CALs and RDS CALs in Microsoft Windows Server

This video summarizes the purpose and characteristics of User/Device Client Access Licenses and RDS (Remote Desktop Services) Client Access Licenses. For more information KB Article click here.

This video is about Client Access Licenses and different options for getting these when buying them with Microsoft Windows and a Dell PowerEdge server. When searching for Client Access Licenses information, it’s critical to first determine whether the need is for User or Device CALs, which serve one purpose, or for Remote Desktop Services CALs, which are useful for something else.

Let’s talk about Per User and Per Device CALs first. Every user or device that connects to a server to access its services, for example, to access a file located on a shared folder, to print on a shared printer, or for authenticating in Active Directory, should be licensed to do so with a Client Access License. With Per User CALs, you purchase a CAL for every user who accesses the server.

This licensing model makes more sense if a smaller number of users will share a bigger number of devices to connect to the server. Per Device CALs, on the other hand, are a better fit in the opposite scenario: a bigger number of users will share a small number of computers, phones, or other devices. When buying a server at Dell.com with a Windows Server operating system, under the Client Access Licenses section, one can see the options for Per User and Per Device CALs.

These are sold in packs of 1, 5, 10, or 50. Per User and Per Device CALs do not come with a key, and there’s no need to activate them. Instead, CALs ship with a printed document that certifies the number of Per User or Per Device CALs that were purchased. What happens if there are fewer CALs than needed by the number of users and devices accessing the server? Will the server refuse these connections? No, everything will continue to work, but the server would be non-compliant with the End User License Agreement, and this can lead to legal and financial consequences if discovered during an audit.

This is why it’s important to keep good records of the documentation provided during the purchase. If this documentation is received and later lost or misplaced, neither Dell nor Microsoft have a method to replace it. The other type of CALs I’ll discuss today are Remote Desktop Services Client Access Licenses (RDS CALs).

These are needed when the users need to connect to a server not just for printing or file sharing, Active Directory, etc., but when they need to connect by using Remote Desktop. Back on Dell.com, when buying a server, you can see that these RDS CALs appear in a different section and are also sold in packs. An important characteristic of RDS CALs is that these are enforced by the operating system.

That means that if there isn’t the right number of RDS CALs to cover the number of users or devices accessing Remote Desktop Services, the server will restrict or deny altogether other connections using the RDP protocol. Another characteristic of RDS CALs is that they ship with a product key printed on its own COA sticker. This product key is tied to the number of licenses that are being purchased.

These RDS CALs need to be installed on a license server, and this license server needs to be activated in the Microsoft Clearinghouse as well. You can find more details about this process in this knowledge-base article. This has been a video about Client Access Licenses and RDS Client Access Licenses, and I’d like to thank you very much for watching.