Per Server / Per seat

[Steve1962]

I know I've asked this before, but thought I'd give it another go as I didn't get any response. So please forgive me in advance
We now have 3 servers and it would be more cost effective to change from per server to per seat licensing.
Problem is, when I go into licensing and click on 'per seat' I get the following message :

"Licensing violation - You have requested a change that violates the license agreement. The license for this product only allows for a one-time change from a Per Server to a Per Seat configuration.
Do you want to cancel this request?"

Is this the standard message you receive when changing over to Per Seat? What will happen if I Click 'No' and tell it make the change?

Please, please, please help.

Many thanks

 

[jayweb]

Hi,

you can technically change licensing mode from per server to per seat. This is no problem at all. This message box is standard microsoft. You can ignore that.

The other thing is to make sure you have the right CAL's purchased. License violation can be very expensive.

If you have any further questions let me know.

 

[LoJACK]

Just curious... how would microsoft know if you have the right licensing or not anyways? Does Windows 2000 Server communicate back to Microsoft?

 

[Steve1962]

Thanks for the reply Jayweb.

Someone told me it's easier to stay in Per Server, but this surely must be more expensive. All 250 PC's access the DC at some point, I presume the same number of CAL's would be needed for the DNS server, and the third server, a member server, has CDROMS and Intranet on it, so again, at some point all workstations access all three servers. In Per seat, I would need 250 CAL's, does that mean in Per Server I would need 750 CAL's?
Or do I need to work out the maximum number of workstations that will be attached at any one time, and buy that number of CAL's in Per Server mode? Or is it just easier to buy 250, change to Per Seat and be done with it?

One more thing, if I do change to Per Seat, do the CAL's already purchased whilst it's in Per Server mode cover that?

Sorry for all the questions, but I need to get this right, legally, and I know it can only be done once!

Thanks in advance.