Amazon EVS now offers Windows Server Licensing: A step-by-step guide

This article announces Windows Server licensing support for Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS), enabling customers to migrate Windows-based VMs to their EVS environments.

• Two licensing options: Bring Your Own License (BYOL) or AWS-provided per-vCPU-hour licensing
• EVS connectors enable communication between Amazon EVS and vCenter Server management appliances
• Windows Server license entitlements track VM power status and vCPU configuration for accurate billing
• Step-by-step setup includes vCenter user creation, connector configuration, entitlement addition, and KMS activation
• VPC endpoint required for Windows Server VM activation using AWS Key Management Service
• Billing aligns with actual VM usage while running; BYOL VMs incur no additional AWS licensing costs

Amazon EVS now provides flexible Windows Server licensing options, simplifying VMware workload migration to AWS while maintaining existing operational processes.