Windows 7 / Networking

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Implement TS Licensing

A client accessing terminal services is able to use the latest version of Microsoft Windows and the applications running on it without having as recent a version of Windows and the applications installed. As a result, Microsoft collects license fees for this service using a license server to manage this function. The license server is any server on which the TS Licensing role is installed.

The way TS Licensing works is that when a client contacts a terminal server wishing to log on, the terminal server contacts the license server to determine if the client has a Terminal Services client access license (TS CAL). If not, the terminal server will request one. Given that enough TS CALs have been purchased and installed, the license server will issue the TS CAL and enter the fact in its database. For the first 120 days, you do not need a license server and if you install one, it will issue temporary free licenses for the balance of the 120-day period. After the 120 days expire, you must purchase TS CALs from Microsoft and install them on the server. With the purchased TS CALs, the license server will issue longer-term or permanent licenses to devices (computers) and users.

Terminal Server Licenses

To use terminal server licensing, the TS Licensing role must be installed and activated on the network and TS CALs must be installed. The license server can be any server on the network running Windows Server 2008, and because of the traffic it will generate, you may not want the license server to also be a terminal server. The license server doesn't have to be a very powerful computer and can work with terminal servers running Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, as well as Windows Server 2008. The license server stores all of the TS CALs that have been installed for a network, and all of the terminal servers on the network must be able to quickly access the license server before clients are allowed to connect to the terminal server.

NOTE: You do not need to have licenses or a license server to use Remote Desktop or Remote Desktop for Administration.

During the installation of the Terminal Server role service, you were asked the type of TS CALs that you want to use:

• Per Device: which requires a TS CAL for each computer connected to the terminal server. Per Device TS CALs can be used by any user.
• Per User: which requires a TS CAL for each user connected to the terminal server and is only usable with Active Directory. Per User TS CALs can be used on any computer.

TIP: To decide the type of licensing you need, determine if you have relatively fewer users using a larger number of computers all accessing TS; then you might want to consider Per User TS CALs. In most other cases, you probably want Per Device TS CALs, which is the default.

You could have also chosen, as recommended, to put off the decision for some of the 120-day grace period. We'll address this in a moment in the discussion of configuring TS Licensing.

NOTE: Per Device TS CALs are issued for a finite period and will be renewed if the TS CAL is used. If the TS CAL has not been used in its allotted time, it will be reclaimed and added back to the pool of available TS CALs to be assigned to the next device attempting to access the terminal server. Per Device TS CALs can also be revoked by an administrator.

Install the TS Licensing Role Service

Installing the TS Licensing role service is similar to installing others (assuming that Terminal Services is already installed):

1. If the Server Manager is not already open, click Start | Server Manager. In any case, in the left pane of the Server Manager window, open Roles, click Terminal Services, and scroll the right pane until you see Role Services.
2. Click Add Role Services, click TS Licensing, and click Next.
3. Select the scope over which the license server will provide licenses: the workgroup of which the license server is a part, the domain of which the license server is a part, or the forest of domains that include the license server.
4. Enter or select the folder path in which the licensing database will be stored. Click Next, click Install, and, when you are told the installation is complete, click Close.