Server 2008 Terminal Services Part 10: Licensing
No conversation on Terminal Services is complete without a discussion of the licensing component. TS CAL’s, and our forgetfulness in installing them have been one of the biggest pain points in every Terminal Server installation. Also, in previous O/S’s, the management of TS CAL’s and their distribution has been a difficult process.
Like in Server 2003, Server 2008 TS CAL’s are managed by the TS Licensing server. What’s subtly different with licensing in Server 2008 is the elimination of the “Domain Scope” and “Enterprise Scope” licensing models that confused many administrators. In Server 2008, TS Licensing servers can be configured either in “Domain Mode”, where licenses are served to any server in the same Active Directory domain. Or it can be configured in “The Forest” mode, where licenses are served to any Terminal Server in the same forest. AD Sites need not apply.
To create a TS Licensing server...
...enable the TS Licensing Role Service for the Terminal Server Role. You’ll be asked for your licensing model and the folder to store licenses. Once complete, you’ll need to add licenses through the Server Manager console. You can choose “Per device” or “Per user” licenses as well as automatic license server discovery or a selected license server.
Interestingly enough, at least with Beta 3, the TS Licensing Manager is not an integrated node in Server Manager. Instead this administrative console is accessed via the Actions pane to the right of the main screen. Once installed, the TS Licensing Manager console looks remarkably similar to that of previous O/S’s. A major difference is the option to create a report on “Per User CAL Usage” or “Per Device CAL Usage”. Here, you can instruct the License server to create and eventually export a report on the usage of licenses within the licensing scope. That report, in CSV, format helps the administrator natively find out where licenses are out and how many remain.
Another nice feature involves the incorporation of common tests and problems right into the licensing interface. If you right-click on your licensing server and choose to “Review Configuration”, you’ll be given a list of common mistakes in configuring your TS licenses. Lastly, once installed, a node within Server Manager called “Licensing Diagnosis” provides more detailed data, including warning and error messages that further help to track down licensing problems.
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Comments
I would like to add "WMI interface for TS Licensing" to list of WS08 TS Licensing features described by Greg. The WMI feature is very comprehensive and allows the admin to manage TS Licensing via scripts. The WMI interface is accessible through following classes
- Win32_TSLicenseServer
- Win32_TSLicenseKeyPack
- Win32_TSIssuedLicense
- Win32_TSLicenseReport
Refer to "http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383481.aspx" details on these WMI classes.
Posted by: DesiNeo | July 16, 2007 12:37 AM
Thanks for these! Having had to use the text manipulation tools of VBScript with calling external applications like "query user" to do this in previous versions, this info will come in quite handy for helping understand license usage!
Posted by: Greg Shields | July 16, 2007 9:26 AM