Redundant license server in a domain??

[Microsoft News]

We currently have a Win2k AD domain structure. I'd like to know if it's
safe to install Terminal Services Licensing on a secondary DC as a backup.
After reading a Microsoft whitepaper on Terminal Services Licensing, it's
recommended that you install a second licensing server. However, this
server won't be activated. It acts as backup and gives out temp 90-day only
license tokens in case the primary activated license server goes down. I'd
like to know if this poses any impact during production hours to perform
such install.

thanks

 

[Dude]

By the way, this will primarily be for Win2k clients. some minimal amounts
of Win98 clients

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

The secundary LS must definitively be activated. You can, but
don't have to, install TS CALs on it.

From the FAQ at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/termi
nal/terminal_faq.mspx

Q. How do I configure Terminal Services Licensing (TSL) servers
for redundancy or high availability?

A. The recommended method to configure TSL servers for high
availability is to install at least two TSL servers with available
Terminal Services Client Access Licenses (CALs). Each server will
then advertise in Active Directory (AD) as enterprise license
servers with regard to the following Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP): //CN=TS-Enterprise-License-Server,CN=site
name,CN=sites,CN=configuration-container.

Each TSL server should contain 50% of your CALs for load balancing
within your environment. If a TSL server does not have valid CALs,
then that TSL server will attempt to refer to other TSLs with
valid CALs for license issuance. (This applies to both enterprise
license servers and domain license servers.)

Please review the License Issuance matrix to see all possible
high-availability scenarios concerning temporary and permanent
license issuance.

Each client will begin a license request and upgrade seven days
prior to the license expiration date. This should allow sufficient
time to address any issues with individual TSLs. If all TSL
servers are down at the same time, new clients or clients with
expired licenses will be denied access. In addition, TSL servers
should be separated by network subnets to ensure that a network
outage does not prevent users from connecting to a TSL Server.

Finally, administrators should use the Terminal Server Licensing
Tool to ensure that at least 10% of their CALs are available on
each licensing server. Conversely, if available licenses are
limited to a single licensing server that suffers an outage,
clients with expired licenses will be denied access immediately,
and clients with licenses expiring within 7 days will be denied
access as they meet their expiration dates.