Thank you for the kind words. I'm getting farther and farther removed from the Microsoft licensing world, since my day-to-day is dealing with Linux infrastructure, but it seems the basic principles of CALs remain the same. Methinks CALs will be with us until the end of time.
Your video specifically answered literally every question I had regarding CALs. It was almost too specific...😶. Lol, thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Jourdan, I'm glad you found it helpful. I can remember when I first learned about the Windows Server licensing model and my thought was "what's all this nonsense?!" My goal for these videos was to try to lessen the learning curve for others :)
Thank you. Hopefully that professor was good :). I'm happy (and a little surprised) that CAL licensing has been seemingly unchanged despite the age of this video. As you'll probably see me comment elsewhere I don't deal with this day-to-day anymore, so make sure you check current documentation / talk to your reseller, etc.
By default, Windows will allow for up to 2 Remote Desktop connections at a time. If I require 3 Remote Desktop connections at any one time, would I need to purchase 1 x Remote Desktop Client Access License for the extra user or x3 ?
There would be more to it. You'd likely have to deploy the actual Remote Desktop Services (RDS) service and with that service comes its own CALs, which I believe are in addition to good ole standard Windows Server CALs.
Thank you, Eddie. Your video answered some of the confusion I had regarding CALs. I need one more clarification. My organization is looking into having a Key Management Service (KMS) server in house from Microsoft in order to activate windows server 2019 and windows 10, do we still have to order for CALs from Microsoft after the windows server 2019 and windows 10 have been activated for 180 days and continuing?
James, I'm glad the video was helpful for you. CALs are a separate thing from activating Windows Server and Windows 10. From what I understand from day 1, you need to have CALs (either user or device -- most likely user) for your users to be in compliance for them accessing Windows Servers. When you activate the Windows Server product doesn't matter. Does that answer your question?
@@EddieJennings Thanks for your response, Eddie. I really appreciate it. I still have another confusion. Are the CALs supposed to be installed and activated on the Windows Server or where is it going to be installed? or Is it just a document that proofs you've legal access to the Windows Servers? I'm really confused.
You're welcome James :). There are two different things at play when we talk about CALs. What this video was about a Window Server CALs, which is part of the Windows Server licensing model. There is nothing to install with these CALs. What you need to keep on hand is documentation that you've bought the necessary number of CALs to cover the entities accessing your Windows Servers. CALs for Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) are a completely different thing. If you deploy an RDS environment, then you'll have CALs for just the Windows Server themselves, and then RDS CALs for the Remote Desktop Services infrastructure. In the RDS scenario you will have a licensing server which needs to have CALs installed. I haven't dealt much with RDS licensing, but from what I can remember there's a wizard where you feed it your license agreement and it downloads the information about RDS CALs. Note that Remote Desktop Services isn't the same as just you RDPing to a server to do administrative tasks. RDS is it's own thing. Does that help with your confusion?
@@EddieJennings Thank you, Eddie. This is brilliant. Yes, it helped with my confusion :). Thank you so much for everything I can't thank you enough. Now, I can have an educated conversation with an authorized Microsoft reseller.
You're welcome! Good luck with the reseller. My current position doesn't have me handling licensing stuff, but at my old job, this was what my process was. 1. I'd research and figure out what I think I need. 2. Reseller would tell me I need X (or might agree with my research) 3. Consult documentation to find the truth between what I originally found and what the reseller said.
How do CALs relate to VMs? For example, a Server 2022 Host server might need 1 or 2 admin users, and then if that machine hosts 3x VM servers, and each of those had two Windows users. Would the host need CALs to cover all the users across the VMs, or is there a per VM license?
Thank you so much. Your video is very helpful and clarified a couple of things for me. I need CALs in my classroom. Can I transvers CALs to new user when the current users graduate or is it best to purchase device CALs since the the computers stay in the classroom? I think I know the answer to this...
Hi Eddie, I'm a bit confused 😅. I have windows server standard edition we have 25 local user/computers, all users access ADDS, SQL and fileserver from serever, we brought the license for server 2019 standard edition & SQL server 2019, How many license should I take? our server standalone 8 core server. Do i need core license too?
Shasthara, remember for the Windows Server product specifically you're licensing your physical hardware and the users that will be accessing it. The physical hardware part of the licensing is where the core licensing comes in. To properly license Windows Server 2019 Standard for your hardware requires X core licenses, where X is the number of physical cores on the system (assuming it's at or beyond the minimum). When you say "we bought a license for Server 2019" this is the license you likely mean. I talk about core licensing in these videos: ua-cam.com/video/Vhkw3dYlBLY/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/F9ehgj_GxLo/v-deo.html The user part of the licensing is the CAL (client access license) part. The easiest (and in most cases, especially SMB situations, what makes the most sense) is to purchase CALs for each user (user CALS). Since you have 25 users, you'll purchase 25 CALs (don't forget to include yourself). You don't have to buy multiple CALs for users if you have multiple servers (assuming all versions of Windows Server are the same as your CALs). User A for whom you've purchased one CAL can now legally access any Windows Server in your environment. ***BUT...*** You mentioned SQL Server. Microsoft SQL Server is a separate product from Windows Server and has separate license requirements. Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable concerning SQL Server licensing to give off-the-top-of-my-head information about it, but remember you'll have to license both things: the Windows Server (+ CAL) on which the SQL Server application will be running AND SQL server itself.
Thank you for this video, it explained a lot for me. Maybe this is such a simple answer there is no need to explain it, because I can't find anything to tell me this, but how do you distribute your CAL's? I installed an 8 machine lab using Windows Server 2019 which I was able to distribute the MAK Key to easily. But now I have my 8 machines, and 20 CALs available through the VLSC. How do I get those CAl's registered onto the 8 machines? Do I use the same MAK key on all 8 machines? Do I do nothing? Thanks for any feed back.
Thanks for watching Ryan! Glad the video was helpful. The answer to your question is "it depends." There are two things in play: Server CALs (which is what this video was about) and CALs for Remote Desktop Services (which is a completely different thing). Does this environment use Remote Desktop Services (not just RDPing to a server to manage it. Think providing virtual desktops to all of your users)? I think the answer to this question is "no" based on what you said. If that's the case there's nothing you need to install or register. You need to keep documentation of your CAL purchases (either user or device CALs) in case you are audited. You'll need to prove that you have the proper core licensing for Windows Server itself as well as have the CALs for the devices / users accessing said Window Server.
@@EddieJennings Thank you for the response. That is good to know. I certainly feel better knowing that as long as we have records of our CAL's that is sufficient.
do i need those cal if the server is just there to host specific programms there is no AD being used or other sort of feature really do they need to have a device/user cal to just be connected via ethernet?
The longer I focus on RHEL and other Linux infrastructure in my professional capacity, the more estranged I become with the Microsoft world. With the exception of a few workloads, I believe Windows Server CALs are required to anything accessing a Windows server in basically any way. Whether or not your Windows server is providing directory services (AD) is irrelevant. For example, if you're providing DHCP services using Windows server, a CAL is needed for anything consuming those DHCP services. Back in the day (read 5 years ago or so), most system administrators would just purchase a user CAL for all users in their organization and call it a day, rather than trying to have a device CAL for every device. I'm not up-to-date with licensing regarding M365 and the like. I know the CAL requirements are the same, but I don't know if newer Microsoft SaaS offerings have the CAL baked in somehow. A quick consult of Dr. Google found this, which may be helpful. www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/client-access-license
Thanks Eddie that has answered many of my questions. I've tried to find out if buying a new Windows Server 2019 box to add to an existing Windows Server 2016 box on the network, would need a set of 2019 CALs. I would not need the extra CALs if I downgraded the new server to 2016, as they would match versions, but do I need to get new CALs to make my Windows Server 2019 box legal? Thanks again for your video!
Glad you found the video helpful! As far as you question, the short answer is "it depends." The question that comes to mind is if your CALs are a part of a volume license agreement, do you have Software Assurance for them? If so, then likely your CALs would be valid for Server 2019 already. If not, then you probably would need to purchase new CALs if you deploy a Server 2019 instance. www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/products will have information about the Product Use Rights, which should give you the detail you need to have an authoritative answer. I'd also consider reaching out to someone who deals with Microsoft licensing day-in and day-out and get their opinion.
Hi Eddie, many thanks for this. We have a Windows Server 2019 Standard server which is a Workgroup and not a DC. We have configured the RDS User CALS but get a warning that the user will be logged out after 60 minutes, Looks like RDS User CALS cannot be tracked in a workgroup environment. Can you please confirm if this is correct and do you know what possible workrounds could be? we would like to keep the server as a workgroup and not install AD. Thanks
So if you have a head office with 4000 users and two branch offices with 1200 and 1500 users respectively, and various assortment of windows infrastructure servers at all offices , do you need to buy 6700 cals for the head office infra and be done with it or this is done at per site basis ?
At that volume of users, you're probably going to be looking into Enterprise agreements with Microsoft. Unfortunately, that's outside of the scope of what I've touched regarding Microsoft agreements.
Hello I have 2012 R2 Rds servers, and my current lic server is a 2012r2 as well that holds our per user cals. Question I am installing a new preprod 2019 rds server, and once I was done with all my normal installs, when I point to my 2012r2 lic server in my gpedit, I get a msg near the systray saying I need a 2016 cals, can 2016 cals or 2019 cals be installed in parallel with my existing 2012 cals on my 2012r2 lic server as I still need them....or do I need a new server that will house the 2016 or 2019 cals ? so my question is more machine and what can be installed on.
The scope of the videos was just about Windows server CALs rather than RDS and my knowledge of RDS is limited. From what I understand, licensing servers can have older version licenses installed on them, but you can't have for example Server 2019 CAL licenses installed on a Server 2012R2 server. So you'll likely want to install a current version Windows server VM, and configure it with the proper RDS CALs you need.
Hi, I have a small business with 4 terminals running windows 10. We are buying a dell t340 server with windows server 2019. Do I need to buy windows server essential or standard? If I buy essential probably I need to buy licenses... how do I install them to each machine; do I need to format the terminals ?
I would ask first if you need an on-premises Windows server? If the answer is yes, the question becomes does Windows Server Essentials make sense for what you need it to do. In my experience the answer to that question is generally "no." As far as licenses, any device running a Windows OS is going to need to be licensed in some way.
Does anyone know if there any CALs included with Server 2022 Standard? For example: X users will use "File/Print" and RDS services on a 12 core "Server 2022 Standard" machine. In my understanding, I will need to buy: 1 x Server 2022 Standard License + 5 x CALs + 5 x RDS CALs? Am I correct? Thank you.
I've never know Windows Server Standard to include any kind of CAL. Usually the CALs are a separate line item on your invoice. If X = 5, then your math seems correct concerning server CALs and RDS CALs (assuming user CALs). You'd want to talk with your reseller as well.
As always "it depends." :) Are the 4000+ staff only using those 2000 workstations to access the 300 servers? Keep in mind that if one of those 300 servers are providing DNS or DHCP and any of those users will be using DNS or DHCP on something other than those 2000 workstations, the answer is "no."
Question...I have my 2019 lic server up and running, when I point my first 2019 rds server to it, I see 1 cal lic issued under issued, but, when I point my 2012 rds server to it we see strange things, we don't see issued for it, yet no error after I pointed the 2012 rds server when I pointed it to the new 2019 lic server all is fine there, we just don't see issued, we have it set to per user lic, and making sure we use diff accts...any ideas why
Unfortunately, I don't have any advice to offer, as I've only sparingly ever had to touch RDS licensing and license severs. And the CALs for RDS are totally different that just user / device CALs for Windows Server itself -- which was true as of Server 2016 and I believe is still true today.
I'm a bit confused, does that mean if I have a business with 10 employees (all having their own win11 pro machines) but I have one windows server, does that mean I need to buy 11 CALs for each user to access the windows server? Thanks for the clarification.
I tend to be verbose, so the tl;dr = You need a user CAL for every user that will be accessing any Windows server. If you have a windows server, and you users are accessing that Windows server, you'll need X user CALs, where X is the number of users accessing that Windows server. Or you can cover these users with device cals, but almost always User CALs make the most sense. Keep in mind that I've been removed from dealing with Windows licensing day-to-day for several years now, but a quick glance here shows a CAL model still in effect for Windows Server 2022: www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing. One thing to keep in mind. Let's say you're using Windows server to offer DNS and DHCP services on your network, and you have a bunch of guests in your building with their various devices. If those devices are receiving DHCP services and using your Windows server for DNS, they need to be covered with CALs. At least they did a few years ago, but methinks that hasn't changed either.
Thanks this does help explain it better but it doesnt stop the fact that is way too confusing. Example I need to also purchase SQL 2019. So I need 50 Windows Server CALS and 50 Windows SQL Server CALs? And buy the License for the server? I emailed about 10 sales reps from different companies I'm hoping they can answer these questions.
I suggest thinking of the CALs in layers. At layer 1 you have Windows Server. Your users will be interacting with Windows server; thus, you have Windows Server CAL requirements. Then you add layer 2, which is the SQL Server application. I do not know what (if) there are CAL requirements for SQL server. I think there are some licensing schemes for SQL server that do involve CALs and some that don't. Regardless, unless you're running SQL server on RHEL or the like, you'll be covering your users for accessing the underlying Windows Server which is serving your SQL server application.
Hi @Eddie, many thanks for very informative video. I had a question on the same, we have a windows 2012 R2 server, we want to allow more than two users to RDP into the server at the same time as the limit is 2. Do we need to buy 3 User CAL + 3 RDP CAL, or will just 3 User CAL be sufficient. Thanks.
Thanks for your kind words. :) There's a couple of things to consider with your question. First, are these extra users wanting to RDP for adminstration tasks or are you wanting to serve virtual desktops to multiple users? If the latter, then you're getting into wanting to offer RDS (Remote Desktop Services), which has its own CAL requirements, and was beyond the scope of the video. If you are wanting to do RDS, then it's my understanding each RDS user is going to need an RDS CAL as well as be covered by either a user or device Windows Server CAL. Note that I've never deep-dove into RDS licensing, so you'd want to do your own research for documentation. If the former, I'd first ask why do you need multiple RDP sessions for administration? For standard Windows services (DNS, IIS, AD, etc.), you can manage them through PowerShell remoting and the various tools within RSAT. In the case of using RSAT tools, your administrators would be connecting to your server via the console tool rather than having to make an RDP session. For non-Microsoft applications, I would expect a "good" server application that runs on Windows to also either be able to be managed through PowerShell or a remote console applicaiton similar to RSAT. So assuming RDP Is the only way to administer what needs to be done on this server, the only way I know of to get your multiple RDP sessions is to start working with RDS as mentioned earlier.
Thank you very much for this great explanation. I am just getting into Windows Server Administration and Traning stuff (after many decades of being a simple desktop support engineer on Windows 10 and Windows 11 types of operating systems) I am finding Windows Servers extremely fascinating and powerful. Much more so than just a standalone Windows 10 Client machine because once we start getting into Active Directory and Group Policy, then a whole bunch of amazing things can be achieved using a Windows Server Domain Controller. One thing I had to think about with this excellent presentation about CALs (especially User Cals) is that once the license you have for that given version of Windows Server (say 2019) expires, you can still go ahead and use your Windows Server 2019 and those user CALs, but I guess Microsoft is simply saying that they don't support any technical issues one may have is that correct? I would also be curious to know typically from your experience, how long do these Software Licence and User CALs last (i mean are they usually good for a year)? Anyways, you made the great subtle point that yes, once the License for Windows Server 2019 (and the associated) CALs expire, that business can choose to continue using Windows Server for several more years beyond the license agreement. They just wouldn't have any tech support. But as soon as they go to deploy say Server 2022, thats when new costs come in (Not only for the Core base licence of WIndows Server itself, but also the additional new User CALs that would need to be purchased, in order to use that Server 2022 along with any of the older Servers - like 2019, 2016 and so on) that one may have laying around the office. If I am correct in all these basic understandings about CALs, then my hats off to the presenter, and I hope he can answer a few of those questions I have above. Thank you so much for making Technology more understandable to the rest of us IT folks out here. Cheers Alexander
Thanks for your kind words and welcome to the world of Windows system administration. I still touch Windows server from time to time, but 90% of my system admin work is maintaining Linux infrastructure now. :) So on CAL versions, from what I can remember, when you purchase CALs (as a part of your volume license or enterprise agreement) you are always purchasing for the current version of Windows server. I *think* having Software Assurance (SA) on those CALs is what allows you to use them to cover your users / devices for connecting to Windows servers in your environment that may be older than current. You'll need to talk to your reseller / do some research to double-check me on that. For your second point about Server 2019 "expiring." From what I remember from my Open Value agreements I deal with years ago, if your agreement comes to and end and you choose not to start a new agreement to continue SA, then all that means is that your licenses are "frozen" at a particular version. I cannot remember if they're frozen at the version of Windows server where your agreement started, or where it ended (assuming you had SA throughout your agreement). Regardless if you needed to buy new stuff, you'd be starting a new agreement and the licenses you purchase would be for the current version of Windows Server and you'd have to check if you need to purchase SA or not to have rights to cover older versions with your new CALs. I strongly encourage you to read your greement, talk to your reseller, and do some research. Lastly on support. Support is a whole different beast than licensing. According to learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-server-2019, it looks like Server 2019 will have some form of support until 2029. You'll have to click around to get definitions for "Extended support" and the like. So even if your licensing agreement expires, you can still get patches and buy support. However, you might be in a situation where you have some support offering as a part of your license agreement, so again you'd have to read all of you agreements carefully to understand what you are and aren't entitled to. Phew, that was a mouthful. :) I hope I addressed your questions, but remember to verify the information -- especially since I'm farther and farther removed from the Microsoft licensing world.
Thank you for this video. What about if I use Windows server to run an on premise WebApi to which an undefined number of users could connect to using their own devices (pc, tablet, smarphone, ecc)? Do we need user Cals in this case? If so, how many? How can Windows track the number of different users/devices that uses my WebApi?
Thanks for watching! You'll want to look into something called an External Connector, which is kind of like a CAL for the Internet. There are certain workloads you an do with IIS, which don't require a CAL, but I cannot recall those specifics. It can be found within Microsoft's documentation. For your second question, I doubt Windows itself will be aware enough of your WebAPI to give you what you want, however, I don't know for sure, for I'm not a developer.
Hi Eddie. If we install our application in Windows Server and end users are accessing the application through web browser via LAN, do we still need to purchase device/ user CAL?
It "depends." You'd have to check product use rights documentation, but I know there are some specific cases for some web workloads that don't require CALs. In general, yes you'll likely need CALs.
From a technical perspective, yes. You'd need to have something you can boot into (such as an install ISO flashed onto a USB drive), then delete / reformat whatever file system exists on your server and install a new OS. Depending on the OS you choose to install, you may need to pay for licensing.
OES eDir (Formerly Novell NetWare), No Windows Domain, No Domain Controller. So, it is my understanding that the RDS Cal's allow you connectivity to the RDS servers and services running on that server. If you never connect to another server, you do not need a Server Cal. Most people think you need both because they are connecting to a Domain, and they need a Cal for that connection. So, OES running DSfW (Directory Services for Windows) is not a Windows service, it's an LDAP service the emulates a Domain Controller. If I configure RDS do I still need a Windows Server CAL or should the RDS Cal be sufficient. Keep in mind the only Windows systems are the Session Host, Broker and Lic Server and Gateway and Web Server. The UPD (User Profile Disk) are just a Novell Share. I always believed that the RDS License gave you access to the RDS servers and services, and most people get both the RDS and Server Licenses because they have a Windows Environment and connect to a Windows Domain, which requires a license.
As I always say for licensing questions, talk to your reseller and look up the current documentation from Microsoft. It is my understanding that if you're accessing any Windows server, you need a Windows Server CAL (since the license model for Windows Server is product license + CAL), regardless if the access is authenticating to AD, or accessing a SMB file share, etc. Then if you're using a product that in itself has a CAL requirement (like RDS), you must have those CALs as well. The video made today talks about this: ua-cam.com/video/dC7Xk98ZAkw/v-deo.html
Hi Eddie, great video thanks. I'm trying to understand the correct way to configure two licensing servers for high availability, in per user mode. I have 100 users, and 100 Cal's in total. I have two licensing servers; lic1 and lic2, and my understanding is lic2 would only ever be used if lic1 was unavailable (eg: server was turned off) Which of the two options below is correct to use, and would not breach the Remote Desktop Services license terms? Option 1: Install 50 Cal's on lic1 and 50 on lic2. lic1 would over-issue licences because I'm using per user, and issue 100 licences even though only 50 Cal's are installed, but this would be ok because in total we own 100 cal licences Option 2: Install all 100 licences on lic1. If lic1 ever went offline, lic2 would over issue all 100 licences but this is ok because it is temporary while we fix lic1 or move the cal licences over to lic2 Or is there an option that I have not thought of which should be used?
Jeffrey, thanks for watching and for the kind words! The short answer is "I'm not sure." I do know that RDS CALs are treated differently than good 'ole user and device CALs. The one experience I've had with RDS has been in an environment with a single RDS server. My *hunch* is if you're an active/passive kind of thing Option 2 would likely work, but I cannot say for sure. I'm sure if you dig into RDS documentation you'll find something there. You might have to look at Product Use Rights.
Can you please explain windows datacenter licensing, by unlimited OSEs/Virtual machines does that mean that i can run unlimited windows datacenter vms under the host datacenter license? or do i have a by a different license for each VM !
Thanks for watching. Remember that Windows Server licensing is always for the physical machine. If you have purchased the appropriate amount of Windows Server Datacenter licensing for your hypervisor host, then that entitles you to unlimited Windows Server OSEs (VMs) on that host. Now if you want to use a second host, then you'll need to purchase licensing for the second host.
I have a query. We have a sort of registration system hosted on a Windows Server where users can register and login to access our Member only content. Do I need CALs for all these Members? They are in 1000's.
Thanks for watching the video. In general, "yes, you'll need CALs." However, I do know there's a definition you can find for "Web Workloads" that might exempt the need for CALs, but from what I can remember the scope of that is pretty narrow. The fact you have an application that is uniquely identifying users with logins and registration makes me think again "yes" to CALs. Does this application use Microsoft SQL Server in the backend? If so, you'll have to look at licensing for SQL server as well -- but that's a bit beyond the scope of your question. For something like IIS, the "External Connector" license exists. These are kind of like "CALs for the Internet." Rather than purchasing user CALs for everyone who would potentially access your public facing application running on a Windows server where there is a CAL requirement, you'd purchase an External Connector license for that Windows server, which satisfies the CAL requirement.
To my knowledge, there is no activation of Window Server CALs. Rather, you keep your documentation from your purchase should you need to prove that your users can legally access Windows Servers.
On 1 server I will run WS Essentials 2019DC. On 2 WS Standard. 15 users accessing 2nd server for file shares. I've already paid £900 for a license for 2nd server. Question is do I need to but another 15 Cals for these users? Does server essentials covers any of activities to the second server?
I'm a little confused about your environment. Do you have two physical servers, one running Windows Server Essentials and the other running Windows Server Standard?
@@EddieJennings Hi Eddie, thank you for responding. I've one hyper-v physical server (Hyper-v Server 2019 OS) with 2 children installed. 1st one is Windows Server Essentials 2019 DC. 2nd is File Server (Windows Server Standard 2019). I've got 15 users accessing both servers. Question is: do I need to get CALS for this 15 users accessing 2nd server or 25CALs from essentials 1st server covers both servers CALs?
I don't remember Server Essentials having CALs, but I could be mistaken. I'm fairly sure just having Server Essentials entitles up to 25 users to use it. (www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/client-access-license). For Windows Server Standard, yes, you'd need to have CALs for those users. Since you've licensed the hardware for Windows Server Standard, let say you get rid of the Server Essentials VM and replace it with a Server Standard VM (since your license entitles you to 2 VMs). You wouldn't need to buy an additional 15 CALs, as those CALs cover your users pretty much any Windows Server product.
As I understand it, yes. Exchange (on-premises) has its own CAL requirement beyond the CAL requirement for Windows Server. In a situation with 50k users, if those users share devices (think shifts of people sitting down to the same computer), then it might make sense to use device CALs rather than user CALs for the Windows Server piece.
I asked myself the same question when I started in IT about 6 years ago, my supervisor at that time told me "It's much better than it used to be." I shudder at whatever "used to be" was. The challenge I find is finding exactly what Microsoft products have a CAL requirement (such as RDS services have their own CALs, which users must have in addition to just server CALs). It can be found in documentation, but it always feels like I have to dig into several layers to find it.
You are a godsend. Can you explain the core licensing aspect a bit more? Like, say I have 4 physical machines. Each physical machine has 16 physical cores, with only 1 cpu socket/processor. All 4 Of these servers are hypervisors with say 6 virtual machines each. Each virtual machine is a server 2019 vm (leaving out roles like RDS, SQL blah blah just focusing on the server). Would I be licensing each individual virtual machine and each physical server or... just the 4 physical machines and then re use their respective license on their respective vms?
By local user, do you mean a local user account on your Windows server, or one physical user in the location that would be using the 50 PCs? While I know that question sounds a bit ridiculous, I have heard of scenarios like that.
Will those 30 pcs have 30 people using them? In my experience the answer about CALs is almost always get User CALs, since management is easy. Number of users = number of CALs to purchase. But if you're in a situation where let's say you have 30 computers, but three shifts of people using those 30 computers, so 90 total people. It may make more sense to get device CALs.
Windows Server CALs are not something you install. Instead, you keep documentation of the purchase to prove you Windows Server installation is properly licensed.
Thanks, so it's the same as it has been for quite a while. I used their calculator on one of their pages and it came out to one user license per user per core. I knew that was nuts which is why I searched UA-cam to see if anything changed. If Microsoft was a game warden they would tell you to measure the circumference and multiply by 2 1/2 instead of just measuring the length, and if Oracle started making cars they would tell you about their revolutionary invention, the pneumatically suspended personal transporter.
Ha! Thanks for watching. I do remember when the change was made from per processor to per core licensing for Windows Server, the pricing that I saw seemed to be about the same. Although you're buying more core licensing, the price point for that was similar to the processor licenses. I haven't had to touch Microsoft licensing for a while now, so I'm unsure where the price points are now.
Thanks for watching. It does feel that way, doesn't it? I've been detached from having to dig into Microsoft licensing for a little bit now, since I'm mostly working with Linux environments, but I'm fairly sure the product + CAL model is still alive and well in the Microsoft world. I think Microsoft sees RDS services (not the couple of RDP connections you can make for system administration, but actually setting up connection broker and all of that) as a product on top of Windows server; thus, why licensing it requires its unique CAL in addition to the Windows Server CAL you would've already purchased just to interact with a Windows server.
Thank you for watching! :) Do you mean downgrade as far as a RDS CALs are concerned? There isn't anything to upgrade / downgrade with Windows Server CALs other than having documentation that you've purchased them and possibly have Software Assurance.
I want to host AD on AWS server for 250 users, do I need Windows User CALs here? I am confused because AWS is not giving precise answer to this question. Their FAQ has this "What is included when I buy Windows Server instances from AWS? AWS manages the licensing for you; all you need to do is pay for the instances you use. There is also no need to buy additional Windows Server CALs, as access is included in the price. Each instance comes with two remote connections for admin purposes only. If you require more than two connections, or need those connections for purposes other than admin, you may have to bring in additional Remote Desktop Services CALs for use on AWS."
To be honest, I'm not sure. aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/ seems to indicate "no," but I'd suggest talking to your Microsoft reseller about it if you have one. The second part about having more than two connections needing RDS CALs makes sense, as RDS has its own licensing above and beyond the normal Windows Server + Server CAL. Wanting to host a domain controller in AWS seems curious to me. Domain controllers tend to be LAN based. Are the 250 users on your LAN? I can't offer much advice on authentication solutions without knowing your environment, and domain-controller-on-AWS may make sense, but it gives me pause.
Great to hear! I hope you'll enjoy / find use for upcoming content. I do plan on bringing back some music-based content, but as of right now I have too many IT-centric topcis about which I want to post. :D
Honestly HAnds down best explanation I've got.
Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm getting farther and farther removed from the Microsoft licensing world, since my day-to-day is dealing with Linux infrastructure, but it seems the basic principles of CALs remain the same. Methinks CALs will be with us until the end of time.
Your video specifically answered literally every question I had regarding CALs. It was almost too specific...😶. Lol, thank you for taking the time to make this video.
Jourdan, I'm glad you found it helpful. I can remember when I first learned about the Windows Server licensing model and my thought was "what's all this nonsense?!" My goal for these videos was to try to lessen the learning curve for others :)
Agree, i finally understand this after all this time, thanks
very good explanation. Worth a second viewing and saved for further reference. You reminded me of my teacher at university.
Thank you. Hopefully that professor was good :). I'm happy (and a little surprised) that CAL licensing has been seemingly unchanged despite the age of this video. As you'll probably see me comment elsewhere I don't deal with this day-to-day anymore, so make sure you check current documentation / talk to your reseller, etc.
@@EddieJennings Thanks for the reply! Yes, i think most of it remains unchanged. And yes, he was great :D
THANK YOU - especially for clearing up whether you need CALs for each server or just one for each user in a Domain (it's the latter).
You're welcome. I'm glad this was helpful!
Thank you very much for explaining this the way you have, I have been very confused about CAL’s and you have now answered all my questions.
You're welcome! I remember when I first learned of CALs, it was a confusing time.
Nicely explained. Needed to understand it as recently installed licenses on 2 machines and it helped to understand total license requirement.
Thanks! I’m glad it was helpful.
By default, Windows will allow for up to 2 Remote Desktop connections at a time. If I require 3 Remote Desktop connections at any one time, would I need to purchase 1 x Remote Desktop Client Access License for the extra user or x3 ?
There would be more to it. You'd likely have to deploy the actual Remote Desktop Services (RDS) service and with that service comes its own CALs, which I believe are in addition to good ole standard Windows Server CALs.
Thank you, Eddie. Your video answered some of the confusion I had regarding CALs. I need one more clarification. My organization is looking into having a Key Management Service (KMS) server in house from Microsoft in order to activate windows server 2019 and windows 10, do we still have to order for CALs from Microsoft after the windows server 2019 and windows 10 have been activated for 180 days and continuing?
James, I'm glad the video was helpful for you. CALs are a separate thing from activating Windows Server and Windows 10. From what I understand from day 1, you need to have CALs (either user or device -- most likely user) for your users to be in compliance for them accessing Windows Servers. When you activate the Windows Server product doesn't matter.
Does that answer your question?
@@EddieJennings Thanks for your response, Eddie. I really appreciate it. I still have another confusion. Are the CALs supposed to be installed and activated on the Windows Server or where is it going to be installed? or Is it just a document that proofs you've legal access to the Windows Servers? I'm really confused.
You're welcome James :). There are two different things at play when we talk about CALs. What this video was about a Window Server CALs, which is part of the Windows Server licensing model. There is nothing to install with these CALs. What you need to keep on hand is documentation that you've bought the necessary number of CALs to cover the entities accessing your Windows Servers.
CALs for Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) are a completely different thing. If you deploy an RDS environment, then you'll have CALs for just the Windows Server themselves, and then RDS CALs for the Remote Desktop Services infrastructure. In the RDS scenario you will have a licensing server which needs to have CALs installed. I haven't dealt much with RDS licensing, but from what I can remember there's a wizard where you feed it your license agreement and it downloads the information about RDS CALs.
Note that Remote Desktop Services isn't the same as just you RDPing to a server to do administrative tasks. RDS is it's own thing.
Does that help with your confusion?
@@EddieJennings Thank you, Eddie. This is brilliant. Yes, it helped with my confusion :). Thank you so much for everything I can't thank you enough. Now, I can have an educated conversation with an authorized Microsoft reseller.
You're welcome! Good luck with the reseller. My current position doesn't have me handling licensing stuff, but at my old job, this was what my process was.
1. I'd research and figure out what I think I need.
2. Reseller would tell me I need X (or might agree with my research)
3. Consult documentation to find the truth between what I originally found and what the reseller said.
How do CALs relate to VMs? For example, a Server 2022 Host server might need 1 or 2 admin users, and then if that machine hosts 3x VM servers, and each of those had two Windows users. Would the host need CALs to cover all the users across the VMs, or is there a per VM license?
Thank you so much. Your video is very helpful and clarified a couple of things for me.
I need CALs in my classroom. Can I transvers CALs to new user when the current users graduate or is it best to purchase device CALs since the the computers stay in the classroom?
I think I know the answer to this...
Our CALs are 2016 but we also have 2019 servers in the domain that we're able to connect to. How does that work? or did I miss something?
Hi Eddie, I'm a bit confused 😅. I have windows server standard edition we have 25 local user/computers, all users access ADDS, SQL and fileserver from serever, we brought the license for server 2019 standard edition & SQL server 2019, How many license should I take? our server standalone 8 core server. Do i need core license too?
Shasthara, remember for the Windows Server product specifically you're licensing your physical hardware and the users that will be accessing it.
The physical hardware part of the licensing is where the core licensing comes in. To properly license Windows Server 2019 Standard for your hardware requires X core licenses, where X is the number of physical cores on the system (assuming it's at or beyond the minimum). When you say "we bought a license for Server 2019" this is the license you likely mean. I talk about core licensing in these videos: ua-cam.com/video/Vhkw3dYlBLY/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/F9ehgj_GxLo/v-deo.html
The user part of the licensing is the CAL (client access license) part. The easiest (and in most cases, especially SMB situations, what makes the most sense) is to purchase CALs for each user (user CALS). Since you have 25 users, you'll purchase 25 CALs (don't forget to include yourself).
You don't have to buy multiple CALs for users if you have multiple servers (assuming all versions of Windows Server are the same as your CALs). User A for whom you've purchased one CAL can now legally access any Windows Server in your environment.
***BUT...***
You mentioned SQL Server. Microsoft SQL Server is a separate product from Windows Server and has separate license requirements. Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable concerning SQL Server licensing to give off-the-top-of-my-head information about it, but remember you'll have to license both things: the Windows Server (+ CAL) on which the SQL Server application will be running AND SQL server itself.
Thank you for this video, it explained a lot for me. Maybe this is such a simple answer there is no need to explain it, because I can't find anything to tell me this, but how do you distribute your CAL's? I installed an 8 machine lab using Windows Server 2019 which I was able to distribute the MAK Key to easily. But now I have my 8 machines, and 20 CALs available through the VLSC. How do I get those CAl's registered onto the 8 machines? Do I use the same MAK key on all 8 machines? Do I do nothing? Thanks for any feed back.
Thanks for watching Ryan! Glad the video was helpful. The answer to your question is "it depends." There are two things in play: Server CALs (which is what this video was about) and CALs for Remote Desktop Services (which is a completely different thing).
Does this environment use Remote Desktop Services (not just RDPing to a server to manage it. Think providing virtual desktops to all of your users)? I think the answer to this question is "no" based on what you said. If that's the case there's nothing you need to install or register. You need to keep documentation of your CAL purchases (either user or device CALs) in case you are audited. You'll need to prove that you have the proper core licensing for Windows Server itself as well as have the CALs for the devices / users accessing said Window Server.
@@EddieJennings Thank you for the response. That is good to know. I certainly feel better knowing that as long as we have records of our CAL's that is sufficient.
This has helped me a lot... to realize I need to get more into Linux for core services. Geez. x.x
Thank you, and I can empathize with your need :).
Once you purchase the device or user cals how do you register them on the server? Or is it something you just hold onto in a desk drawer? 🤔
For non-RDS CALs, you simply keep the documetation that they're purchased. RDS (outside of the scope of this video) does have an installation process.
@@EddieJennings thank you !
I have only 1 device that uses sql server. Sql server have over 200 logins that connect to sql server. Does it mean that I need only 1 device CAL?
do i need those cal if the server is just there to host specific programms there is no AD being used or other sort of feature really do they need to have a device/user cal to just be connected via ethernet?
The longer I focus on RHEL and other Linux infrastructure in my professional capacity, the more estranged I become with the Microsoft world. With the exception of a few workloads, I believe Windows Server CALs are required to anything accessing a Windows server in basically any way. Whether or not your Windows server is providing directory services (AD) is irrelevant.
For example, if you're providing DHCP services using Windows server, a CAL is needed for anything consuming those DHCP services. Back in the day (read 5 years ago or so), most system administrators would just purchase a user CAL for all users in their organization and call it a day, rather than trying to have a device CAL for every device. I'm not up-to-date with licensing regarding M365 and the like. I know the CAL requirements are the same, but I don't know if newer Microsoft SaaS offerings have the CAL baked in somehow.
A quick consult of Dr. Google found this, which may be helpful. www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/client-access-license
Thanks Eddie that has answered many of my questions. I've tried to find out if buying a new Windows Server 2019 box to add to an existing Windows Server 2016 box on the network, would need a set of 2019 CALs. I would not need the extra CALs if I downgraded the new server to 2016, as they would match versions, but do I need to get new CALs to make my Windows Server 2019 box legal? Thanks again for your video!
Glad you found the video helpful! As far as you question, the short answer is "it depends." The question that comes to mind is if your CALs are a part of a volume license agreement, do you have Software Assurance for them? If so, then likely your CALs would be valid for Server 2019 already.
If not, then you probably would need to purchase new CALs if you deploy a Server 2019 instance. www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/products
will have information about the Product Use Rights, which should give you the detail you need to have an authoritative answer.
I'd also consider reaching out to someone who deals with Microsoft licensing day-in and day-out and get their opinion.
Hi Eddie, many thanks for this. We have a Windows Server 2019 Standard server which is a Workgroup and not a DC. We have configured the RDS User CALS but get a warning that the user will be logged out after 60 minutes, Looks like RDS User CALS cannot be tracked in a workgroup environment. Can you please confirm if this is correct and do you know what possible workrounds could be? we would like to keep the server as a workgroup and not install AD. Thanks
Unfortunately, I don't have the experience with licensing RDS to be able to answer your scenario :(
So if you have a head office with 4000 users and two branch offices with 1200 and 1500 users respectively, and various assortment of windows infrastructure servers at all offices , do you need to buy 6700 cals for the head office infra and be done with it or this is done at per site basis ?
At that volume of users, you're probably going to be looking into Enterprise agreements with Microsoft. Unfortunately, that's outside of the scope of what I've touched regarding Microsoft agreements.
Hello I have 2012 R2 Rds servers, and my current lic server is a 2012r2 as well that holds our per user cals. Question I am installing a new preprod 2019 rds server, and once I was done with all my normal installs, when I point to my 2012r2 lic server in my gpedit, I get a msg near the systray saying I need a 2016 cals, can 2016 cals or 2019 cals be installed in parallel with my existing 2012 cals on my 2012r2 lic server as I still need them....or do I need a new server that will house the 2016 or 2019 cals ? so my question is more machine and what can be installed on.
The scope of the videos was just about Windows server CALs rather than RDS and my knowledge of RDS is limited. From what I understand, licensing servers can have older version licenses installed on them, but you can't have for example Server 2019 CAL licenses installed on a Server 2012R2 server. So you'll likely want to install a current version Windows server VM, and configure it with the proper RDS CALs you need.
Hi, I have a small business with 4 terminals running windows 10. We are buying a dell t340 server with windows server 2019. Do I need to buy windows server essential or standard? If I buy essential probably I need to buy licenses... how do I install them to each machine; do I need to format the terminals ?
I would ask first if you need an on-premises Windows server? If the answer is yes, the question becomes does Windows Server Essentials make sense for what you need it to do. In my experience the answer to that question is generally "no." As far as licenses, any device running a Windows OS is going to need to be licensed in some way.
Does anyone know if there any CALs included with Server 2022 Standard?
For example:
X users will use "File/Print" and RDS services on a 12 core "Server 2022 Standard" machine.
In my understanding, I will need to buy:
1 x Server 2022 Standard License
+ 5 x CALs
+ 5 x RDS CALs?
Am I correct?
Thank you.
I've never know Windows Server Standard to include any kind of CAL. Usually the CALs are a separate line item on your invoice. If X = 5, then your math seems correct concerning server CALs and RDS CALs (assuming user CALs). You'd want to talk with your reseller as well.
I have around 300 servers and 2000 workstation and 4000+ staff, which model works best for us
As always "it depends." :) Are the 4000+ staff only using those 2000 workstations to access the 300 servers? Keep in mind that if one of those 300 servers are providing DNS or DHCP and any of those users will be using DNS or DHCP on something other than those 2000 workstations, the answer is "no."
Question...I have my 2019 lic server up and running, when I point my first 2019 rds server to it, I see 1 cal lic issued under issued, but, when I point my 2012 rds server to it we see strange things, we don't see issued for it, yet no error after I pointed the 2012 rds server when I pointed it to the new 2019 lic server all is fine there, we just don't see issued, we have it set to per user lic, and making sure we use diff accts...any ideas why
Unfortunately, I don't have any advice to offer, as I've only sparingly ever had to touch RDS licensing and license severs. And the CALs for RDS are totally different that just user / device CALs for Windows Server itself -- which was true as of Server 2016 and I believe is still true today.
I'm a bit confused, does that mean if I have a business with 10 employees (all having their own win11 pro machines) but I have one windows server, does that mean I need to buy 11 CALs for each user to access the windows server? Thanks for the clarification.
I tend to be verbose, so the tl;dr = You need a user CAL for every user that will be accessing any Windows server.
If you have a windows server, and you users are accessing that Windows server, you'll need X user CALs, where X is the number of users accessing that Windows server. Or you can cover these users with device cals, but almost always User CALs make the most sense. Keep in mind that I've been removed from dealing with Windows licensing day-to-day for several years now, but a quick glance here shows a CAL model still in effect for Windows Server 2022: www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing.
One thing to keep in mind. Let's say you're using Windows server to offer DNS and DHCP services on your network, and you have a bunch of guests in your building with their various devices. If those devices are receiving DHCP services and using your Windows server for DNS, they need to be covered with CALs. At least they did a few years ago, but methinks that hasn't changed either.
Thanks this does help explain it better but it doesnt stop the fact that is way too confusing. Example I need to also purchase SQL 2019. So I need 50 Windows Server CALS and 50 Windows SQL Server CALs? And buy the License for the server? I emailed about 10 sales reps from different companies I'm hoping they can answer these questions.
I suggest thinking of the CALs in layers. At layer 1 you have Windows Server. Your users will be interacting with Windows server; thus, you have Windows Server CAL requirements. Then you add layer 2, which is the SQL Server application. I do not know what (if) there are CAL requirements for SQL server. I think there are some licensing schemes for SQL server that do involve CALs and some that don't. Regardless, unless you're running SQL server on RHEL or the like, you'll be covering your users for accessing the underlying Windows Server which is serving your SQL server application.
Hi @Eddie, many thanks for very informative video. I had a question on the same, we have a windows 2012 R2 server, we want to allow more than two users to RDP into the server at the same time as the limit is 2. Do we need to buy 3 User CAL + 3 RDP CAL, or will just 3 User CAL be sufficient. Thanks.
Thanks for your kind words. :) There's a couple of things to consider with your question.
First, are these extra users wanting to RDP for adminstration tasks or are you wanting to serve virtual desktops to multiple users?
If the latter, then you're getting into wanting to offer RDS (Remote Desktop Services), which has its own CAL requirements, and was beyond the scope of the video. If you are wanting to do RDS, then it's my understanding each RDS user is going to need an RDS CAL as well as be covered by either a user or device Windows Server CAL. Note that I've never deep-dove into RDS licensing, so you'd want to do your own research for documentation.
If the former, I'd first ask why do you need multiple RDP sessions for administration? For standard Windows services (DNS, IIS, AD, etc.), you can manage them through PowerShell remoting and the various tools within RSAT. In the case of using RSAT tools, your administrators would be connecting to your server via the console tool rather than having to make an RDP session. For non-Microsoft applications, I would expect a "good" server application that runs on Windows to also either be able to be managed through PowerShell or a remote console applicaiton similar to RSAT.
So assuming RDP Is the only way to administer what needs to be done on this server, the only way I know of to get your multiple RDP sessions is to start working with RDS as mentioned earlier.
Thank you very much for this great explanation. I am just getting into Windows Server Administration and Traning stuff (after many decades of being a simple desktop support engineer on Windows 10 and Windows 11 types of operating systems)
I am finding Windows Servers extremely fascinating and powerful. Much more so than just a standalone Windows 10 Client machine because once we start getting into Active Directory and Group Policy, then a whole bunch of amazing things can be achieved using a Windows Server Domain Controller.
One thing I had to think about with this excellent presentation about CALs (especially User Cals) is that once the license you have for that given version of Windows Server (say 2019) expires, you can still go ahead and use your Windows Server 2019 and those user CALs, but I guess Microsoft is simply saying that they don't support any technical issues one may have is that correct? I would also be curious to know typically from your experience, how long do these Software Licence and User CALs last (i mean are they usually good for a year)?
Anyways, you made the great subtle point that yes, once the License for Windows Server 2019 (and the associated) CALs expire, that business can choose to continue using Windows Server for several more years beyond the license agreement. They just wouldn't have any tech support. But as soon as they go to deploy say Server 2022, thats when new costs come in (Not only for the Core base licence of WIndows Server itself, but also the additional new User CALs that would need to be purchased, in order to use that Server 2022 along with any of the older Servers - like 2019, 2016 and so on) that one may have laying around the office.
If I am correct in all these basic understandings about CALs, then my hats off to the presenter, and I hope he can answer a few of those questions I have above.
Thank you so much for making Technology more understandable to the rest of us IT folks out here.
Cheers
Alexander
Thanks for your kind words and welcome to the world of Windows system administration. I still touch Windows server from time to time, but 90% of my system admin work is maintaining Linux infrastructure now. :)
So on CAL versions, from what I can remember, when you purchase CALs (as a part of your volume license or enterprise agreement) you are always purchasing for the current version of Windows server. I *think* having Software Assurance (SA) on those CALs is what allows you to use them to cover your users / devices for connecting to Windows servers in your environment that may be older than current. You'll need to talk to your reseller / do some research to double-check me on that.
For your second point about Server 2019 "expiring." From what I remember from my Open Value agreements I deal with years ago, if your agreement comes to and end and you choose not to start a new agreement to continue SA, then all that means is that your licenses are "frozen" at a particular version. I cannot remember if they're frozen at the version of Windows server where your agreement started, or where it ended (assuming you had SA throughout your agreement). Regardless if you needed to buy new stuff, you'd be starting a new agreement and the licenses you purchase would be for the current version of Windows Server and you'd have to check if you need to purchase SA or not to have rights to cover older versions with your new CALs. I strongly encourage you to read your greement, talk to your reseller, and do some research.
Lastly on support. Support is a whole different beast than licensing. According to learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-server-2019, it looks like Server 2019 will have some form of support until 2029. You'll have to click around to get definitions for "Extended support" and the like. So even if your licensing agreement expires, you can still get patches and buy support. However, you might be in a situation where you have some support offering as a part of your license agreement, so again you'd have to read all of you agreements carefully to understand what you are and aren't entitled to.
Phew, that was a mouthful. :) I hope I addressed your questions, but remember to verify the information -- especially since I'm farther and farther removed from the Microsoft licensing world.
@@EddieJennings excellent responses thank you so much 👍
Thank you for this video. What about if I use Windows server to run an on premise WebApi to which an undefined number of users could connect to using their own devices (pc, tablet, smarphone, ecc)? Do we need user Cals in this case? If so, how many? How can Windows track the number of different users/devices that uses my WebApi?
Thanks for watching! You'll want to look into something called an External Connector, which is kind of like a CAL for the Internet. There are certain workloads you an do with IIS, which don't require a CAL, but I cannot recall those specifics. It can be found within Microsoft's documentation.
For your second question, I doubt Windows itself will be aware enough of your WebAPI to give you what you want, however, I don't know for sure, for I'm not a developer.
Hi Eddie. If we install our application in Windows Server and end users are accessing the application through web browser via LAN, do we still need to purchase device/ user CAL?
It "depends." You'd have to check product use rights documentation, but I know there are some specific cases for some web workloads that don't require CALs. In general, yes you'll likely need CALs.
Hi sir can you wipe clean a fresh install of another server operating system
From a technical perspective, yes. You'd need to have something you can boot into (such as an install ISO flashed onto a USB drive), then delete / reformat whatever file system exists on your server and install a new OS. Depending on the OS you choose to install, you may need to pay for licensing.
OES eDir (Formerly Novell NetWare), No Windows Domain, No Domain Controller.
So, it is my understanding that the RDS Cal's allow you connectivity to the RDS servers and services running on that server. If you never connect to another server, you do not need a Server Cal. Most people think you need both because they are connecting to a Domain, and they need a Cal for that connection.
So, OES running DSfW (Directory Services for Windows) is not a Windows service, it's an LDAP service the emulates a Domain Controller. If I configure RDS do I still need a Windows Server CAL or should the RDS Cal be sufficient. Keep in mind the only Windows systems are the Session Host, Broker and Lic Server and Gateway and Web Server. The UPD (User Profile Disk) are just a Novell Share.
I always believed that the RDS License gave you access to the RDS servers and services, and most people get both the RDS and Server Licenses because they have a Windows Environment and connect to a Windows Domain, which requires a license.
As I always say for licensing questions, talk to your reseller and look up the current documentation from Microsoft. It is my understanding that if you're accessing any Windows server, you need a Windows Server CAL (since the license model for Windows Server is product license + CAL), regardless if the access is authenticating to AD, or accessing a SMB file share, etc. Then if you're using a product that in itself has a CAL requirement (like RDS), you must have those CALs as well.
The video made today talks about this: ua-cam.com/video/dC7Xk98ZAkw/v-deo.html
Hi Eddie, great video thanks.
I'm trying to understand the correct way to configure two licensing servers for high availability, in per user mode.
I have 100 users, and 100 Cal's in total. I have two licensing servers; lic1 and lic2, and my understanding is lic2 would only ever be used if lic1 was unavailable (eg: server was turned off)
Which of the two options below is correct to use, and would not breach the Remote Desktop Services license terms?
Option 1:
Install 50 Cal's on lic1 and 50 on lic2.
lic1 would over-issue licences because I'm using per user, and issue 100 licences even though only 50 Cal's are installed, but this would be ok because in total we own 100 cal licences
Option 2:
Install all 100 licences on lic1.
If lic1 ever went offline, lic2 would over issue all 100 licences but this is ok because it is temporary while we fix lic1 or move the cal licences over to lic2
Or is there an option that I have not thought of which should be used?
Jeffrey, thanks for watching and for the kind words!
The short answer is "I'm not sure." I do know that RDS CALs are treated differently than good 'ole user and device CALs. The one experience I've had with RDS has been in an environment with a single RDS server. My *hunch* is if you're an active/passive kind of thing Option 2 would likely work, but I cannot say for sure. I'm sure if you dig into RDS documentation you'll find something there. You might have to look at Product Use Rights.
Can you please explain windows datacenter licensing, by unlimited OSEs/Virtual machines does that mean that i can run unlimited windows datacenter vms under the host datacenter license? or do i have a by a different license for each VM !
Thanks for watching. Remember that Windows Server licensing is always for the physical machine. If you have purchased the appropriate amount of Windows Server Datacenter licensing for your hypervisor host, then that entitles you to unlimited Windows Server OSEs (VMs) on that host. Now if you want to use a second host, then you'll need to purchase licensing for the second host.
Thank you very much, Eddie! Highly appreciated content and presentation!
Thanks for watching!
I have a query. We have a sort of registration system hosted on a Windows Server where users can register and login to access our Member only content. Do I need CALs for all these Members? They are in 1000's.
Thanks for watching the video. In general, "yes, you'll need CALs." However, I do know there's a definition you can find for "Web Workloads" that might exempt the need for CALs, but from what I can remember the scope of that is pretty narrow. The fact you have an application that is uniquely identifying users with logins and registration makes me think again "yes" to CALs. Does this application use Microsoft SQL Server in the backend? If so, you'll have to look at licensing for SQL server as well -- but that's a bit beyond the scope of your question.
For something like IIS, the "External Connector" license exists. These are kind of like "CALs for the Internet." Rather than purchasing user CALs for everyone who would potentially access your public facing application running on a Windows server where there is a CAL requirement, you'd purchase an External Connector license for that Windows server, which satisfies the CAL requirement.
Are CALs and RDP CALs activated the same way?
To my knowledge, there is no activation of Window Server CALs. Rather, you keep your documentation from your purchase should you need to prove that your users can legally access Windows Servers.
On 1 server I will run WS Essentials 2019DC. On 2 WS Standard. 15 users accessing 2nd server for file shares. I've already paid £900 for a license for 2nd server. Question is do I need to but another 15 Cals for these users? Does server essentials covers any of activities to the second server?
I'm a little confused about your environment. Do you have two physical servers, one running Windows Server Essentials and the other running Windows Server Standard?
@@EddieJennings Hi Eddie, thank you for responding. I've one hyper-v physical server (Hyper-v Server 2019 OS) with 2 children installed. 1st one is Windows Server Essentials 2019 DC. 2nd is File Server (Windows Server Standard 2019). I've got 15 users accessing both servers. Question is: do I need to get CALS for this 15 users accessing 2nd server or 25CALs from essentials 1st server covers both servers CALs?
I don't remember Server Essentials having CALs, but I could be mistaken. I'm fairly sure just having Server Essentials entitles up to 25 users to use it. (www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/client-access-license). For Windows Server Standard, yes, you'd need to have CALs for those users.
Since you've licensed the hardware for Windows Server Standard, let say you get rid of the Server Essentials VM and replace it with a Server Standard VM (since your license entitles you to 2 VMs). You wouldn't need to buy an additional 15 CALs, as those CALs cover your users pretty much any Windows Server product.
So for example, you have 50k users and you have like xyz file servers + ad + exchange, and all of those 50k users needs to have CALs ?
As I understand it, yes. Exchange (on-premises) has its own CAL requirement beyond the CAL requirement for Windows Server. In a situation with 50k users, if those users share devices (think shifts of people sitting down to the same computer), then it might make sense to use device CALs rather than user CALs for the Windows Server piece.
Why can't microsoft state it in such a straight forward fashion.
I asked myself the same question when I started in IT about 6 years ago, my supervisor at that time told me "It's much better than it used to be." I shudder at whatever "used to be" was. The challenge I find is finding exactly what Microsoft products have a CAL requirement (such as RDS services have their own CALs, which users must have in addition to just server CALs). It can be found in documentation, but it always feels like I have to dig into several layers to find it.
You are a godsend. Can you explain the core licensing aspect a bit more? Like, say I have 4 physical machines. Each physical machine has 16 physical cores, with only 1 cpu socket/processor.
All 4 Of these servers are hypervisors with say 6 virtual machines each. Each virtual machine is a server 2019 vm (leaving out roles like RDS, SQL blah blah just focusing on the server).
Would I be licensing each individual virtual machine and each physical server or... just the 4 physical machines and then re use their respective license on their respective vms?
Good question carl
Once I finish my current series on Hyper-V basics, I'll be glad to tackle this. Stay tuned! :)
@@EddieJennings I am stoked to see it then! :)
Published the video an hour or so ago. Hope it's helpful!
@@EddieJennings Awesome! Thank you!!!
I have an 16 core server, 1 local user, and 50 pcs connecting to it (AD). What the heck do I buy with windows 2019
By local user, do you mean a local user account on your Windows server, or one physical user in the location that would be using the 50 PCs? While I know that question sounds a bit ridiculous, I have heard of scenarios like that.
@@EddieJennings seems like a reasonable question. It will be the one login on the server. Also, some more thorough thinking concluded 30pc's.
Will those 30 pcs have 30 people using them? In my experience the answer about CALs is almost always get User CALs, since management is easy. Number of users = number of CALs to purchase. But if you're in a situation where let's say you have 30 computers, but three shifts of people using those 30 computers, so 90 total people. It may make more sense to get device CALs.
how do you install cals?
Windows Server CALs are not something you install. Instead, you keep documentation of the purchase to prove you Windows Server installation is properly licensed.
Thanks, so it's the same as it has been for quite a while. I used their calculator on one of their pages and it came out to one user license per user per core. I knew that was nuts which is why I searched UA-cam to see if anything changed. If Microsoft was a game warden they would tell you to measure the circumference and multiply by 2 1/2 instead of just measuring the length, and if Oracle started making cars they would tell you about their revolutionary invention, the pneumatically suspended personal transporter.
Ha! Thanks for watching. I do remember when the change was made from per processor to per core licensing for Windows Server, the pricing that I saw seemed to be about the same. Although you're buying more core licensing, the price point for that was similar to the processor licenses. I haven't had to touch Microsoft licensing for a while now, so I'm unsure where the price points are now.
Forgive my ignorance. But it feels like a double dip to sell RDS cals ontop of the normal windows server cals.
Thanks for watching. It does feel that way, doesn't it? I've been detached from having to dig into Microsoft licensing for a little bit now, since I'm mostly working with Linux environments, but I'm fairly sure the product + CAL model is still alive and well in the Microsoft world. I think Microsoft sees RDS services (not the couple of RDP connections you can make for system administration, but actually setting up connection broker and all of that) as a product on top of Windows server; thus, why licensing it requires its unique CAL in addition to the Windows Server CAL you would've already purchased just to interact with a Windows server.
Thank you, this was very helpfull
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
You are the best
Thank you for your kind words! Make sure you subscribe if you haven't already! :)
Great explenation.
Can you do a video on how to Downgrade a 2019 to 2016?
Thank you for watching! :) Do you mean downgrade as far as a RDS CALs are concerned? There isn't anything to upgrade / downgrade with Windows Server CALs other than having documentation that you've purchased them and possibly have Software Assurance.
No im talking downgrading server 2019 std license to 2016 std. sorry off topic here
Worry not :). Shoot me a message at www.ejsllc.com/contact and we can discuss your question further. Since it is a bit outside of the scope of CALs.
Thank you very much Eddy👍
You're welcome.
I want to host AD on AWS server for 250 users, do I need Windows User CALs here? I am confused because AWS is not giving precise answer to this question. Their FAQ has this "What is included when I buy Windows Server instances from AWS?
AWS manages the licensing for you; all you need to do is pay for the instances you use. There is also no need to buy additional Windows Server CALs, as access is included in the price. Each instance comes with two remote connections for admin purposes only. If you require more than two connections, or need those connections for purposes other than admin, you may have to bring in additional Remote Desktop Services CALs for use on AWS."
To be honest, I'm not sure. aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/ seems to indicate "no," but I'd suggest talking to your Microsoft reseller about it if you have one. The second part about having more than two connections needing RDS CALs makes sense, as RDS has its own licensing above and beyond the normal Windows Server + Server CAL.
Wanting to host a domain controller in AWS seems curious to me. Domain controllers tend to be LAN based. Are the 250 users on your LAN? I can't offer much advice on authentication solutions without knowing your environment, and domain-controller-on-AWS may make sense, but it gives me pause.
You got my Subscription!
Great to hear! I hope you'll enjoy / find use for upcoming content. I do plan on bringing back some music-based content, but as of right now I have too many IT-centric topcis about which I want to post. :D
ty for your service
Thank you!
You're welcome! I'm glad the video was useful for you.
Nice , subscribed
Glad you enjoyed the video, and thank you for subscribing!
Hi friend