Minimizing Licensing Costs

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Azure Hybrid Benefit is a licensing benefit that helps you to significantly reduce the costs of running your workloads in the cloud. It works by letting you use your on-premises Software Assurance-enabled Windows Server and SQL Server licenses on Azure.

To minimize licensing costs for the deployment of SQL Server on Azure virtual machines, you should use Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Azure Hybrid Benefit allows customers who have existing licenses for certain Microsoft products, such as SQL Server, to use those licenses in the cloud without having to pay for additional licenses. This can significantly reduce the cost of running SQL Server on Azure virtual machines.

When you use Azure Hybrid Benefit, you can apply your existing SQL Server licenses to Azure virtual machines running SQL Server. This means you can use the same license for both on-premises and cloud deployments, which can result in cost savings.

Deallocating virtual machines during off hours, configuring Azure Cost Management budgets, and using Azure reservations can also help reduce costs, but they do not directly address licensing costs for SQL Server.

Deallocating virtual machines during off hours can help reduce costs by avoiding unnecessary compute charges, but it does not address licensing costs.

Configuring Azure Cost Management budgets can help you track and control your overall Azure spending, but it does not address licensing costs for SQL Server.

Using Azure reservations allows you to reserve virtual machines in advance and receive a discounted rate, but it does not directly address licensing costs for SQL Server.

In summary, to minimize licensing costs for deploying SQL Server on Azure virtual machines, you should use Azure Hybrid Benefit.