Question : Windows 2003 Terminal Server Licensing: What happens when temporary licenses expire?

Hi,

I have a SBS 2003 acting as a DC and a TS License Server. A second server is running windows 2003 and is the terminal server.
I have activated the license server and have purchase and installed 10 Per User Cal Tokens through Microsoft's open license.

One of the users has reported a message that their terminal services license will expire in 15 days. I then go and have a look at Terminal services licensing and notice that their are no Per User licenses allocated. All I have is a folder full of temporary licenses that are for each computer from which a remote connection to the server has been made.

My question is, what happens when these licenses expire? Will a Per User Cal be automatically allocated to a user the first time they try to log in after their computer's temporary license expires? Also, there are 19 Temporary licenses allocated (even through there are only 10 pc's). I want to make sure that the 10 Cals go to the 10 users.

Any comments greatly appretiated.

Thanks in advance,

Pete      

Answer : Windows 2003 Terminal Server Licensing: What happens when temporary licenses expire?

I have to correct picablaat: Your licenses will expire, and your users won't be able to logon anymore, because your Terminal Server is still requesting "Per Device" CALs. You have to change this setting on the Terminal Server itself (have a look at the KB822134 article).
A W2k3 License Server(!) can handle and distribute *both* types of CALs, "Per User" and "Per Device".
Which type of license is issued depends on the type of CAL the Terminal Server(!) is requesting; a Terminal Server can only request *one* type of CAL.

====8<----[Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing]----
Supported Licenses
A license server that runs Windows Server 2003 supports the following types of licenses and manages their corresponding tokens associated with Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server and Windows 2000 Terminal Services as of this writing:
* Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Device Client Access Licenses. These licenses are purchased for known devices that connect to a terminal server running Windows Server 2003.
* Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server User Client Access Licenses. These licenses are purchased for known users that connect to a terminal server running Windows Server 2003.
[...]
====8<----[Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing]----

Note that you will not notice a decrease in the "Per User" licenses, as these aren't managed yet:
====8<----[KB 822134]----
"Currently, Window Server 2003 does not manage User CALs. This means that even though there is a User CAL in the license server database, the User CAL will not be decremented when it is used. This does not remove administrators from End User License Agreement (EULA) requirements to have a valid terminal server (TS) CAL for each user. Failure to have a User CAL for each user, if Device CALs are not being used, is a violation of the EULA. In the future, this behavior will be changed and User CALs will be managed."
====8<----[KB 822134]----

Note, too, that there is a bug in the license type setting that might reset a terminal server from "Per User" back to "Per Device".
Check the following documents for more information:

Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/termservlic.mspx

Terminal Services Licensing mode changes from Per User to Per Device after you add or remove a Windows component
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=834651

The Function of Terminal Server CALs in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822134

Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing Issues and Requirements for Deployment
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=823313