Could you confirm whether the sold core packs cover 2 physical cores (which equals 4 vCPUs)?

Yep - AFAIK, a 2-core license pack covers 2 physical cores, which maps to 2 virtual cores (vCPUs) under standard Microsoft per-core licensing rules. However, minimum licensing requirements apply depending on whether you license the physical host or an individual virtual machine.

For SQL Server 2025 Standard (Per-Core Model), licenses are sold in 2-core packs. If licensing by virtual machine (VM), SQL Server requires a minimum of 4 core licenses per VM. Effectively, you need at least two 2-core packs per VM, even if the VM has only 1 or 2 vCPUs. SQL Server Standard is also subject to its applicable maximum vCPU and physical/virtual core limits. If licensing the entire physical host, you must license all physical cores on the server, subject to the applicable minimums.

For Windows Server 2025 Standard, Microsoft requires a minimum of 8 core licenses per processor and 16 core licenses per physical server (or per OSE). This means that purchasing a single 2-core license pack does not by itself license a complete physical server or standard VM. You would need to stack sufficient 2-core packs to meet the applicable 16-core physical-server/OSE minimum. When licensing an individual VM directly rather than licensing the physical host, the applicable minimum is 8 core licenses per VM.

Details at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/windows-server and https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/productoffering/SQLServer

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hth

Marcin