Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations John Tel on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
How many cals for a print server?
- Thread starter orman
- Start date
If you get per client CAL's, then you may not have to worry about it at all. If you have 100 clients and they have client CAL's, then they can access any server in your domain with that CAL. If you had per machine, then it gets sticky.
How many users do you have total?
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
How many users do you have total?
I'm Certifiable, not cert-ified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
- Thread starter
- #3
I've never heard of client CALs. Microsoft sells 'user' CALs and 'device' CALs. I also think that there is a lot of confusion regarding per-seat/per-server licensing modes and user/device licenses.
So let's start with this:
Per-server licensing - With per-server licensing, a CAL is associated with a particular server. You will need to have at least as many CALs as the maximum number of PCs that will connect to that server at any time. This is almost like counting concurrent connections.
Per-seat licensing - With per-seat licensing, a CAL is associated with an individual 'device' or an individual 'user'. So long as that device/user has a CAL, it is allowed to access as many servers as they want. Per-seat licenses can be purchased as either device or user CALs.
The device CAL is used to license a particular device to access the server. This CAL makes sense if you have more users than devices. A good example would be a hospital or 24/7 call center where multiple people use the same PC throughout the day.
The user CAL is used to license a particular user to access the server, regardless of what device they use to access the server. This CAL makes sense if you have roughly the same number of PCs as users, or if your users will also need to access the server from their home PC or other location.
So let's start with this:
Per-server licensing - With per-server licensing, a CAL is associated with a particular server. You will need to have at least as many CALs as the maximum number of PCs that will connect to that server at any time. This is almost like counting concurrent connections.
Per-seat licensing - With per-seat licensing, a CAL is associated with an individual 'device' or an individual 'user'. So long as that device/user has a CAL, it is allowed to access as many servers as they want. Per-seat licenses can be purchased as either device or user CALs.
The device CAL is used to license a particular device to access the server. This CAL makes sense if you have more users than devices. A good example would be a hospital or 24/7 call center where multiple people use the same PC throughout the day.
The user CAL is used to license a particular user to access the server, regardless of what device they use to access the server. This CAL makes sense if you have roughly the same number of PCs as users, or if your users will also need to access the server from their home PC or other location.
Well, it's just that technically both user and device CALs are client licenses. That's what the 'C' in 'CAL' stands for. So your post was confusing at least.
You should also keep in mind that you and the OP aren't the only people reading the posts. There are usually a fair number of lurkers, and then other people may end up here from the results of a Google search. That's how I found this site years ago. So in that case, it's important to make sure that you're giving out the best info that you have, especially when you're talking about a complex and confusing subject like Microsoft licensing.
You should also keep in mind that you and the OP aren't the only people reading the posts. There are usually a fair number of lurkers, and then other people may end up here from the results of a Google search. That's how I found this site years ago. So in that case, it's important to make sure that you're giving out the best info that you have, especially when you're talking about a complex and confusing subject like Microsoft licensing.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Question
