CSP licenses not eligible.[1] | 2019-10-01 |
| SQL Server with SA | License Mobility on default or dedicated tenancy.[1] | n/a |
| SQL Server without SA | Dedicated Hosts; version 2017 or earlier; bought before 2019-10-01.[1] | 2019-10-01 |
| Office (perpetual) | Dedicated Hosts or Dedicated Instances; bought before 2019-10-01; upgrades only to versions available before that date.[1] | 2019-10-01 |
| MSDN / Visual Studio subscriptions | Dedicated Hosts or Dedicated Instances for subscriptions bought before 2019-10-01; not on default tenancy; not in License Mobility.[1] | 2019-10-01 |
| Windows client | VDA E3/E5 user licenses plus dedicated infrastructure (Dedicated Host, Dedicated Instance, Bare Metal, EVS or dedicated WorkSpaces with a 50-seat minimum).[1] | n/a |
| SQL Server Developer | Free Microsoft download for non-production; dedicated infrastructure not required.[1] | n/a |
Windows Server that does not qualify can still run on Dedicated Hosts using Amazon-provided Windows Server AMIs, a common pattern when SQL Server licenses are brought but Windows Server is bought from AWS.[6] Service providers could use their own SPLA on AWS only until 30 September 2025 because of Microsoft’s October 2022 changes.[1]
Switching license type
License Manager license type conversion changes an instance between AWS-provided licensing and BYOL “without redeploying your existing workloads”, for example after a migration or when a Microsoft agreement is expiring.[10] A conversion back to BYOL is possible only when the instance was launched from the customer’s own VM image.[10]
Amazon RDS for SQL Server
RDS for SQL Server supports License Included (Enterprise, Standard, Web, Express) and Bring Your Own Media (Enterprise, Standard, Developer).[9] BYOM requires “Software Assurance and License Mobility rights that permit deployment on AWS” and a License Mobility Verification Form submitted to Microsoft before use.[4] Under BYOM RDS charges no SQL Server license fee, but the customer still pays for infrastructure and Windows OS license fees; Multi-AZ deployments have no additional licensing requirements.[9]
Amazon WorkSpaces
Customers can bring Windows 10 or 11 desktop licenses if their Microsoft agreement allows it; “AWS runs your BYOL WorkSpaces on hardware that is dedicated to you in the AWS Cloud.”[13] Non-GPU bundles require at least 50 WorkSpaces per Region per month (which can combine WorkSpaces Applications users and WorkSpaces Personal instances), GPU bundles 4 AlwaysOn or 20 AutoStop WorkSpaces, and the Africa (Cape Town) Region 400.[13] AWS says a customer bringing its Windows desktop license will “save $4 per user per month for WorkSpaces Personal when being billed monthly”.[12] Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise can be brought under E3 or E5, A3 or A5, G3 or G5, or Business Premium plans, and doing so “does not require use of Windows Desktop, nor does it require dedicated infrastructure.”[12] Alternatively, Office Professional Plus can be bought from AWS as part of a WorkSpaces application bundle.[12] The Service Terms (Section 26.8) apply the same sole-responsibility wording to the WorkSpaces BYOL Program as to EC2.[4]
Programs
The catalog records License Included, the BYOL Program, License Mobility through Software Assurance on AWS, RDS for SQL Server BYOM, Amazon EC2 High Availability for SQL Server, License Manager user-based subscriptions and the WorkSpaces BYOL Program. License-included Microsoft Software is subject to Service Terms Section 5.1: it “is neither sold nor distributed to you”, may not be used outside the Services, and may not be nested or containerized to resell portions of a Microsoft Instance unless the customer is the end user or adds its own applications or significant functionality.[4]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Microsoft’s own definitions of License Mobility, the Flexible Virtualization Benefit or Authorized Outsourcers (see Microsoft licensing on third-party clouds), per-instance license-included prices (published by AWS as client-side price tables and not captured here), Microsoft 365 cloud subscriptions, or Amazon EVS and AWS Outposts beyond their listing as dedicated or license-included options.