Can two licenses support six instances?
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I have read the SQL Server 2022 Licence Guide with great care.
As far as I can tell, the following is a perfectly valid licence configuration if you have **two licences and Software Assurance**. Assume that I am talking about the same AG throughout.
|Server Name | Location | Setup | Covered by Licence |
|:---- |------:| -----:| -----:|
|Prod Primary | Main data centre | Production Primary, hosting exactly one AG | Licence A - Primary |
|Prod HA | Main data centre | Automatic failover AG replica, synchronously replicated | Licence A - Free HA server |
|Prod Manual Failover | Main data centre | Manual failover AG replica, asynchronously replicated | Licence A - Free DR server|
| DR Readable | DR site | Readable AG secondary, failover/replication don't matter | Licence B |
|DR HA | DR site | Automatic failover AG replica, synchronously replicated | Licence B - Free HA server |
|DR Manual Failover | DR site | Manual failover AG replica, asynchronously replicated | Licence B - Free DR server|
I find it surprising that this seems allowed. **Am I correct that it is allowed?**
Obviously, Microsoft has the final say on anything like this. However, what I'm describing here *must* be so common that the professionals here have either seen it before or already know why it does not work.

Asked by J. Mini
(1225 rep)
Jul 31, 2025, 08:36 PM