SQL Server licences information

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SQL Server licences information

Prakash Sawant

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Points: 2173
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June 22, 2007 at 1:12 pm

#120436

if i access SQL Server 2005 through 10 citrix servers (terminal services), where 800 users connect thru these 10 citrix servers, how should my licencing be ?can I just buy 10 device licences and 1 server licence or should I just consider the cal or processor licences

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Prakash Sawant
http://psawant.blogspot.com

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 1

If you have the potential of having 800 users accessing you system at one time, you need 800 user licenses. With that many, you should look at per processor licensing.

Multiplexing does not change the requirement for licensing.

dmanju Say Hey Kid Points: 685 More actions · Answer 2

Device licence + server licence works.

According to the article on

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/faq.mspx

"A device CAL covers access by multiple users to server software from a single, shared device".

You can get answers for these questions by calling pre-sales support on 1-800-426-9400

Prakash Sawant SSCrazy Points: 2173 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks dmanju for your help.

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Prakash Sawant

http://psawant.blogspot.com

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 4

It still comes down to how many users access the system. If all 800 users are logged into Cytrix at the same time, you will still need 800 licenses for SQL Server, as there will be 800 instances of terminal services running accessing the database.

As Dmanju said, though, I would verify with Microsoft pre-sales.

Michael Earl-395764 SSC Guru Points: 53873 More actions · Answer 5

Dmanju is misunderstanding the licensing. The device in question is the end-user device, not the citrix server. This is very clearly stated in the licensing agreement that you checked off as having read when you installed SQL. Even in the case of an application server having a single connection to a database, the number of users or the number of devices connecting to the application server is what the licensing is based on.

You should contact MS for this question, but they are going to tell you that you need 800 licenses and that your best solution will probably be per-processor licensing which will give you an unlimited number of users.

dmanju Say Hey Kid Points: 685 More actions · Answer 6

According to MS presales, device licence + server licence works in this case.

dmanju Say Hey Kid Points: 685 More actions · Answer 7

The reason for the confusion I guess is because this is not "multiplexing" which is what happens in the case of accessing through a webserver and such. This is virtualization. Each user will have their own virtual copy from the citrix box.

Eddie Wuerch SSChampion Points: 12535 More actions · Answer 8

Also note that each user license is per user, not per connected user. If you have 800 separate users, but only 10 of them connected at any time, then you need 800 user CALs, not 10.

Eddie Wuerch
MCM: SQL