Windows Server 2019 Essentials Hyper-V Licensing

Question

Some Context - (You can skip reading this, and probably skip all the way to "My Question/s" as well.)
So I've been searching for an answer, and every page I visit seems to give me a different one.

I'm trying to figure out if I need a product key, for every VM I deploy.
I am a small start up company owner, and am currently the only employee.
I purchased a server from dell, to run my website, as well as an email server, because I found it more cost effective to do so.
Buying and running a server, rather than renting a web server and paying for email services, pays itself off within 2-3 years.
I would be doing a lot of SMTP relays, as well as have many email accounts, for doing stuff like email verification, and order and shipping notices, which is bloody expensive for a start up company.

Why I am here
There are a lot of people on different forums advising to put the email server, and the web server on different machines, so this is where my question comes in.
Some people are saying, you can have 2 free virtual machines with 2019 Essentials.
There are also people saying you are only allowed 1 free VM.
And then there are other people saying you need a product key for each VM.

What I want to do
I would like to deploy 2 virtual machines, 1 for email, 1 for the web server, and the physical machine would just be for managing Hyper-V, and acting as a DNS server or some sorts. I only have 1 static IP address at the moment, so I would be forwarding mail traffic and web traffic to the VM's IP(not sure how to do this properly yet, so correct me if I'm wrong that a DNS server is the correct way to do that.)

My Question/s
Before you say this is a duplicate post, there are too many of them with different answers, so I'm hoping that someone can give me the real answer.

Question 1
So my question is, would I need to purchase 3 product keys for Essentials 2019, to run my physical machine, the VM for the email server, and the VM for the web server?
I would be the only user for all 3 of them.

Question 1 A
And if I would have to purchase 3 product keys, what is the best way to setup an email server and web server on the same physical machine?
Because I cannot afford to purchase 3 keys, but I really want to do my best to not compromise security(I can barely afford the 1).

Question 1 B
And then if you are allowed to have 1 free VM, would it be better to run the email server on the VM, or the web server?

Other Question - (Not required, I am most likely going to ask another question, either here or on stack exchange.)

As I mentioned above, if I do go with the 2 VMs, using 1 static IP, with public DNS records pointing to that static IP, is the correct way of routing mail traffic and web traffic to the VMs with a DNS server? Or what is the correct way of doing that? Brief answer would be all I need.
And would doing this cause any extra latency, lets say I created an online game, is this going to affect the response time?

end statement
Thank you, and I really appreciate the time you took to read this, and respond with any help you can provide me.
Hope you are having a good day.

Answer 1

First it isn't recommended to run other roles on a hyper-v host plus (for a Standard license) it takes away the rights for one of the Operating System Environments. Some general info;

• Each host needs to be licensed.
• A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses is required for each server.
• Core licenses are sold in packs of two.
• Standard Edition provides rights for up to 2 Operating System Environments or Windows Servers containers with Hyper-V isolation when all physical cores in the server are licensed. For each additional 1 or 2 VMs, all the physical cores in the server must be licensed again.
• DataCenter Edition provides rights for unlimited Operating System Environments or Windows Servers containers with Hyper-V isolation when all physical cores in the server are licensed.
• AVMA keys can be used only when the host is DataCenter edition

So using a Standard license you could run two virtual machines but would need to come up with activations for the guests if you didn't install the same edition / version as the host OS If you bought a DataCenter license then you should be covered since you can use AVMA product keys to activate the guests mentioned here.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started-19/vm-activation-19

--please don't forget to Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

Answer 2

HI
For Question 1 and For Question1A
since server essential 2019 and previous version need to be root DC with Full FSMO,If you purchasing 3 product keys,you need to run 3 server essentials in different domain.So I think this is not the option for you.
for Question1B
I have seen one user install web server on the physical server essentials 2012r2,so i think it can come true to install web server on server essentials w2019.
for other Question
And then if you are allowed to have 1 free VM, would it be better to run the email server on the VM, or the web server?
yes,if you install only hyper-v role on physical server essentials 2019 ,you are allowed to have 1 free VM with server essentials 2019 version,since server essentials 2019 has been removed server essentials experience role ,i think running web server on server essentials 2019 can be completed easier than previous version.since web server need to install SQL server and we have only one public ip,I think we can use Microsoft 365 Business for office app and email so that we don't need to install exchange server on server essential.

Hyper-V support and licencing in Windows Server Essentials 2019
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1515015a-55d7-411e-a181-41e4dc97b807/hyperv-support-and-licencing-in-windows-server-essentials-2019?forum=winserverhyperv

What's New in Windows Server 2019 Essentials
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-essentials/get-started/what-s-new-19

SQL Server 2019: Hardware and software requirements
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/install/hardware-and-software-requirements-for-installing-sql-server-ver15?view=sql-server-ver15

Microsoft 365 | Business
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business