NW6.5 licencing

[adrianday]

Hello
can someone explain to me how nW6.5 licence count is down. I have skpoken to Novell who say its down to the user ID. Does this mean the total number of user ID's configured within the tree the licences are in. Or the number of users logged in to this tree concurrently. Also does it matter how many times a single user ID is logged in.

The reason for my question is that we have 300 licences in a single organisation and cannot tell what the concurrent user count is at any one time.

regards
Adrian

 

[marvhuffaker]

I hate saying this, but talking to Novell about licensing is like talking to a wall. The people you talk to don't even understand them.

Let me try to explain..

- Licenses are NOT based on connections to the server. This was the old model with Netware 5.1 and older. At that time, if you had 100 user licenses, only 100 physical people could be connected at any one time.

- Licenses are based on the USERID. When a user logs in, one (1) license is allocated to that user and it stays with them for 90 days (Or 90 days past the last login). It doesn't matter if the user logs in from 20 different workstations at the same time, it only uses one license.

- Even if the user logs out, the license is still allocated to the user, and it won't be assigned to anyone else. It's the same as if you have a keycard to get in the building. Just cause you're not in the building doesn't mean someone else can use your keycard. You still have it.

The problem a lot of people have is that they have say, 300 licenses and 350 users. But they might only have 250 on the network at any given time. It doesn't matter. You'd still need 350 licenses because all users require their own license.

Again, concurrent user counts are not relevant. So trying to track that down is a big wild goose chase. To further clarify the licensing, I do have a tutorial on my company website:

http://www.redjuju.com/sales/novell-licensing-tutorial.htm

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[adrianday]

Marvin
thanks very much for your explanation, I will look at the link you have provided. What you have told me will allow me to try and plan for any future purchases

rgds
Adrian