Windows 2003 Server Temporary Licenses

[Tarkan Shahho]

Hi All,

We made the mistake of assuming that Windows 2003 Terminal Services
Licensing would follow Windows 2000 with respect to Client machines holding
their own licenses for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

The licenses were dished out from the Temporary License container. We
purchased (at our expense) the Terminal Services Licenses for our clients
and applied them to the Server.

The users are still listed on the Temp License Container with expiry dates
getting close. Am I to assume that the respective users will "switch" to the
"real" licenses when the respective "temp" one expires?

I am just getting nervous as some users have already received the 15 day
warning that the temp license is about to expire.

regards
Tarkan

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

This does not sound OK.
As soon as you install "real" licenses, the users /devices should
be grabbing them.
Did you buy "Per Device" or "Per User" TS CALs?
Did you configure the TS for "Per Device" or "Per User or Per
Device" mode? If the mode doesn't match the licenses, you would
see this problem as well.

To make things more complicated, there is a problem with "Per
User" licenses:
Per User TS CALs were build-in to the OS in a very late stage.
The 2003 TS Licensing server cannot handle them correctly, so
currently Per User CALs are unmanaged.
This means that when a TS server is set to accept User CALs it
will look to the license server to make sure that one is available
but it will not be decremented from the database.
It is your responsibility to have a valid User CAL for every user
that uses the terminal server.

But this does not explain your situation, since your users get a
warning.

 

[Tarkan Shahho]

Hi Vera,

Windows 2003 Client Licensing is Per Server (x20)
Windows 2003 TS Licensing is Per User (x20)

Currently everyone is sitting in the Temporary License list (x18) and the
Per User License list is empty.

Some licenses are about to expire in 14 days, whereas some of the others
will not expire until January.

What should I expect to happen in 14 days?

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Expect them to be locked out from TS access.

Seems to me that you bought "Per User" TS CALs and installed them on
your LS, but the Terminal Server (not the Licensing Server!!) is in
"Per Device" mode. Then it won't use your "Per User" licenses.
Check page 11 and 12 of the
Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing White paper
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/termserv
lic.mspx

 

[Tarkan Shahho]

oh great!

These licenses were given to me by MS, because we had ordered Win2000 and
got 2003 and didn't expect to pay for client licenses due to them being
available on the clients.

Now I have to call them to work out what to do.

 

[Tarkan Shahho]

Hi,

If I change my SERVER LICENSING MODE (Administrative Tools -> Licensing) to
PER USER will this solve my problem?

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

I believe that that is the mode for server CALs.
You might want to change that too, but I meant the licensing mode
on the TS, in Administrative Tools --> Terminal Services
Configuration --> Server Settings

--
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://hem.fyristorg.com/vera/IT
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