Microsoft Licencing Notes

Microsoft Licencing :



Well, there's a big difference between a Device and a User CAL.

·         Device CALs provide access to a "device" (namely a client computer most of the time), no matter how many different users have login access to that device.

·         User CALs provide access to a "user",that can login from as many "devices" as he wants.

So, how to decide? Depends on your architecture. The rules are simple:

·         You have more devices than users accessing the database: buy "user" CALs. An example of this might be an organization where you have just 3 users connecting to the server using any of 10 computers (not a far-off case, considering laptops, other servers, etc.).

·         You have a lot of users accessing a server through an small set of devices: buy Device CALs. An example of this would be a library, where you have (say) 10 people accessing the server through 3 terminals in the building. In that case, buying just 3 Device CALs will cover the accesses to the server y any of the users.

·         You have a number of users accessing the server through an specific computer: buy Device CALs. An example of this is a recruiting agency, where consultants are variable (you might be hiring new people all the time, or you might have part-time workers sharing a single desktop at different times of the day). In fact this is just a case (considering future hires/part-timers) of the previous rule.

The difference is simple:

CAL = Client Access License (nothing to do with MS-Access tho). Device = Device License.

So the difference relies on how you want your users to connect.

If you have 10 users, you'll need 10 licences. Either CAL or Device. This is best described by Microsoft itself:

Device CALs. Optimized for non-Web-based scenarios in which there are multiple users per device (for example, kiosks). A license is required for the computer running SQL Server 2005, as well as a CAL for each client device.

That means, you have 10 users, but 5 computers. So the users "share" the Licence. The licence belongs to the device (computer or whatever).

On the other hand…

User CALs. Optimized for non-Web-based scenarios in which there are multiple devices per user (for example, a laptop, PDA, and home PC). A license is required for the computer running SQL Server 2005, as well as a CAL for each user.

You could have only 5 users, but each user has two computers (One laptop and one desktop). The license "belongs to the user". So when you (the user) login, you're using your CAL. If you logoff, you can later relogin from another computer, using your USER CAL.

Hope this helps :) It's a little bit weird.

In your case, since you're going to use an intranet website, the connection is always established from the server's backend to the SQL, you might want to consider Processor License; In that scenario, you pay per processor on the server (CPUs) and need neither User CAL nor Device CAL. If you talk to Microsoft, they'll often offer you the best alternative for your scenario.

Good Luck!

Per User or Per Device – which is the right Client Access License to purchase?

For many of Microsoft’s® server products such as Windows® Server and Exchange Server®, you are required to license the server as well as the Client accessing the server. 

Microsoft® offers two types of Client Access Licenses (CALs) - User CALs and Device CALs. Both options are priced identically but the access rights differ. 

Choosing the right CAL for your organization can lead to significant cost savings. From October 2011, the default option for the Enterprise Agreement is per user but this is not always the best option.

In order to determine which CAL is required, apply these simple rules:

• Identify your usage needs
• Decide whether device or user CALs would be the better option
• Define the number of CALs required

Here are some examples to help you better understand how to calculate the needed licenses:

Let’s say you have an organisation with 500 users accessing Windows® and SQL servers®; the default would be to purchase 500 Windows® User CALs and 500 SQL User CALs. If we take a deeper look into the organization, we see that they have a call center with 90 users in 3 shifts working on 30 Desktops. Under these conditions, the correct licensing should be to purchase 410 User CALs and 30 Device CALs, this will save the company 60 CAL’S and provide a significant cost savings.

Let’s look at another example. The organization has 12,000 Desktops and Laptops and 10,000 employees (accessing Windows® and SQL Servers®), the simple solution would be to purchase either 12,000 Device CALs or 10,000 User CALs; but let’s take a deeper look. There are 3,000 users that have 2 Desktops (on 2 separate networks), 1,000 users have both a Desktop and Laptop, 2,000 employees do not have access to a PC (Blue collar workers) and the remaining have 1 Desktop. The optimized licensing scenario would be to purchase 4,000 User Cal’s (covering 8,000 Desktops) and   4,000 Device CAL’s for the entire organization, resulting in a cost savings of over 2,000 CAL’s.

Please be aware that if you are purchasing a Core CAL or Enterprise CAL suite, you are not able to mix and match the user and device licenses.

Plan carefully and understand you organization’s needs and only then purchase the correct licenses. Paying attention to the details can save you a lot of money.

We often get questions about the differences between User CALs and Device CALs, and which is more appropriate. What exactly do those terms mean and which type should you buy?

When Microsoft says “CAL,” they’re not talking about California, calories, or calibers. They are talking about a “Client Access License.” When one of their server products is licensed using the Server+CAL model, then you have to buy a server license to install the software on the server and you have to buy CALs for the people or machines that will access that server. A “User CAL” licenses the person so they have permission to access the server. They can access it from as many different endpoints as they want since the CAL is tied to the person, not the device. On the other hand, a “Device CAL” licenses the endpoint device so that the device itself has permission to access the server. Then, anyone using that device would be able to access the server. The people using that device do not need a User CAL.

On their website, Microsoft provides the following images to illustrate the differences between User CALs and Device CALs:

The Server+CAL model is a way for Microsoft to scale the pricing of its solutions. If you are a small business, then you pay a relatively small price tag since you only have to buy a few CALs. If you are large business, then you pay a much larger price tag since you will need to buy more CALs.

So which type should you buy? User or Device? The answer depends on whether you have more employees or more devices. If you have less employees than devices, go with User CALs since that will be the cheaper route. If you have less devices than users, go with Device CALs.

For most businesses, the User CAL option is the cheaper way to go since typically they have employees who are accessing the servers over numerous devices. Think of an employee who, in the course of a typical week, accesses their email on their desktop, their laptop, their tablet, and their smartphone. You either need to buy four Device CALs to cover those four devices or you need to buy a single User CAL to cover that user. Even though User CALs are more expensive, buying one CAL will be much cheaper than buying four.

The only time the Device CAL model makes sense is when you have a large number of employees using a limited number of computers. Some examples of this would be a kiosk in the mall with part-time employees coming and going all week, a maintenance crew who uses a community computer to clock in and out, or a company that operates 24/7 with a day crew and night crew using the same PCs.

What if you can’t tell which option would be better? If you’re sitting on the fence and you have about the same number of users and devices, my recommendation would be to go with User CALs since that’s the direction the world is moving.

Alternatively, you can mix User CALs and Devices CALs in the same environment. It’s not recommended because it’s hard to keep track of who is using a User CAL and who is using a Device CAL, but it is permitted. So if you have one group of employees who each use multiple devices and you have another group of employees who share a limited number of devices, you can buy User CALs for some of your employees and Device CALs for the others. You are just going to have to work hard to keep track of how those CALs are distributed because you’ll have to justify things to Microsoft if you ever get audited.

What is the difference between a
USER CAL and DEVICE CAL?

A Device CAL is a license to access a device connected to a server, regardless of the number of users of the device. Device CALs are ideal for customers with multiple users for one device, such as shift workers.

A User CAL is a license for every named user to access a server (from any device) regardless of the number of devices they use. User CALs are ideal for companies with employees who need to have roaming access to the corporate network using multiple devices, as well as from unknown devices

Per Device means you have a license/CAL per device connecting to a Microsoft Windows Server/Application.  Per User means that for example even if you have 20 devices and 300 users, you still would need 300 CALs if you were going to do Per User and each user had their own account.

For example, if I have 50 office PCs connected to a server and I have 100 users working two shifts and sharing use of the 50 PCs…then all I need is 50 device CALS. But if the reverse were true and I had 100 PCs and I had only one shift of 50 workers using those 100 computers…then all I need is 50 user CALS.

This is correct.

For example, we may have 5 employees at a (remote) downtown location, but all 10 PCs (devices) at the store are logged into Windows Active Directory user account named “Downtown Store”.

This does not matter as CALs are not based on Active Directory users, but rather real human users.  So for however many people access one shared account, you'd still need that many CALs.

Windows only going to count the 5 physical users as needing 1 CAL each for a total of 5 CALS...for that location?

Yes.

The point I need to verify is that if I have more PCs logged into the same Active Directory user account than I have physical users of those PCs, I only need to total the user CALS for the PHYSICAL users of that user account.

Again, yes you are right about this.

Keep in mind this one thing about CALs.  With Microsoft there usually isn't (unless in the case of some apps, Remote Desktop items, and a few other one offs) something keeping track of this and watching.  You have to keep track of it and be diligent to make sure you have the CALs so if you get audited you're not in trouble.

verified

answer

Citrix VDI and Microsoft RDS licensing explained

People asks continually from me what kind of licenses are needed in current cases and often I come across situations where I need to clarifying for the customers Microsoft and Citrix different licenses. I’ve put together mine checklist in different scenarios.

To access VDI, you need Windows Software Assurance on the client device or Microsoft Virtual Desktop Access licenses. RDS CALs are not used in this case. Windows Software Assurance and Virtual Desktop Access licenses include home use rights.

To connect to VDI, you need the following licenses:

• Citrix XenDesktop VDI Only Edition or higher.
• Either Windows Software Assurance or VDA license. You don’t need both. The license is assigned to the client device.

XenDesktop Enterprise and Platinum include the Citrix licenses to connect to Remote Desktop Session Host. But each named user would also need an RDS CAL.

To connect to Remote Desktop Session Host, you need the following licenses:

• Citrix XenDesktop Enterprise or Platinum
• Windows Server OS license for the RDS server
• Microsoft Remote Desktop Services CAL for each named user

Streaming App-V to virtual desktops you need MDOP licenses. If you are streaming App-V to Remote Desktop Session Host then App-V is included in the RDS CAL price.

To stream apps using App-V, you need the following licenses:

• To stream to virtual desktops, purchase MDOP for each client device
• To stream to RDSH, no additional license is needed.

Further to Licensing Office in a Terminal Services Environment

Eric Ligman kindly wrote a follow-up e-mail asking about the scenario posted in our earlier post today on Licensing Microsoft Office in Terminal Services.

And the clarification made by Eric:

• Office is licensed per _device_ accessing the application no matter where the application is installed.

In the original post we had _desktop_

So, in the previously mentioned situation where we have 22 users total with 11 of them locally and 11 of them remote, we need to keep count of the number of _devices_ being used to access Office on the Terminal Server.

For example:

1. 22 users using Office.
1. 11 Office users on 11 local PCs (11 devices).
2. 11 users on 11 remote PCs into Terminal Services Office (11 devices).
3. Licenses required: 22.
• This is our original situation.
2. 22 users using Office in a shift work environment.
1. 22 Office users on 11 local PCs (11 devices) via 2 shifts
2. Licenses required: 11.
3. 22 users using Office on multiple PCs and laptops.
1. 11 Office users on 11 local PCs (11 devices).
2. 9 users on 9 remote PCs into Terminal Services (9 devices).
3. 2 users on 2 remote laptops into Terminal Services (2 devices).
4. Same 2 users on 2 remote PCs into Terminal Services (2 devices).
5. Licenses required: 24.
4. 22 users using Office on multiple PCs and laptops.
1. 11 Office users on 11 local PCs (11 devices).
2. 7 users on 7 remote PCs into Terminal Services (7 devices).
3. 4 users on 4 remote PCs into Terminal Services (4 devices).
4. Same 4 users on 4 remote laptops into Terminal Services (4 devices).
5. Licenses required: 26.

Thanks Eric for making sure that we were absolutely clear on how Office licensing works.

With that clarification we can be 100% confident that we will offer the correct answer to our clients when they ask about delivering Office to remote users via Terminal Services!