Redundant TS License Server problem

[Jonathan Halliwell]

Hi all

I have a situation that I need help with.

The scenario:
I have two Win2k TS License servers 'A' and 'B', both are activated,
only 'A' has license tokens installed while 'B' acts as a backup TS
License Server.

The problem:
Server 'B' has issued 19 tokens for clients with Built-in TSCALs (i.e.
W2kPro & XPPro)

As I understand it a TS will query AD for a list of TS License
servers, cache the results, and then contact a License server at
random. If Server 'B' is contacted by a TS then Server 'B', knowing
that it doesn't have any tokens to grant and knowing that Server 'A'
does have inventory, will redirect the TS to Server 'A' and thus
Server 'B' shouldn't be issuing any tokens itself

So, assuming Server 'A' has available tokens and has been 100%
available (as judged by the fact that it issued tokens during the same
period that Server 'B' issued tokens), why has Server 'B' issued 19
tokens?

Can anybody shed light on this? Is it a bug or by design?

Cheers
Jono

 

[Colin M. McGroarty]

This is by design. If a request for a license renewal is made from a
workstation that is not Win 2K/XP to Server B the license will be issued by
server A. If the license is a temp license or a Win 2K/XP request then
server B will be able to handle it.

The benefit of this design is that since a workstation will attempt to renew
its license 7 days prior to its 90 day expiration, you should have up to a 7
day window to bring back a downed primary license server. In the meantime
the backup license server can handle the initial temp license distributions.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/terminal/TSLicensing.asp

Hope this helps,

--
Colin M. McGroarty
MCP+I, MCSE, NT-CIP

(e-mail address removed)
www.McGroarty.org

 

[Rob Leitman \(MS\)]

Any activated license server can issue "built-in" CALs. There's no problem
with this behavior.

 

[Jonathan Halliwell]

Thanks Colin.

According the Whitepaper:

".....The secondary license server should be activated, but should not
have any license tokens installed. Using this model, the secondary
license server will be able to issue temporary tokens to clients
without license tokens and built-in tokens to clients running Windows
2000 Professional (or Windows XP Professional) if the primary license
server is unavailable."

This means that Server B should only issue tokens in the event that
Server A is unavailable but it's becoming increasingly apparent that
Server B will issue tokens to Win2k/XP clients because it can even
though Server A is available.

Is that how you see it too? If that's by design then Microsoft's
documentation requires some qualification.

Cheers
Jono