Convert a license type for Windows and SQL Server - Amazon License Manager
LimitsUsing the License Manager consoleUsing the Amazon CLI
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Convert a license type for Windows and SQL Server

You can use either the License Manager Console or the Amazon CLI to convert the license type of eligible Windows and SQL Server instances.

License type conversion limits

Important

The use of Microsoft software is subject to the licensing terms of Microsoft. You are responsible for complying with Microsoft licensing terms. This documentation is provided for convenience, and you are not entitled to rely on its description. This documentation does not constitute legal advice. If you have questions about your licensing rights to Microsoft software, consult with your legal team, Microsoft, or your Microsoft reseller.

License Manager restricts the types of license conversions that you can create in accordance with the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). Some of the restrictions that license type conversion is subject to are listed as follows. This is not a comprehensive list and is subject to change.

  • The Amazon EC2 instance must be launched from your own virtual machine (VM) image.

  • License-included SQL Server cannot be run on a Dedicated Host.

  • A license-included SQL Server instance must have at least 4 vCPUs.

Convert a license type using the License Manager console

You can use the License Manager console to convert a license type.

Note

Only instances that are in a stopped state and have been associated by Amazon Systems Manager Inventory are displayed.

To start a license type conversion in the console

  1. Open the License Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/license-manager/ .

  2. From the left navigation pane, choose License type conversion, then choose Create license type conversion.

  3. For Source operating system, choose the platform of the instance you want to convert:

    1. Ubuntu LTS

    2. Windows BYOL

    3. Windows license included

  4. (Optional) Filter the available instances by specifying a value for Instance ID or Usage operation value.

  5. Select the instances whose licenses you want to convert, and then choose Next.

  6. Enter the Usage operation value for the license type, select the license that you are converting to, and choose Next.

  7. Verify that you are satisfied with your license type conversion configuration and choose Start conversion.

You can view the status of your license type conversion from the license type conversion panel. The Conversion status column displays the status of the conversion as In progress, Completed, or Failed.

Important

If you convert Windows Server from license included to BYOL, you must activate Windows according to your Microsoft license agreement. See Convert Windows Server from license included to BYOL for more information.

Convert a license type using the Amazon CLI

To start a license type conversion in the Amazon CLI:

Determine the license type of your instance

  1. Verify that you have installed and set up the Amazon CLI. For more information, see Installing, updating, and uninstalling the Amazon CLI and Configuring the Amazon CLI.

    Important

    You might need to update the Amazon CLI to run certain commands and receive all required output in the following steps.

  2. Verify that you have permissions to run the create-license-conversion-task-for-resource Amazon CLI command. For help with this, see Create IAM policies for License Manager.

  3. To determine the license type currently associated with your instance, run the following Amazon CLI command. Replace the instance ID with the ID of the instance for which you want to determine the license type.

    aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids <instance-id> --query "Reservations[*].Instances[*].{InstanceId: InstanceId, PlatformDetails: PlatformDetails, UsageOperation: UsageOperation, UsageOperationUpdateTime: UsageOperationUpdateTime}"

  4. The following is an example response to the describe-instances command. Note that the UsageOperation value is the billing information code associated with the license. The UsageOperationUpdateTime is the time when the billing code was updated. For more information, see DescribeInstances in the Amazon EC2 API reference.

    "InstanceId": "i-0123456789abcdef",
"Platform details": "Windows with SQL Server Enterprise",
"UsageOperation": "RunInstances:0800",
"UsageOperationUpdateTime: "2021-08-16T21:16:16.000Z"
Note

The usage operation for Windows Server with SQL Server Enterprise BYOL is the same as the usage operation for Windows BYOL because they are identically billed.

Convert Windows Server from license included to BYOL

When you convert Windows Server from license included to BYOL, License Manager does not automatically activate Windows. You must switch the KMS server for your instance from the Amazon KMS server to your own KMS server.

Important

In order to convert from license included to BYOL, the original Amazon EC2 instance must be launched from your own virtual machine (VM) image. For more information about converting a VM to Amazon EC2, see VM Import/Export. Instances that were originally launched from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) are not eligible for license conversion to BYOL.

Check your Microsoft license agreement to determine what methods you can use to activate Microsoft Windows Server. For example, if you are using a KMS server, you must obtain the address of your KMS server from the original BYOL configuration of the instance.

  1. To convert the license type of your instance, run the following command, replacing the ARN with the ARN of the instance you want to convert:

    aws license-manager create-license-conversion-task-for-resource \
    --resource-arn <instance_arn> \
    --source-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0002 \
    --destination-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0800

  2. To activate Windows after you convert your license, you must point the Windows Server KMS server for your operating system to your own KMS servers. Log in to the Windows instance and run the following command:

    slmgr.vbs /skms <your-kms-address>
Convert Windows Server from BYOL to license included

When you convert Windows Server from BYOL to license included, License Manager automatically switches the KMS server for your instance to the Amazon KMS server.

To convert the license type of your instance from BYOL to license included, run the following command, replacing the ARN with the ARN of the instance you want to convert:

aws license-manager create-license-conversion-task-for-resource \
    --resource-arn <instance_arn> \
    --source-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0800 \
    --destination-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0002
Convert both Windows Server and SQL Server from BYOL to license included

You can switch multiple products at the same time. For example, you can convert both Windows Server and SQL Server in one license type conversion.

To convert the license type of your Windows Server instance from BYOL to license included, and SQL Server Standard from BYOL to license included, run the following command, replacing the ARN with the ARN of the instance you want to convert:

aws license-manager create-license-conversion-task-for-resource \
    --resource-arn <instance_arn> \
    --source-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0800 \
    --destination-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0006