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Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 - Common Questions and Answers Part 1

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Greetings folks,

This is Dean Paron, Product Unit Manager for Windows MultiPoint Server, back again.  It's been a couple weeks since we announced the availability of Windows MultiPoint Server 2011, and I wanted to follow up with a list of the most common questions and answers that I've received from customers and partners.

Since our product is fairly new, I expect that we'll have many more questions to come.  And so for now, I'll label this post as Q&A #1.  As you have more questions, post them into the forums or comments, and I'll spin up another post in the future.  Without further ado, onto the first set of questions...

Q:  What are the differences between the Standard and Premium editions?

A:  Here are the big differences:

 

Standard

Premium

Max Simultaneous Stations

10

20

Domain Joinable?

No

Yes

Max Processor Sockets

1

2

Max Memory

8 GB

32 GB

Hyper-V Support

None

1+1

 There are some small technical differences beyond that, all of which are spelled out in the Deployment Guide.  

Q: How can I evaluate the product?

A:  If you want to get a copy for evaluation or testing purposes you have the following options:

The Download Center has eval bits, which are good for 180 days.  But they can also be converted into full product simply by adding a product key later.  No reinstall needed.  MSDN and Technet have full product available to subscribers.

Q:  Through what channels is the product available to purchase?

A:  Both editions, standard and premium are available to all customers via OEM licensing and Open Volume Licensing.  Additionally, academic customers have discounted licensing available through Academic Volume Licensing and Academic OEM licensing.

Q:  How does the licensing work?

A:  There's a two part answer here, depending on which channel MultiPoint was acquired:

In the OEM channel, the licensing is pretty simple:  Each MultiPoint host PC needs a MultiPoint server license, and each station needs a MultiPoint client access license (CAL).  When purchased through these channels, the licenses are "pre-attached" to the devices, so as a customer you don't need to acquire them separately.

In the Volume License channel, the licensing is slightly more involved, but it follows the same model as Remote Desktop Services.   So, if you know how to license RDS, that's the same model that's used for MultiPoint.  The server licensing is the same as before:  Each MultiPoint host PC needs a MultiPoint server license.  The client licensing is a little different:  In the VL channel, each station requires both a MultiPoint CAL and Windows Server CAL.  If you already have Windows Server CALs for the users on your network as part of another agreement or other purchase, they do not need to be re-purchased.

You can check out the "buy" tab on our website to learn more.

Q:  I really like what I see.  Can I purchase a copy today?

A:  Yes! As of March 1st, the product is also officially available for purchase and install via the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).  So, you can buy it today through Volume Licensing, and over the next month we also expect pre-installed versions to be available via our OEM partners.

Q:  Where can I learn more information?

A:  As the product has just released, we are in the mode of constantly updating our collateral.  Here are the major places to watch:

Thanks all, I'll see you next time.

D

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi, Thomas. In your scenario let's say you have host PCs that can comfortably run 5 student sessions simultaneously - mainstream commercial desktops. In this case you would need 120/5=24 host PCs to serve 120 workstations. In this case you would need one OS install per host and 5 CALs per host for a total of 24 OS licenses and 120 CALs. If you had hardware that could really run 20 student workstations / sessions (NOT mainstream commercial desktops today) then you would need 6 hosts, 6 copies of the OS and 120 CALs. See the Deployment Guide for a chart with recommended session counts for diffferent hardware configurations and workload atwww.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx Thanks for your question.
  • Anonymous
    March 23, 2011
    Hi! Thanks for the excellent clarification!One thing is still unclear to me though - the Premium SKU is licensed for "20 Simultaneous Stations". Does that mean I can hook 20 PC's up to it, and on each of these PC's hook up 4-6 student stations, each with separate KVM? In such a scenario, with up to 120 students attached to a single WMS I still need only 20 CAL's? I realize that 120 students on a single server is probably not the core scenario for this solution.. :)
  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2013
    hi is there a way i can add more CAL's.i need 25 users in one multipoint server.i have multipoint 2011 premiumis it possible?
  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2013
    WMS is limited to 20 users per server.   For classrooms greater than 20 students you can use multiple WMS servers and they can be managed by the teacher as 1 unit.  e.g. All station thumbnails appear in a single dashboard view.
  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2014
    Hi All, if i download the WMS from MSDN for testing, what CAL should i use to connect a station to the server? it said need Terminal Services license.