Licensing Management Series
A Guide to Assessing Windows Server Licensing
July 2010
This document provides customers of Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 with an overview of Windows Server licensing requirements, as well as guidance on how to assess the licenses needed. (For those licensed under earlier versions of Windows Server, refer to the appropriate Product Use Rights (PUR) document or End User License Agreement (EULA) for guidance.)
The Software Usage Tracker, a tool in the Microsoft® Assessment and Planning (MAP) 5.0 Toolkit, collects and reports server and client use of common deployment scenarios for Windows Server Standard, Windows Server Enterprise, and Windows Server Datacenter. Using the data from this tool, in conjunction with the step-by-step instructions on the pages that follow, can help you calculate the number and type of server licenses or processor licenses, and Client Access Licenses (CALs) that you need.
The latest version of this document is available from:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/client-access-license.aspx#tab=3
Terms of Use |
Contents
Windows Server Licensing Requirements
Server or Processor Licensing
Client Access Licensing
CAL exceptions
Other CAL options
External Connector license
Remote Desktop Services license
Rights Management Services license
CALs for Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2
CAL Suites
Licensing for Common Windows Server Use Cases
Stand-alone Windows Server
Commercial hosting
Web Server
Application Server
Consolidation server roles
How to Assess Your Licensing Requirements
Step 1 Setting Up Your MAP Scan
Guidelines for a more accurate usage count
Step 2 Generating a Windows Server License Report
Step 3 Counting Your Server or Processor Licenses
Count server licenses: basic method
Count server or processor licenses: advanced method
Count virtual machines
Calculate your Windows Server Standard licenses
Calculate your Windows Server Enterprise licenses
Calculate your Windows Server Datacenter licenses
Step 4 Counting Your CALs
Get MAP usage data and convert to a CAL count
Make manual adjustments
References
Accessing Windows Server software requires two licenses:
You can license Windows Server by server or by processor.
Windows Server software may run only on a licensed server. Once a license has been assigned to a server, it allows running one or more instances of any physical or virtual operating system environment (OSE) on that server. Each edition of Windows Server includes the right to run a specific number of software instances on each server. The difference between the server and processor model is significant when the Windows® operating system runs more than once on a server using virtualization technology.
Edition |
License Type |
Software Instance Use Right |
Standard |
Server |
One physical and one virtual instance. (When you run the virtual instance, the physical instance may only be used to manage and serve the virtual instance. Each additional virtual instance requires another Windows Server Standard license.) |
Enterprise |
Server |
One physical and four virtual instances on a single physical server. (When you run the four virtual instances concurrently, the physical instance may only be used to manage and serve the virtual instances. Each additional four instances requires another Windows Server Enterprise license.) |
Datacenter |
Processor |
One physical and unlimited virtual instances. |
Web |
Server |
One physical or virtual instance. |
Itanium |
Processor |
One physical and unlimited virtual instances. |
Foundation |
Server |
One physical instance. |
You may reassign a Windows Server Volume License to another server once every 90 days. However, you may not reassign an OEM Windows Server license unless you first acquire Software Assurance for it. On the other hand, you may move a virtual instance of the server software to another server that is properly licensed to support it as often as you want. To track this, Microsoft recommends that you keep a current record of all assigned servers, license type, SA coverage, and the date they were assigned or reassigned.
For more information on virtualization, please refer to Licensing Microsoft Server Products in Virtual Environments.
In addition to the server or processor license, you must have a Windows Server Client Access License (CAL) to directly or indirectly access servers running Windows Server, aside from the exceptions cited in the next section. Unlike most per-processor licensing at Microsoft—such as for Microsoft SQL Server®—this requirement is true even when Windows Server is licensed by processor.
Windows Server CALs may be licensed by device or by user. You must have a CAL for any user or device that will access Windows Server even once.
Note these additional CAL requirements:
You do not need a CAL to access Windows Server in the situations described below. (The diagram may help you better understand these exceptions and when you'd need a CAL.)
Note These exceptions apply only to Windows Server CALs. If you are running other server software with Windows Server that requires its own CAL, the exceptions may not apply to that software's CAL requirements.
If you want to give your business partners, customers, or other external users access to your network, you have two licensing options. (External users cannot be employees, on-site contractors or agents, or people to whom you provide hosted services using the Windows Server software.) You can acquire:
EC licenses include the following requirements:
For more information, read the External Connector Licensing Overview.
Remote Desktop Services (RDS) (formerly known as Terminal Services) enables users to access Windows-based programs that are installed on a remote desktop server, or to access the Windows desktop or use network resources from a wide range of devices over virtually any type of network connection.
To access RDS in Windows Server, you must acquire both a Windows Server CAL and a Windows Server Remote Desktop Services CAL for each user or device accessing it.
Rights Management Services (RMS) in Windows Server lets a user create and access rights-protected content. To use RMS in Windows Server, you must acquire a Windows Server CAL and Windows Server Rights Management Services CAL for each user or device accessing it.
In general, CALs are version-specific. However, as an exception, Microsoft did not create new CALs for R2 versions of Windows Server. Instead, the table below shows which CALs you can use to license access to these versions.
To license access to servers running this software... |
...use these CALs |
Windows Server 2003 R2 |
Windows Server 2003 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2008 |
And although you do not need to update your CALs, you do need the R2 versions of Windows Server licenses to run Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
The Microsoft Core CAL Suite and Microsoft Enterprise CAL Suite include rights that are equivalent to Windows Server CALs. The Enterprise CAL Suite also includes rights that are equivalent to a RMS CAL. The version of Windows Server that your CAL suite licenses you to access depends on the last date of Software Assurance coverage for your CAL suite.
For more information on CAL Suites, please see Licensing the Core CAL Suite and the Enterprise CAL Suite.
Organizations often use Windows Server to perform specific stand-alone roles such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name Service (DNS), File, or Print. To serve these roles:
When you use Windows Server to provide commercial hosting services, you must license it under a Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA.) The SPLA is for organizations that offer hosted software and services to end customers, such as web hosting, hosted applications, messaging, collaboration, and platform infrastructure. If you are charging customers to access your Windows Server, then you must license it under SPLA.
For more information, please see Licensing Options for Services Providers.
The Web Server role lets you share information with users on the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. Windows Server 2008 features Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0. All Windows Server products may run the Web Server role. A Web Server using Windows Server 2008 requires a server or processor license, depending on the edition.
You do not require CALs for an Internet-facing web server if users are accessing it through an Internet connection and not being uniquely identified or authenticated; External Connectors or CALS are required when users or devices are individually or uniquely identified. Local network access to a Windows Server system requires a CAL, anonymous or not.
The Application Server role of Windows Server provides an integrated environment for deploying and running server-based business applications, whether they are Microsoft or third-party applications. An Application Server using Windows Server 2008 requires server or processor licenses depending on the edition. Additionally, users or devices accessing an application server require CALs.
When a server is not enabled with the Application Server role but is running Windows Server and Microsoft® Exchange Server, SQL Server software, or another Microsoft or third-party application, Windows Server license and CAL requirements still apply.
One additional point of guidance: If you have more server or CAL licenses of a specific application than Windows Server licenses, then you are probably under-licensed for Windows Server.
One way you can greatly simplify your licensing requirements is by using virtualization technology to consolidate multiple server functions or roles onto fewer servers. You can use Microsoft Hyper-V™ technology or third-party hypervisor products to create and manage virtual machines and their resources. Each virtual machine is a virtualized computer system that operates in an isolated execution environment. This means you can simultaneously run multiple instances of an operating system on a single physical server.
For example, both Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter can run any number of virtual instances of the software for various server functions on each licensed physical server. As a result, you can accomplish the same goals with fewer servers, thus eliminating the need to license each separate server for a particular role. (You can virtualize with Windows Server 2008 Standard as well, but because you need to separately license each server instance, you're only saving on hardware costs.)
Virtualization does not reduce the number of CALs required—the users and devices accessing the Windows Server software must still be properly licensed. However, if you are using a server only as a hypervisor for a version of Windows Server earlier than 2008, you need a CAL just for the version of Windows being hosted. For example, if you are using Windows Server 2008 solely as a hypervisor for Windows Server 2003, then you only need Windows Server 2003 CALs, even though you are indirectly accessing Windows Server 2008.
For more detailed Windows Server licensing information, please refer to the Volume Licensing Product Use Rights and the Windows Server 2008 R2 Licensing Guide.
To help you assess licensing requirements for Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has developed a Software Usage Tracker. Part of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 5.0, it collects and reports server and client use of common deployments of Windows Server Standard, Windows Server Enterprise, and Windows Server Datacenter.
Look for guidance on assessing licensing requirements for Windows Web Server in the next edition of this document. MAP has not been tested for use with Windows Server for Itanium-Based Systems and Windows Server Foundation, so these products are omitted.
In this section, you'll find step-by-step instructions to help you generate usage reports and explain specifically how to use them to help determine your Windows Server licensing obligations. You'll take four broad steps:
Completing this assessment requires network administration expertise and permissions as well as licensing expertise. If licensing compliance and network administration responsibilities fall to different people in your organization, they will need to work together to complete this assessment correctly.
Note It is important to understand that the Software Usage Tracker only provides a software usage report; it does not create a licensing report. And although the guidance offered in this section may be helpful, it is not definitive. It does not replace or supersede your use rights as legally defined in your PUR document.
In this first step, you will tell MAP what to scan. To complete it, you need server administration expertise and permissions.
If licensing compliance falls to others in your organization, you may want to work with them to make sure you consider the points below in the scan you set up.
Make sure your configuration is complete. MAP only scans usage on servers and network segments identified during configuration. Incomplete configuration will give you incomplete results.
Make sure your Microsoft Office SharePoint® Servers, Exchange Servers, SQL Servers, and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) are all configured according to the installation guide because they also impact Windows Server CAL counts.
Scan over a time period when your operating system environment is running the maximum number of servers and virtual machines. MAP only counts servers running at the time it scans. If the number of users and devices fluctuates seasonally, run the scan in your busiest season.
Scan servers with different license obligations separately. Configure your network scan range to take licensing variations of products into account. Scan servers with similar licensing together since you'll apply that licensing logic to the results. For example, if you scan web, application, and MSDN-licensed servers together, your data will not be useful.
Make note of network segments that you exclude due to licensing variations to ensure that you correctly account for their use later. For example, make sure that you have MSDN licenses for servers licensed under MSDN programs or ECs where you have Windows Server deployed as an anonymous web server.
Before you begin, make sure to review the Windows Server Licensing Requirements (outlined in the first part of this guide). In this section, you run the MAP scan, which generates a report on your servers running Windows Servers. Note that the first step below should be performed by the IT professional who installs and configures MAP; the second step requires software licensing expertise.
Note To change the date range, click Configure Date Range in the Actions pane.
To fully assess your Windows Server license requirements, you will need the following information about each Windows Server deployment. The MAP scan provides this information except where noted.
There are two ways to count server licenses: basic and advanced. Use the basic method if:
If your environment does not meet these criteria, use the advanced method.
If you know that your Windows Server deployment meets the criteria for using the basic method described above, follow the steps below.
Example When licensed through Volume Licensing, Windows Server gives you rights to deploy earlier versions and lower editions. If the Server Summary gave you the information in the example below, you would need either four Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise licenses, or two Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise licenses and two Windows Server 2003 Enterprise licenses.
Product |
Editions |
Architecture |
Total Servers Discovered |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise |
Enterprise |
64-bit |
2 |
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition |
Enterprise |
|
2 |
First, you'll generate a report that will give you the number of active and inactive virtual machines of each version of the operating system. Then you'll count the server or processor licenses for each edition of Windows Server in your environment.
Follow these steps to determine if you are running Windows Server on virtual machines.
Example In the example below, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise is running eight active VMs whose latest version is Windows Server 2008. If the physical operating system is:
You need a Windows Server Standard license of the same or later version for each physical machine or active virtual machine. (Alternatively, you can license servers running Windows Server Standard with Windows Server Enterprise or Datacenter licenses by counting licenses as described in those sections below.)
|
Write the number and calculate |
A How many physical server instances do you have? |
|
B How many physical server instances are used only to manage Windows Server VMs? |
|
C (A - B)= |
|
D How many active VMs do you have? (You need a Standard license for each VM.) |
|
E (C + D) = number of Windows Server Standard licenses you need |
|
You need a Windows Server Enterprise license of the same or later version for each physical server running up to four active virtual machines. (Alternatively, you can license servers running Windows Server Enterprise with Windows Server Datacenter licenses by counting licenses as described in the Datacenter section below.
Although a single Windows Server Enterprise license gives you rights to four VMs, you must deploy all four on the same physical server. For example, if you have two active VMs on a server licensed with Windows Server Enterprise, you cannot deploy another two VMs on other physical servers using the same Enterprise license; you would need to acquire another Enterprise license to do so.
The calculation instructions below take this requirement into account.
For each server: |
Write the number and calculate |
|
A How many active VMs do you have on this server? |
|
|
B Is the physical Windows Server instance doing anything besides managing VMs? (Check this on the server.) |
YES |
Add 1 to A. |
|
NO |
Do nothing |
C (A + B)/4 = |
|
|
D Is this a whole number? |
YES |
This is the number of Windows Server Enterprise licenses you need for this server. |
|
NO |
Round up to the next whole number to get the number of Windows Server Enterprise licenses you need for this server. |
E Repeat the steps above for each Windows Enterprise Edition server. Add the values in (D) to get the total number of licenses you need. |
|
|
You need a Windows Server Datacenter license for each physical processor which entitles you to run an unlimited number of virtual machines. To count licenses, you'll create an Excel pivot table as you did to count VMs.
There are two steps to counting CALs. First you get the usage data from the MAP scan and convert the usage numbers into a license count. Then you manually correct the license count for situations that MAP cannot track.
Note Check Guidelines for a more accurate usage count to confirm that you've done everything you can to prepare for an accurate scan.
Example
The Software Usage Tracker automatically discards duplicate entries. So, if person A accesses Windows Server and SharePoint Server (which also accesses Windows Server) and person B accesses Window Server and Exchange Server, MAP does not report four users (one for each application access). Instead, it takes into account users who access more than one server or application so that unique users are only counted once. In this example then, the Combined Product Distinct Usage reports two Windows Server users.
After you have a CAL count from the Software Usage Tracker, review the special cases below to make sure the count accurately reflects your use.
Multiple accounts for one user. You need just one User CAL for a user no matter how many accounts he or she has.
Shared accounts. Two users who access a server running Windows Server through the same account require two User CALs.
Combined CAL and EC licensing. MAP does not detect combined CAL and EC licensing for client access, so you must count these manually.
Access between Windows Servers. One server running Windows Server does not need a CAL to access another, so do not assign Device CALs to Windows Server systems.
Multiplexing. CAL requirements do not distinguish between direct and indirect access to your servers. If your users access Windows Server indirectly through another server, either as a matter of application design or in an attempt to reduce CAL licensing costs, you still need Windows Server CALs for those users or their devices.
Enterprise Agreements. If you have signed a platform Enterprise Agreement or Open Value Company-Wide Agreement, you must acquire Windows Server CALs company-wide. See your agreement for the details.
h1.
References
This guide is one in a series of five in-depth "how-to" guides that can help you generate and interpret MAP Toolkit 5.0 Software Usage Tracker reports that you can use to calculate the number of server licenses and CALs you need.
Refer to the Guidance for MAP Toolkit 5.0 Software Usage Tracker microsoft.com/sam/en/us/briefs.aspx page to download the other four guides:
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. |