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How to manage Windows licenses for virtual machines on your Hosted Private Cloud infrastructure

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The OVHcloud Control Panel now includes a new feature, which allows you to:

  • View the number of Windows virtual machines requiring a license.
  • Instantly activate a license on eligible VMs from the interface.

This gives you better visibility, reduces the need for API calls, and helps ensure compliance with Microsoft licensing requirements.

Warning

NOTE: OVHcloud simplifies the management and billing of your Windows licenses by allowing you to tell us which virtual machines require the use of a license.

However, you remain responsible for the accuracy of the data you provide to us, and OVHcloud cannot be held liable for any unauthorized use of a Windows system on your part.

 

Requirements

  • A VMware on OVHcloud service.
  • At least one virtual machine running a Windows operating system.
  • You must have activated the Windows licenses in your OVHcloud Control Panel. See the "Windows license" section of our Introduction to the VMware on OVHcloud Control Panel guide for more information.
  • Allow outgoing TCP connections on port 1688 from licensed VMs to kms.ovh.us in your firewall settings.

OVHcloud Control Panel Access

  • Direct link: VMware vSphere
  • Navigation path: Hosted Private Cloud > Managed VMware vSphere > Select your vSphere

 

Instructions

Activate and monitor Windows licenses directly from the OVHcloud Control Panel

Info

This feature only applies if you want OVHcloud to license your Windows VMs via SPLA. If you bring your own license (BYOL), you do not need to activate anything in the OVHcloud Control Panel.

Check your Windows license usage in the Control Panel

  1. Go to the Hosted Private Cloud section of your OVHcloud Control Panel and click Managed VMware vSphere.
  2. Select your service, then open the Datacenter tab.

Here, you will find:

  • The total number of VMs running in your datacenter.
  • The number of Windows VMs (requiring a license).
  • The number of declared Windows VMs (licensed by OVHcloud).

VMware datacenters tab

Info

Activating the license in the OVHcloud Control Panel is only required if you want OVHcloud to provide a Windows SPLA license for the VM.

 

Understand the two Windows license management modes

There are two scenarios:

  • Case 1: You bring your own Microsoft license (BYOL):
    • No action required in the interface.
  • Case 2: You want OVHcloud to license the VM:

 

Activate a Windows license from the OVHcloud Control Panel

  1. Click your Datacenter, and go to the Virtual Machines tab.

  2. Locate the VM that needs to be licensed.

  3. Click the more options ... button on the right, then click Activate licence.

    Datacenter VM tab activate

  4. Choose the appropriate license from the dropdown menu.

  5. Click Enable to confirm the action.

Tip

The VM is now declared and licensed by OVHcloud. It will appear in your billing and compliance tracking.

When you install a Windows Server operating system, the product key – also known as a KMS (Key Management Service) key – may not be installed correctly. In such cases, the operating system has been installed with a 120-day trial key. Once this time period elapses, the operating system can no longer be used.

 

Manage licenses using the OVHcloud API

If you prefer to automate or integrate Windows license management into your workflows, you can use the OVHcloud API to list, assign, update, or remove licenses on your virtual machines.

 

List virtual machines with a license

You can quickly check which virtual machines in your infrastructure are licensed via the OVHcloud API:

GET/dedicatedCloud/{serviceName}/datacenter/{datacenterId}/vmLicensed

Return example:

[
    {
        "vmId": 1074,
        "name": "my-win2019-vm",
        "guestOsFamily": "windows2019srv_64Guest",
        "license": "windows 2019 Standard Core"
    }
]

 

Verify the license of a virtual machine

You can check the license currently associated with one of your virtual machines via the OVHcloud API:

GET/dedicatedCloud/{serviceName}/datacenter/{datacenterId}/vm/{vmId}

If no license is attached to it, the license field value will be null.

Return example:

{
    // ...
    "guestOsFamily": "windows2019srv_64Guest",
    "license": "windows 2019 Standard"
}

 

Update the license of a virtual machine

You can update the license associated with one of your virtual machines via the OVHcloud API:

POST/dedicatedCloud/{serviceName}/datacenter/{datacenterId}/vm/{vmId}/setLicense
Info

Virtual machines deployed from VMware content libraries are automatically attached to a corresponding Windows license.

Warning

NOTE: To avoid the incorrect allocation of a Windows license on a virtual machine, the API call above will return an error in the case where the virtual machine has been configured for a different operating system from your vSphere interface.

You can resolve this by changing the VM settings, or you can choose to ignore this error by passing the option bypassGuestOsFamilyCheck.

 

Unlicense a virtual machine

You can delete the license associated with one of your virtual machines via the OVHcloud API:

POST/dedicatedCloud/{serviceName}/datacenter/{datacenterId}/vm/{vmId}/removeLicense

 

Go further

Browse all the VMware on OVHcloud guides.

Browse the rest of the OVHcloud US documentation for guides on our other products and services.

Learn more about VMware on OVHcloud on the OVHcloud US website.