Hey everyone,
I'm currently analyzing our on-premises to Azure migration plan at work, and the licensing costs for SQL Server are a big part of it. Our team lead mentioned we should look into "Azure Hybrid Benefit" for SQL Server to save money, but I'm having a hard time pinning down the exact savings in a real scenario.
I've read the official docs, but the calculation feels a bit abstract when I try to apply it. We have SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition licenses with Software Assurance. If we bring those licenses to Azure, we only pay for the underlying VM compute, right? Not the SQL license cost itself.
Can someone who's actually done this walk me through a concrete example? Like, for a `Standard_E16s_v3` VM (16 vCPUs), what would the monthly cost be with and without the Hybrid Benefit? My own math looks something like this:
```sql
-- Without Hybrid Benefit (Pay-as-you-go SQL Server on Azure):
-- VM Cost (e.g., ~$1,000/month) + SQL Server License Cost (e.g., ~$2,700/month)
-- Total ~ $3,700/month
-- With Hybrid Benefit (Using existing on-prem licenses):
-- VM Cost (e.g., ~$1,000/month) + (Only Base VM Compute? Or a reduced SQL rate?)
-- Total ~ $1,000/month? Is that right?
```
Is it really that straightforward, or am I missing some hidden cost component? Also, does this work the same for both SQL Server on VMs and Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Any real-world numbers or gotchas you've encountered would be super helpful. Trying to build a clear cost model for my manager.