A software license is an agreement between you and the owner of a program which lets you perform certain activities which would otherwise constitute an infringement under copyright law. In part I of our series, we covered the key definitions of software licenses in everyday terms. In this post, we will cover the complexities and nuances of Microsoft server and client licensing.
Microsoft Server & Client Licensing Pay close attention to the options and licensing requirements when you acquire server-based software. You might need two different types of license – one for the server software itself, and a set of licenses for all the “clients” accessing the software. Depending on the vendor and the licensing scenario, “client” can refer either to the end users themselves or their computing devices. I’ll focus on Microsoft server products, but similar issues can arise with other server applications. Over the years, Microsoft has released hundreds of server-based applications, and the licensing terms are slightly different for each one. Fortunately, there are common license types and licensing structures across different products. Moreover, Microsoft often lets you license a single server application in more than one way, depending on the needs of your organization. This allows you the flexibility to choose the licenses that best reflect your organization’s usage patterns and thereby cost you the least amount of money.
Client Licenses for Internal Users
User CALs User CALs allow each user access to all the instances of a particular server product in an organization, no matter which device they use to gain access. In other words, if you run five copies of Windows Server 2008 on five separate servers, you only need one User CAL for each person in your organization who access those servers (or any software installed on those servers), whether they access a single server, all five servers, or some number in between. Each user with a single CAL assigned to them can access the server software from as many devices as they want (for example, desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, etc.). User CALs are a popular licensing option.
Device CALs Device CALs allow access to all instances of a particular server application from a single device (for example, a desktop computer, a laptop, etc.) in your organization. Device CALs only make sense when multiple employees use the same computer. For example, in 24-hour call centers different employees on different shifts often use the same machine, so Device CALs make sense in this situation.
Choosing a licensing mode for your Windows Server CALs With Windows Servers, you use a CAL (either a User CAL or a Device CAL) in one of two licensing modes: per seat or per server. You make this decision when you’re installing your Windows Server products, not when you acquire the CALs. The CALs themselves don’t have any mode designation, so you can use either a User CAL or a Device CAL in either mode. Per seat mode is the default mode, and the one used most frequently. The description of User CALs and Device CALs above describes the typical per seat mode. In “per server” mode, Windows treats each license as a “simultaneous connection.” In other words, if you have 40 CALs, Windows will let 40 authenticated users have access. The 41st user will be denied access. However, in per server mode, each CAL is tied to a particular instance of Windows Server, and you have to acquire a new set of licenses for each new server you build that runs Windows. Therefore, per server mode works for some small organizations with one or two servers and limited access requirements.
Advanced Microsoft Licensing
Client Licenses for External Users If you have any authenticated external users who access services on your Windows-based servers, you can obtain CALs to cover their licensing requirements.
Terminal Services Licensing Even though Terminal Services (TS) is built into Windows Server 2003 and 2008, you need to get a separate TS CAL for each client (i.e. each user or each device) that will access Terminal Services in your organization. This TS license is in addition to your Windows Server CALs.
Standard CALs vs Enterprise CALs Some Microsoft server products have two client licensing modes, standard and enterprise. As you might imagine, an Enterprise CAL grants access to more advanced features of a product. Furthermore, with some products, such as Microsoft Exchange, the licenses are additive. In other words, a user needs both a Standard CAL AND an Enterprise CAL in order to access the advanced features.
Virtualization With virtualization technologies, multiple operating systems can run simultaneously on a single physical server. Every time you install a Microsoft application, whether on a physical hardware system or a virtual hardware system, you create an “instance” of that application. The number of “instances” of particular application that you can run using a single license varies from product to product.
Choosing the right Microsoft licensing is complex and it can be difficult to determine what type of software licenses will best fit the needs of your organization. For questions about purchasing Microsoft licenses for your business, contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or call 813-920-0788 x210.
