| If any of you have tried to figure out Microsoft's | | | | Licences for every user you plan on connecting. |
| licensing laws you know how frustrating and | | | | Those 5 licenses that came with the operating |
| confusing it is. I have written a brief explanation | | | | system are Windows licenses. So let's say you have |
| below covering Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003. | | | | 10 users that need to connect. You then need 10 |
| - Windows XP | | | | user licenses AND 10 terminal services user licenses |
| Windows XP is pretty straight forward. When you | | | | for a total of 20 licenses for your 10 users. Confused |
| buy a new PC it usually comes pre-loaded with | | | | yet? Well it gets better. |
| Windows XP. If it is a desktop, the Certificate of | | | | You can configure your Server 2003 to distribute |
| Authenticity sticker is usually on the side of the case. | | | | licenses in one of two ways: Per Device or Per User. |
| For notebooks, the sticker is usually underneath. The | | | | - Per Device |
| sticker contains your Windows product key which is | | | | This is from Microsoft "A Per Device CAL provides |
| your license. You are only allowed to use that license | | | | each client computer the right to access a terminal |
| on one PC. You can transfer it to another PC but | | | | server that is running Windows Server 2003. The Per |
| you must remove Windows from the originally PC | | | | Device CAL is stored locally and presented to the |
| first. You can activate Windows XP an unlimited | | | | terminal server each time the client computer |
| amount of times. Please note that if it has been less | | | | connects to the server." |
| than 120 days between activations you will have to | | | | What it means is that "per device" is set by default |
| call Microsoft to activate by phone. | | | | and every workstation that tries to connect must |
| - Windows Vista | | | | have the TS Licenses locally stored and presented to |
| The same rules apply to Vista as to XP with some | | | | the server whenever it tries to connect. Per Device |
| minor changes. You are allowed two activations over | | | | licenses CANNOT be transferred to another |
| the Internet. If that gets exceeded you will need to | | | | computer. |
| call Microsoft to activate. Common reasons for | | | | - Per User |
| needing to activate Windows again include: | | | | Again from Microsoft "In Per User licensing mode you |
| Reformatting your hard drive, Moving Windows to a | | | | must have one license for every user. With Per User |
| different PC, A Major Hardware Change (normally | | | | licensing, one user can access a terminal server from |
| changing the motherboard). | | | | an unlimited number of devices and only needs one |
| - Windows Server 2003 | | | | CAL rather than a CAL for each device." |
| This is where things really get confusing. First off lets | | | | What it means is that you must manually set the |
| briefly explain the two common uses for a server. | | | | server to "Per User" TS licensing. Then install the |
| 1. Application Server - Users log into the server to | | | | licenses on the server, so whenever a user tries to |
| run applications directly installed on the server. Typical | | | | log in, an available license will be used. You can have |
| called Terminal Services. | | | | as many users as you have the appropriate licenses |
| 2. File Server - Data drives are mapped from the | | | | for. |
| server to the workstations for the purposes of | | | | The "Per User" method is not tracked. Which means |
| having a common location for files and/or databases. | | | | that there is no way to enforce the license usage |
| When you install Windows Server 2003 it needs to | | | | and you can exceed your connections. For example, |
| be activated just like XP and Vista do. When you buy | | | | if you only have 5 licenses, and are set to "Per User" |
| the operating system it will usually comes with 5 user | | | | there will be nothing to stop you from connecting |
| licenses. If you plan on using it as an application | | | | 100 users. Please remember that doing this is in |
| server (Terminal Services) those 5 licenses do NOT | | | | violation of Microsoft's End User License Agreement. |
| mean you can connect up to 5 users to the server. | | | | For more information please visit Microsoft on the |
| You still need to purchase Terminal Services User | | | | web. |