Max users on Windows 2003 Server - Standard Edition?

Dark_Angel · 12 Jan 2009 at 11:37

Pretty much what I said in the title, Windows 2003 Server (the standard edition) using SP2. How many users can we have at once? I tried doing some googling, and found out that Small Business server has a limit of 75, but that seems to be only the business server - wiki does not list the max number for the other editions of windows.

Anyone have a clue? Thanks

stoofa · 12 Jan 2009 at 11:50

Well, a domain controller in an Active Directory domain can create 2.15 billion objects.
So I guess.....2.15 billion woulld be your theoretical maximum number of users.

There is no maximum number of users with Server 2003.
However remember that you will need to buy CAL's (Client Access Licenses) for each connection to the server.
They need to either be distributed to restrict the number of connections or purchased one each per user.

So have 50 users.
Either buy 50 CAL's - all users can login or buy say 20 CAL's and the first 20 people can login (useful if you rarely have al staff in at once).

Have as many users as you like with "Big Boys Server" - just remember your license requirements for legality.

Dark_Angel · 12 Jan 2009 at 11:53

Ok thanks, we are renting the server from a dedicated web host, and all the licensing is taking care of as part of their fee's we pay

Thanks for the help ^.^

stoofa · 12 Jan 2009 at 12:07

Ah so you're really talking how many simultaneous users your Server 2003 Web Server can cope with?

I don't know if there is an official figure, however the specification of the server will also have some baring on this figure.
Also just what the server is serving - if it's flat HTML then it can cope with a lot more simultaneous than if it is running scripts etc.

Dark_Angel · 12 Jan 2009 at 15:00

stoofa said:
Ah so you're really talking how many simultaneous users your Server 2003 Web Server can cope with?

I don't know if there is an official figure, however the specification of the server will also have some baring on this figure.
Also just what the server is serving - if it's flat HTML then it can cope with a lot more simultaneous than if it is running scripts etc.

No, you understood right the first time

Basically all the users are needing to do is to login to access a simple resource (a training program on a websit) and I wondered how many users it would take. Since the program / web app can't be done via PHP, the only thing to do was to use the windows build login.