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Terminal Services - Confusion

By greavette ·
Hello,

These Terminal Services licensing CALS totally confuse me. Here's the scoop:

I have a Windows 2003 Server in our office. Nothing regarding the CALS has been done to it. No Terminal Server has been installed and no licenses have been added.

The place where I work have bought some CALS, but I have no idea what they are or what else we need to buy. So far we have 'Windows Client Access License for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Terminal Server - User Licences: 5' (R19-00846).

Here's our setup:

We have a Windows 2003 Server which has a SQL Server express database. We have 10 Workstation PC's in our office running Windows XP Pro on each. 8 of these Windows XP Pro PC's have software on them that connect to the database on the 2003 Server. The PC's do not use Remote Desktop to connect to the server, just their software connect to the database on the server.

The 2 remaining XP Pro PC's will also connect to this database, but they will also connect to two separate Windows XP Pro virtual machines that live on the Windows 2003 server.

Each Windows XP Pro PC has the same userid on it. We do have shifts working in our office but they do not need to have their own user id's to do their work.

The Windows 2003 Server I believe comes with 5 CALS already. I don't know what kind they are or how to activate them?

As I've mentioned above, we've bought the following CALS, R19-00846. How can I use these in our setup?

Based upon what I've described above, can someone please tell me what more I need to buy to be in compliance with Microsoft licensing. I've read elsewhere in the forums of this site that the following types of licenses are available from Microsoft:
R18-00133
R19-00133
R19-00134
Which of these and how many do I need to buy?

I've read Brian Madden's article on how to setup terminal services on Windows 2003 (http://www.brianmadden.com/content/article/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Windows-2003-Terminal-Server-Licensing) but I can't figure out what I need to buy to be in compliance? I'm really hoping someone here can help me figure out what I need to buy.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Charles.

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CAL's

by Churdoo In reply to Terminal Services - Confu ...

Well it doesn't look like you're using Terminal Services, yet you mention it several times an your post, including in your title. According to your description, you are not using term services, are you intending to set up or use it? If you're thinking "I don't know" then probably not, and I'll assume not based on your description in your post.

Having said that, it seems to me that the purchase of R19-00846 was a mistake. Shove those licenses aside for potential later use if you can't return them.

SQL Express does not require licensing, and I'll assume that you have proper licensing for the line-of-business software that connects to the SQLExpress database.

Therefore, the only thing left are the client connections to the Server. For this, you do need CAL's, but fortunately for you, these are some of the least expensive CAL's, that is if you are using Server 2003 and NOT Small Business Server 2003.

You did say that you "think" your Windows Server 2003 came with 5 CAL's. While I believe that some retail boxed sets of Server 2003 come with 5 Server CAL's, those from MOLP do not, yet Small Business Server 2003 DOES come with an initial 5 CAL's.

So here's your answer pending some homework on your part. Make sure you have Server 2003 instead of Small Business Server 2003

If Server 2003
a) Verify you have the 5 CAL's you "think" came with it, not the R19-00846.
b) Purchase additional 7, or 12 if your initial 5 don't exist, of R18-00134 (device CAL). Pricing should be in the $30-$40 per single CAL range. I'm assuming the 2 virtual machines you mentioned make some sort of client connection back to the server.
NOTE: the R19-00133 and R19-00134 are again TERMINAL SERVER CAL's which you don't need
NOTE 2: I'm not going to go into user versus device CAL's right now, even my head is spinning. Post back if we need to touch on this later.

If Small Business Server, you need to add 2x 5-packs of SBS CAL's, T74-00001 (device), should be about $400-$475 for each 5-pack

One might argue that if you're only using 1 username, then you can get by with just 1 or 2 Server CAL's, but I think if push comes to shove, you have 12 devices making client connections, so for a mere $400, it's worth it to avoid the question.

Hope this helps

edited: typo

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Wow Thanks!

by greavette In reply to CAL's

Hello Churdoo,

Thank you very much for responding to my question and giving me such valuable information! This is exactly what I needed to know.

I've checked my software and can confirm that the Windows Server 2003 Standard edition did come with 5 CAL's (I did not buy Windows SBS 2003), so I will have to buy 5 more to cover the users I have accessing the server.

I really do not understand Terminal Services so I just assumed I needed those licenses as well. Thank you for clarifying for me that I won't. The 5 Licenses I bought, I can assume they were only for Terminal Services? I will keep them in the event our users need to use the Server 2003 desktop.

Thanks again for your help!

Charles.

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