On-premises only licensing with software assurance and VS Enterprise subscription

[johncpratt]

This is a licensing question.  I have SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Core-Licensing Edition with Software Assurance, purchased in July 2016.  I am now preparing to upgrade to SQL Server 2016 Enterprise Core-Licensing Edition and want to install Power BI Report Server for on-premises only, report-only, usage of Power BI in addition to standard SSRS reports.  I also have a Visual Studio Enterprise subscription, which includes a Power BI Pro license that I know I need to publish reports.  My agency, which is a non-profit education company, has a Volume Licensing Agreement for desktop software, SharePoint, etc.

I don't need dashboards, I don't need sharing, I don't need gateway access.  Hosted is considered a problem from a sensitive data standpoint as well.  I just need Power BI reports that can access on-prem data which can be run by end users the same as regular paginated SSRS reports.

My question is, with my combination of software, subscriptions, and needs, am I covered to use Power BI Report Server on-premises to develop and host reports?  If not, what do I still need to purchase?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@johncpratt EE+SA gets you the Power BI Report Server (still not released). It sounds like you should be covered provided you continue that going forward. My understanding is that PBIRS will release sometime in the end of Q2.

[JanV]

I understood from online documentation that EE + SA gets you the report server for free. Just wondering what this means in the proposed best practice four-server topology of Power BI Report Server configuration. For which virtual machines would your require a SQL Server EE + SA and which could do with just SQL Server standard? Or would you just have to have 1 SQL Server with 8 cores and 32 GB (EE+SA) somewhere in you organisation to be able to install Power BI Report Server (Small) 8 Cores 32 GB?