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Required licenses

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Required licenses

You must obtain the necessary licenses as part of your deployment of Terminal Server on your network. A license server that runs a Windows Server 2003 operating system supports the following types of licenses:

  • Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Device CALs. These CALs are purchased for devices that connect to a terminal server running a Windows Server 2003 operating system.

  • Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server User CALs. These CALs are purchased for users who connect to a terminal server running a Windows Server 2003 operating system.

  • Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server External Connector Licenses. These licenses are purchased to allow unlimited by external users (for example, business partners) to a terminal server running a Windows Server 2003 operating system. Terminal Server External Connector licenses are not managed; therefore, to use these licenses, you must set your terminal server to Per User mode. For instructions on configuring the Terminal Server Licensing mode, see Configure the Terminal Server Licensing mode.

  • Windows 2000 Terminal Services CALs. These licenses are purchased for devices that connect to a Windows 2000 terminal server.

  • Windows 2000 Terminal Services Internet Connector Licenses. These licenses are purchased to allow up to 200 simultaneous anonymous connections to a Windows 2000 terminal server by non-employees across the Internet.

  • Windows 2000 Built-in Licenses. Clients that are running Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP are issued a license from the built-in pool of licenses when connecting to a Windows 2000 terminal server.

  • Temporary Licenses. When a Windows Server 2003 family terminal server requests a Windows Server 2003 Per Device CAL, or when a Windows 2000 terminal server requests a Windows 2000 CAL, and the license server has no licenses, it issues a temporary license to the connecting client (if the client device has no license). The license server tracks the issuance and expiration of these licenses. Temporary licenses are designed to allow ample time for you to deploy a license server, and they allow unlicensed clients to connect to the terminal server for 90 days. There is no limit to the number of temporary licenses that a license server can issue, but a single client is only issued a temporary license once. After the temporary license expires, the client can only connect to the terminal server if the license server can issue a permanent CAL, or if the terminal server is still within its licensing grace period.

Important

  • For a license server to function correctly, the operating system of the license server must be compatible with the operating system of the terminal server. Note the following:

    • A Windows 2000 license server cannot issue CALs to terminal servers running Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

    • A license server running a Windows Server 2003 operating system can issue CALs to terminal servers running Windows Server 2000 or Windows Server 2003, or to terminal servers running Windows 2000 and terminal servers running Windows Server 2003 in a mixed environment

Notes

  • Verify that you have purchased enough CALs for the Terminal Server license server and that the Terminal Server Licensing mode matches the type of CAL available on the license server. Terminal Server Licensing modes determine the type of CAL that a license server issues to a client. In Windows Server 2003, two types of CALs are available: Per User and Per Device. A Per Device CAL gives each client computer or device the right to access a terminal server that is running Windows Server 2003. A Per User CAL gives one user the right to access a terminal server from an unlimited number of devices. In this case, only one CAL is needed instead of a CAL for each device. Per User CALs, however, are not monitored by Terminal Server. This means that even though there is a Per User CAL in the license server database, the Per User CAL is not decremented when it is used.

  • By default, when the Per Device licensing mode is used, after a client logs and authenticates to a terminal server for the first time, and after the terminal server locates a license server, the terminal server issues the client a temporary license. After a client logs on and authenticates to a terminal server for the second time, if the license server is activated and at least one Per Device CAL is installed on the license server and not yet issued, the terminal server issues the client a permanent, Per Device CAL. Per User CALs are not monitored by Terminal Server. This means that even though there is a Per User CAL in the license server database, the Per User CAL is not decremented when it is used. Additionally, if you use the Per User licensing mode, when a client logs on to a terminal server for the second time, the temporary license is not upgraded to a permanent CAL.

  • For more information about Terminal Server and Terminal Server Licensing, see Guidelines for Deploying Terminal Server (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=34627) and Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=26220).