CALs

[Gotep]

I'm new to the administration of servers and I understand the concept of CALs, however, I am unable to find the answer to a specific question that I have had.

Can one user, using per-user CALs, log onto more than one system and this still count as only one user?

The company that I work for only has 5 employees and we are finally upgrading to the 21st century and getting a SBS server. Because we won't have a large number of users and won't be connecting to the server from external locations, I am going to be administrating it myself. I've been in charge of administration of our current system for 3 years now and haven't had any major issues so I believe that I will be able to handle this without too much difficulty.

CALs were the only thing that really confused me when looking into getting the SBS server. I've already ordered the hardware and it should be in next week, but I just needed to know if I should select per-user or per-device. While we only have 5 desktops, some users bring in their laptops and hook into the network, so I would like for them to be able to be logged into both at the same time.

Any advice that y'all can give me would be great. I've already found many great tips and suggestions reading through posts on here.

Thanks!

 

[Gotep]

Also,

If I setup say 8 users, but only 5 will ever be logged in at the same time. Do I need to have more than 5 user-cals?

In other words, do the CALs restrict based on number of users that exist or the number of users currently using the system?

 

[wahnula]

Gotep,

You seem to have more than 5 users and more than 5 devices. Device CALs support many users but only the number of machines with CALs, and would be perfect for shift workers that use shared PCs. I would recommend you start with the (5) user CALs that SBS comes with and see if there's any problems.

To answer your question, yes, user CALs will allow the same users to use multiple machines, but be careful with machines that leave the office and return, they are potential infections waiting to happen. You should look into a gateway A/V as well as implementing a Security Policy on all PCs connected to your network. They should have A/V and be subject to your scrutiny.

I also have handled the small-office transition to SBS and administer the network myself, but I have a tech available for issues over my head, like Exchange woes. I used this site plus

http://www.smallbizserver.net

to configure my network and it works smooth-as-buttah 99.9% of the time.

Tony

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