For licensing questions, I suggest contacting Microsoft Licensing Center for detailed explanation. http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx For licensing questions, please call 1-800-426-9400 (select option 4), Monday through Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. (PST) to speak directly to a Microsoft licensing specialist. Worldwide customers can use the Guide to Worldwide Microsoft Licensing Sites http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/index/worldwide.asp to find contact information in their locations Thanks

Hi, you can get more information here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2012-editions.aspx You can purchase Windows Server 2012 DCE (1 DCE license for each CPU) - and this entitles you to run unlimited virtual server instances on that CPU, of any edition of Windows Server (STD or DCE) and you can also use previous versions of Windows Server (eg 2008R2 or 2008 or 2003 etc) You must also purchase Windows Server CALs for each user (or each device) which will access the servers. It's best to talk to your MS reseller (or contact MS VL team) so that you know your various options (sometimes it is more economical to buy "suites" or "bundles")Don (Please take a moment to "Vote as Helpful" and/or "Mark as Answer", where applicable. This helps the community, keeps the forums tidy, and recognises useful contributions. Thanks!)

Good afternoon. I'm building new office where I have 2 DELL servers (2 CPU each) with Citrix XenServer running attached to NetApp SAN. I will need 12+ virtual servers running Windows 2008 OS. My question - Can I buy Windows 2008 Server Datacenter edition and only use it as virtual and don't install it on host machines? Thank you.

To my understanding, If you need to be benefited with Datacenter edition, you need to run Hyper-V so that the virtual machines hosted on that hyperV node will not require additional license. If you want to use Windows 2008 Server edition with in a virtual machine, Windows 2008 Standard or enterprise should be good.Shaba