- Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw how to#
- Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw update#
- Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw full#
- Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw software#
- Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw windows#
Windows Server Essentials is specialized edition that is extremely-limited and designed for very small environments. Let's look at the different editions and how they're licensed. Windows Server Datacenter (Core/Desktop Experience).Windows Server Standard (Core/Desktop Experience).I'll start at the basic level as if we're licensing a single physical server (with no virtualization): Windows Server Editions User and/or Device CALs for users and/or devices accessing services on a Windows Server OSĪs for those requirements, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about them.
Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw software#
Physical-Core-Count License of the OS software.Windows Server LicensingĪt the most basic level, properly licensing Windows Server requires 2 things:
Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw full#
Windows Server Desktop Experience = Windows Server with a full GUI experience 1.
Windows Server Core = GUI-less version of Windows Server for reduced security and disk footprint SA = Software Assurance (Entitles you to version upgrades, and some other items usually lasts a period of 2 years, then you have to renew to maintain it) OSE = Operating System Environment (The installed OS software whether physical or virtual)ĬAL = Client Access License (License required by the client user or device accessing the server) I'll start with a quick glossary as well as there are some common terms used throughout Microsoft's licensing: Glossary
If that's the case, then you should be under a Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), which has it's own set of complexities. I'm also writing this with the assumption that you are licensing as an end-user organization and are not providing hosted/cloud services to individuals or businesses outside of your own organization. See the Licensing Windows Desktop OS for Virtual Machines Brief for those details. There's very specific licensing that must be used for virtualizing the Desktop OS. The base Desktop OS retail or volume license mostly does not include virtualization rights. I didn't include Windows Desktop OS licensing in this guide because it gets complicated with a lot of the newer options out there like Microsoft 365 E3/E5, but I will add this very important note: Don't think you can just buy a Windows 10/Windows 11 license and run it in a VM. Windows Server OS Cluster Licensing ( Down in the comments because of post length limits).Windows Server OS Virtualization Licensing.(And if you happen to be a VAR yourself, but you're smaller and don't have a dedicated Microsoft Licensing team, reach out to the team at your preferred distributor for licensing questions). If you don't have a VAR for Microsoft Licensing and have been basically doing it all on your own, I recommend you setup business relationship with one of the big VARs like Dell, CDW, or Insight and ask for a Microsoft Licensing review. And with that, you should always run your licensing questions by the Microsoft Licensing Specialists at your preferred VAR. Also, this isn't meant to suffice as a be-all-end-all for Microsoft OS licensing, more of a general beginner sysadmin's guide. Now a Disclaimer: I'm not an official Microsoft Licensing representative, so if you believe my information is incorrect, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix the post or clarify a point. What follows is based on my experience over the past 16 years between working for a non-profit, a MSP that sold OEM, Retail, and Volume Licenses, eventually even became SPLA licensed to provide hosted services, an enterprise environment, that underwent official KPMG-run Microsoft Licensing Audit that held both multiple types of Volume Licenses (Open Value vs Open Business) and even an Enterprise Agreement (EA), and my current position that in an organization that holds an EA for all Microsoft licensing. All of this information is available directly from Microsoft in their Licensing Briefs, which are an excellent resource, but I know they can be confusing for those not previously experienced with Microsoft Licensing and its nuances. I thought it might be helpful to write up a "primer" on Windows Server licensing for those who are newer to Microsoft Licensing in the sysadmin world.
Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw how to#
Hi All! I've seen a number of posts over time asking for advice on how to license their environments with Windows Server.
Windows server 2016 remote desktop services 5 user cal cdw update#
Update 2: It's now up in the Wiki as well, for those who would like to link to the full guide so you don't have to dig into the comments for section 3. SQL Failover Clusters) and virtualization clusters (e.g. I've also added a section about licensing considerations when clustering, both physical clusters (e.g. Update: I've added some additional information about CAL licensing, as there's some entitlements based on Microsoft 365 licensing options.