Identify licensing requirements for Terminal Server

Remote Desktop Services (RDS) licensing for the Windows Server 2022 operating system involves two primary modes: Per User and Per Device. In the Per User mode, an RDS CAL is required for each unique user that connects to a Remote Desktop Session Host server. In the Per Device mode, an RDS CAL is required for each unique device that connects to a Remote Desktop Session Host server. The server must be configured with the Remote Desktop Licensing role service and a license server must be set up to manage and distribute the RDS CALs. It's important to note that a license server can host licenses from all previous versions of RDS, but a Windows Server 2016 RDS license server can only host licenses up to Windows Server 2016. This means that for Windows Server 2022, you'll need a Windows Server 2022 RDS license server or later to host the appropriate licenses.

Terminal Services requires each device that initiates a Terminal Services session to be licensed, either with a Windows 2000 license or a Terminal Services Client Access License. Terminal Services also requires a license server, which is a computer on which the Terminal Services Licensing service is enabled. The three types of licenses include:

1. Windows 2000 Server License: This license is included with the purchase of the server product. With Terminal Services, you typically choose the Per Seat licensing mode.
2. Windows 2000 Server Client Access License: This license is required for each computer or Windows-based Terminal connecting to the server. Windows 2000 Server Client Access Licenses permit clients to use services that the operating system provides, such as file and print services.
3. Windows 2000 Terminal Services Client Access License: This license is required for each computer or Windows-based Terminal connecting to a server running Terminal Services. Windows 2000 Professional includes one Terminal Services Client Access License to use for remote administration; it should not be used to run applications.

The first course in the series addresses licensing requirements. If you need a refresher, this sidebar will provide it.

Having a valid per seat mode CAL only guarantees access to a server configured in the per seat mode. It does not guarantee access to a server that is licensed in the per server mode. A valid per seat mode CAL also consumes one of the licenses assigned to the pool of available per-server licenses assigned to the server. Therefore, the client can connect only if there are fewer connections than the limit allowed on the server.

The per seat option is often the most economical one for networks in which clients tend to connect to more than one server concurrently. For example, suppose that you have several servers that users must connect to during the day. On one server you have Microsoft SQL Server installed, on another server you have Microsoft Exchange 2000 installed, and on a third server you have Microsoft SNA Server installed. Users often access these servers simultaneously.
If you used per server licensing, you would have to buy one license for each user for each server. If you had three users, you would have to buy three licenses for each server, for a total of nine licenses. With per seat licensing, you would need to buy only one license for each user, or a total of three licenses. Now you can see why per seat licensing is much more cost effective when users need to access multiple servers in an organization.

With per server licensing, you must have at least as many CALs dedicated to a server product as the maximum number of client computers that will connect to that product concurrently. For example, if you are logged on to a workstation and you connect to

\\server\apps

and

\\server\public

from that workstation, your actions constitute a single connection and require only one CAL. However, if you log on to two different workstations using the same username and connect to the server from both, it is considered two connections and requires two per server CALs. If a network has multiple servers, each server licensed in per server mode must have at least as many CALs dedicated to it as the maximum number of clients that will connect to it at any one time. After the limit is reached on a server, the server does not allow additional connections. Clients attempting to connect to the server receive an error message. Connections made by administrators are counted in the total number of concurrent connections, but after the limit is reached administrators are still allowed to connect. This permits them to manage a lockout situation. Other users can sconnect only after enough clients (including administrators) have disconnected to move below the limit.

The Terminal Services Licensing service is a component service of Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, and is a separate entity from Terminal Services. Terminal Services Licensing is used only with Terminal Services in Application Server mode. The license server must be discoverable by the Terminal Servers. For a Windows 2000 domain, this means the license server must be deployed on a domain controller. The Terminal Server will discover the license server by enumerating its domain controllers and checking for Terminal Services Licensing. For a workgroup, or a Windows NT 4.0 domain, the license server may be deployed on the Terminal Server or any member server. In this scenario, Terminal Servers will locate the available license server through broadcast. It is also possible to deploy a license server in a Windows 2000 network on a site basis. This approach, known as the enterprise licensing configuration, can be selected at installation. It will allow any Terminal Servers in the same physical site to discover the Terminal Services Licensing service, even across domain boundaries. This configuration does not support discovery from remote sites within the network. There are no hardware requirements for a license server other than those required to install Windows 2000 Server. Terminal Services Licensing requires approximately 5 MB of hard disk space per 6,000 client licenses issued. Memory usage is under 10MB of RAM, whether idle or active. The next lesson will conclude this module.