Partager via

Ever wondered how SBS CALs relate to member servers and what changes with SBS 2003 R2 for this?

  • Article

Let me see if I can clear up some of the confusion...

 

You might be interested to view the recording of the webcast I gave on June 21st on SBS 2003 R2 Licensing, Sales and Options where I talked about SBS CALs, member servers, and the new CAL rights in R2. You can view the recording to hear about this and other SBS R2 & licensing information, including promotions, licensing options, etc.

Here’s a quick overview of SBS CALs and member servers:

- If you have SBS 2003 Server, then your SBS CALs cover you accessing the SBS Server and any additional Windows member server in the SBS domain. You would still need to purchase the actual Windows server licenses for the member servers themselves; however, your SBS 2003 CALs would cover your computers from a CAL perspective for those Windows member servers, so no additional Windows Server CALs would be required.

- If you have SBS 2003 R2 Server, then your SBS CALs cover you accessing the SBS Server and any additional Windows, Exchange, or SQL 2005 Workgroup member servers in the SBS domain. You would still need to purchase the actual server licenses (Windows, Exchange, or SQL 2005 Workgroup) for the member servers themselves; however, your SBS 2003 R2 CALs would cover your computers from a CAL perspective, so no additional Windows Server, Exchange Server, or SQL Workgroup Edition CALs would be required.

The Small Business Desktop License (fka Platform SKU) is the easiest way to acquire your SBS CALs because it includes a Small Business Server CAL for every computer in the company along with 3 years of Software Assurance benefits. Since new version rights are a Software Assurance benefit, that means that they would be eligible for all new versions as they come out. So, if you have a Small Business Desktop agreement for the company, they would have SBS 2003 CALs today and would be work as well in an SBS 2003 R2 environment. If “Cougar” is released within the 3 year term of their Open Value Agreement, then they would have SBS “Cougar” CALs for all of their computers then as well.

Since SBS 2003 R2 is an interim release, there are not going to be separate SBS 2003 R2 CALs. Whether you have R2 CAL rights or not for your SBS 2003 CALs will be determined by the SBS Server license you have. If you have an SBS 2003 Server license, then your SBS 2003 CALs will give you SBS 2003 CAL rights. If you have an SBS 2003 R2 Server license, then your SBS 2003 CALs will give you SBS 2003 R2 CAL rights.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager
Small Business Community Engagement
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Comments