[THIN] Re: Terminal Services Licensing problem
- From: "Tasita Ebacher" <tebacher@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 17:03:01 -0600
Thanks, Rick, for the detailed explanation! It really helps me understand
TS CALs better, but it's still a confusing subject. I ended up calling MS
and it was much easier than I thought it would have been to get a majority
of my CALs re-issued.
Thanks!
Tasita Ebacher
702 Communications
Data Systems Engineer
CCNA
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Mack, Rick
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 4:14 PM
To: 'thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: [THIN] Re: Terminal Services Licensing problem
Hi Tasita,
TS CALs show up as allocated to a machine name but the identifier appears to
be a randomly generated hardware ID. Every time a client machine is rebuilt,
it generates a new hardware ID, and consumes a new CAL. So if you've got 10
machines and you rebuild them you've used up 20 CALs.
If the Microsoft developers had done something halfways clever like using
the MAC address, memory size, CPU serial no etc to generate a unique
hardware ID this wouldn't be a problem, but while are friends at Microsoft
are obviously brilliant, they're not necessarily always practical.
Anyway, the only "fix" that Microsoft offers at the moment is a modified
licensing service that basically uses a lease system for CALs, much like
DHCP leases. After a somewhat random period, not greater than 90 days, if a
CAL isn't being used, it will be released back into the free license pool.
This fix was incorporated as a post SP2 win2k hotfix (KB287687) and is part
of SP3 and SP4. If you're only running SP2 at the moment, you'll have to
install the hotfix, and rebuild the licensing database before things work
properly.
There are a few other ways to deal with the problem.
1. Contact Microsoft and INSIST that they issue you more CALs. Running out
of licenses when you've paid for enough to cover all your client is
affecting your business, and that scenario ISN'T excluded in their EULA. And
NO, rebuilding the license data base every few weeks isn't acceptable.
2. Use a script to save all the machines'
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing keys and restore them whenever a machine
is rebuilt. That way the hardware ID stays the same and no extra TS CALs get
used up.
3. We found out quite by accident that you can run multiple machines using
the same MSLicensing key, and they all run on the same CAL. However this
obviously isn't a legal way of handling this issue.
4. A pre-release of the KB287687 hotfix had a neat bug where the license
manager would hand out TSCALs without decrementing the free license count.
This has propmpted a few individuals to get creative with the licensing
mechanism.
I am by no means suggesting you even consider options 3 or 4 however I've
included them to show just how flawed the licencing system is.
If we could just modify the CAL lease period to a shorter time like 1-2
weeks, what there is would be tolerable. As is it's a pain, particularly
when client machines can't connect because their temporary CALS ('cause you
ran out and didn't notice) have expired.
Regards,
Rick
Ulrich Mack
Volante Systems
18 Heussler Terrace, Milton 4064
Queensland, Australia
tel +61 7 32467704
rmack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Tasita Ebacher [mailto:tebacher@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, 27 March 2004 12:25 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Terminal Services Licensing problem
Hello,
I'm running into a problem with licensing that is giving me a headache! I
have asked for help on other message boards and help sites with no luck.
Just viewing this list makes me think you guys may have the answers. :-)
Here goes:
I have a Win2K primary domain controller that is our terminal services
license server also. It has 20 licenses in it, and all 20 are used.
This is, of course, causing problems. :-(
The really annoying issue is that half of the 20 used licenses are used by
either duplicate machines or users who are not with the company any longer.
So, how do I free the licenses that are used by machines that don't exist on
the network any more??? Do I have to deactivate the server w/ Microsoft and
then Reactivate it???
Thanks in advance for any help!
Tasita Ebacher
702 Communications
Data Systems Engineer
CCNA
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consulting services you can depend on.
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