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