can someone explain windows licensing to me please?

c00kie · 19 Jun 2006 at 19:04

Hi,

At work we run a domain server on a debian box, however for various reasons the time has come to potentially move it over to windows.

There are 12 PCs which would be joined to the domain, for file sharing & home directories etc.

We have a DELL 3GHz rackmount server which i presume will be up for the job.

So how does the windows server licensing work? What kind of package do i need for the job? standard edition? CALs?

also what kinda ££££££££££ am i lookin at for it.

thanks guys :cool:

bitslice · 19 Jun 2006 at 19:48

I'd guess you are looking at "MS Server 2003 R2" (about £450) and 12 client licenses (CALS) (about £50 each)

CALS are user or device, I'd pick "user CALs" as it's easier to keep track of.

Sometimes the Server s/w comes with 5 -25 CALs

google for "server 2003 licensing" for more info

I'd ring one of the resellers (I don't think forum rules allow me to name one?) and ask for their licensing bods to talk you through it. (I may be wrong on all this!)

you'll need to decide on stuff like software assurance, whether you want upgrade later etc.

Then there is stuff like how are you configuring your AD domain.

If anyone says they understand Microsoft licensing, they are (xxxlying) (edit: possess a brain the size of a planet)
:-)

Trigger · 19 Jun 2006 at 19:54

bitslice said:
(If anyone says they understand Microsoft licensing, they are lying)

Well I think burnsy2003 has it pretty well covered here

c00kie · 19 Jun 2006 at 21:13

bitslice said:
I'd guess you are looking at "MS Server 2003 R2" (about £450) and 12 client licenses (CALS) (about £50 each)

so ~£1000 all in then
quite a lot!

and every time we add a computer we have to purchase i license i presume, sounds expensive.

considering ye olde linux domain server seems to be working ok(ish) i think it would be worth our while sticking.

cheers guys

bitslice · 19 Jun 2006 at 22:35

Trigger said:
Well I think burnsy2003 has it pretty well covered here

t'was XP, but thanks for the link,
(Trigger) (edit: sorry I meant burnsy2003), although obviously possessing a brain the size of a planet, still doesn't say he understands it all though :-)

MS helpfully change licensing as they go along, the server 2003 stuff is slightly different than server 2000. They even redefine it after you've bought the darn thing.

J1nxy · 19 Jun 2006 at 22:41

Try nearer £600 all in, that being the Server 2003 R2 inc 5 CALS £400 and 2 x 5 users CAL packs at £80 a piece. Put it in Client/Device mode and that'd give you access to the server and any additonal windows servers you later add. If you don't intend to add addtional windows servers then you put the server in per server mode and then you get 15 concurrent un-named users being able to attach.

The licensing of the server products is significantly simplier than it used to be. If you get involved with it frequently enough then it does make sense, and when you move to a bigger scale it does get even simplier.

Steve

Trigger · 19 Jun 2006 at 22:50

bitslice said:
t'was XP, but thanks for the link,
Trigger, although obviously possessing a brain the size of a planet, still doesn't say he understands it all though

MS helpfully change licensing as they go along, the server 2003 stuff is slightly different than server 2000. They even redefine it after you've bought the darn thing.

Yes but he has a pretty good knowledge on it. If everyone knew everything about everything then the world would be a pretty boring place eh?

There is some Server 2003 stuff in there somewhere because I asked a few questions

Otacon · 19 Jun 2006 at 23:08

You probably want to be looking at SBS anyway. Windows, SQL and Exchange under a single licensing model.

bitslice · 20 Jun 2006 at 10:45

darn, I guess there really are people who understand this stuff,
I thought it was a Microsoft conspiracy to make my poor brain hurt.

The device cal thing is new to me, it was server or seat before.

Windows Device CALs - multiple users for one device, such as shift workers.
Windows User CALs - employees who access the network via multiple devices.
Windows Transition CALs - something to do with upgrading from SBS cals to server
Windows Cleaning CALs - I made this up, but honestly Mr Gates, does it have to be this complex ?

silly me, like Otacon said, MS SBS server (about £450 with 20 user cals) would be better

(note to self: must stop replying to stuff I know nothing about....)