Win2003 CALs

[Paul D.Smith]

OK, there are user CALs and device CALs - but how do they work?

Network: 30 client PCs and 2 servers.

Scenario #1. Buy 30 device CALs, one per PC. Now anyone on any PC can
access either of the servers.

Scenario #2. Buy 30 user CALs, one per user. Now anyone on any PC can
access either server providing they are one of the 30 users.

Scenario #3. Forget user security, buy a single user CAL, have everyone
logon using this shared CAL from all 30 PCs and then have them use the
servers.

OK, so I've lost security on scenario #3 but surely this isn't correct?


Paul DS.

 

[chrispsg]

Actuall your defintion is referring to Per Seat Licensing (sometimes
called per device or per user). Per Seat requires that a CAL be
purchased for every unique device or user. WIth that said if you have
30 different devices that need to access the server you will need 30
Per Seat CAL's.

You other option is Per Server Licensing. This CAL's specifies how many
simultaneous connections can be present to your server. With that said
if you have 30 devices (or users) but only 10 will be connected at any
one time. You will only need 10 Per Server CAL's.

For the complete CAL Guide visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sam/lic_cal.mspx#perseat

Hope this helps,
psg

 

[Paul D.Smith]

Actuall your defintion is referring to Per Seat Licensing (sometimes
called per device or per user). Per Seat requires that a CAL be
purchased for every unique device or user. WIth that said if you have
30 different devices that need to access the server you will need 30
Per Seat CAL's.

You other option is Per Server Licensing. This CAL's specifies how many
simultaneous connections can be present to your server. With that said
if you have 30 devices (or users) but only 10 will be connected at any
one time. You will only need 10 Per Server CAL's.

For the complete CAL Guide visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sam/lic_cal.mspx#perseat

Hope this helps,
psg

PSG,

I think you've sort of answered my question but if you read the Microsoft
stuff it is somewhat less than clear. other pages on their site start
talking about "per user" and "per device" licences but don't make clear what
exactly this means. For example, if I have 100 machines but only 3 users
(they're mobile between many offices, say), the implication is that I only
need 3 user licences. But if I have 25 machines and 100 workers working 4
shifts of 25, I need 25 device licences.

I believe the key information that is missing is that each seat is a single
tuple of device & user. So if I have 20 machines, I never need more than 20
licences but if only 2 are used at any one time, I need 2 licences.

So my third neffarious option fails because "pupil X" logging on from two
different devices counts as 2 seats (same user, different devices). Why
Microsoft couldn't put that into clear English I don't know. Perhaps they
were afraid of using the work "tuple".

Paul DS.

 

[chrispsg]

Paul,

It looks to me that you are correct with the above scenario. If you are
are still a little uneasy give Microsoft Licensing a call. (800)
426-9400 they should be able to ease your worries.

psg

 

[Paul D.Smith]

Thanks to all for the confirmation.

Paul DS.