quick SBS question

VeNT · 21 Apr 2008 at 15:14

if I get a SBS, and 10 extra CALs and then we expand to 16 employees will they be unable to use the server till I get more CALs?

also anyone got a nice easly digested rundown on how CALs work?

Burnsy2023 · 21 Apr 2008 at 15:35

Depends how you do CAL licensing, whether it's per server or per device/user. If its the former, then some employees won't be able to use the server when you go over the threshold..

Burnsy

oddjob62 · 21 Apr 2008 at 15:59

I'm pretty sure SBS licenses are only per user/device. You don't need any extra CALS for extra servers on your SBS domain, so per server licensing would not be much help anyway.
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/sbs/evaluation/faq/licensing.mspx

VeNT · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:14

ok cool,
now, whats the cheapest way to get the licences for 15 desktops then? just buy a extra 10 bolt ons? what about if I want to add 1-2 more desktops? am I going to have to buy another 5?

oddjob62 · 22 Apr 2008 at 12:11

The licenses are for concurrent connections. I've often seen offices of 20 users with only 10 licenses without anyone having issues connecting to the server. You can check in one of the admin pages as to the max number of concurrent licenses you been using.

VeNT · 22 Apr 2008 at 12:16

we've not got the setup yet, I'm working out what I need atm also from the MS site

"SBS 2003 R2 CALs are not concurrent. They are per user or per device only"

oddjob62 · 22 Apr 2008 at 12:51

VeNT said:
we've not got the setup yet, I'm working out what I need atm also from the MS site

"SBS 2003 R2 CALs are not concurrent. They are per user or per device only"

In that case SBS is just very bad at tracking the CAL usage then.

VeNT · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:54

well yeah
suppose I've godda work out whats best for me then, per device or per user

why oh why do we need CALs anyway :'(

m4cc45 · 22 Apr 2008 at 15:33

As a general guide per device is better.

There's really no need for per user anymore as if you think about it logically. It's very rare you have more PC's than users.

M.

Burnsy2023 · 22 Apr 2008 at 15:36

m4cc45 said:
It's very rare you have more PC's than users.

It's quite common actually, expecially if you do any sort of hotdesking or have part-time staff

Burnsy

VeNT · 22 Apr 2008 at 16:35

and we've both!
but looks like we're going to be user heavy, PC light

VeNT · 22 Apr 2008 at 16:42

boss isn't going to like this, adding the req 10 extra CALs upps the server price quite a lot!

zetec452 · 22 Apr 2008 at 20:53

VeNT said:
boss isn't going to like this, adding the req 10 extra CALs upps the server price quite a lot!

Your boss needs to allocate a decent budget for IT. If he wants his staff to work effectively then that’s the price you have to pay. SBS is a cheap product in comparison to other MS Server software.

Don't forget you will get 5 cals with SBS. Adding another 10 will be good for 15 - 18 users generally.

quackers · 22 Apr 2008 at 21:19

as jonrohan said, sbs is cheap compared to the other versions of server. How many users have you got?

VeNT · 23 Apr 2008 at 09:34

about 12-13 but we're constantly expanding, we seem to gain another 2 people every 2-3 months atm. this time last year there where about 3 of us! never seem to have enough people even then!