We are thinking of purchasing a SQL 2012 system. The new server will have 4 cores so we are going to purchase 2 SQL Server Standard Core 2012 Single OPEN 2 Core licenses.
This means that the SQL Server is fully licensed for any number of internal (NOT INTERNET) users to access the SQL databases.
fyi - AD licensing is already in place for Servers & Users.
If we want to use a 2nd server in PASSIVE mode, do we need to purchase more SQL licenses or because we only have ACTIVE databases on the 1st server we are OK.
The PASSIVE server will only become ACTIVE if the 1st server fails.
-OR-
Is there anyther way to do this sort of thing that I am missing.