Microsoft recently announced the option to license Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows Server & SQL Server via Azure Arc, enabling a monthly Pay As You Go (PAYG) model.
The public pricing page here shows different pricing for Standard edition and Datacenter edition:
As you’d expect, ESUs for Standard edition are significantly cheaper than for Datacenter.
What you wouldn’t expect, or at least I didn’t (!), is this:
When you license ESU for Windows Server via Azure Arc and choose the “vCore licensing” option – which is based on the number of virtual cores being used – Microsoft allows you to pay the Standard edition rate “irrespective of how the underlying server or operating system is licensed”.
This information is found on this Microsoft Learn page.
If that’s correct, you can save $361 per 16 cores…that’s 83%! Truly a big push to get customers to activate Azure Arc connections.
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 