SQL Server is going to cost a minimum of $12k (you can't buy fewer than 4 core licenses, no matter how few virtual cores you use). $6k for a VM host + labor isn't unreasonable.

With new R2 licensing, costs go up and unlimited virtualization rights on SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition go away ...

A new report from research firm GigaOm indicated that SQL Server runs faster on virtual machines on Micrososft's Azure cloud than on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) compute instances (EC2). Sponsored by ...

Idera, a provider of Microsoft SQL Server management and administration tools, announced SQL virtual database 1.3, the latest release for this solution that enables backup files to look and act just ...

Currently, SQL Server 2008 users have unlimited virtualization rights, according to Microsoft's pricing and licensing guide (Word doc download). However, to get "maximum virtualization" rights with ...

In addition, Microsoft announced that it is expanding virtualization use rights to allow unlimited virtual instances on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.

Look out, mid-market IT shops looking to use Microsoft's new Essential Business Server 2008 in an enterprise filled with virtual servers: Some old, resource-hogging apps, Exchange and SQL Server ...

How many virtual machines can you put on a server? Depends upon whether your hardware and virtualisation environment are well-matched. This tip offers four criteria for selecting the right servers ...