TS CAL Cost

[mortstar]

Hi everyone,

We are looking at a Sun Ray device Thin Client setup in the near future. Our Select Agreement doesn't cover Terminal Server CALs.
We need, in the first instance 60 device CALs and 250 user CALs.

How much are we looking at per (each type of) licence?

Thanks for your help

[Ric_]

AFAIK you would purchase either device or user CALs because otherwise you may be using two CALs at a time which is useless. Per user and per device CALs are the same price I think (although you would generally purchase more user CALs at once so would get a bit of discount). I think I paid about £9 a CAL last time I got some from Ramesys.

[CyberNerd]

Ric is right, you either need Device CALS *or* User CALS.

Usually schools will use device CALS so any student can use that device, it works out cheaper than buying a CAL for each student. last ones we bought were £10.5 each.

[DMcCoy]

Just a FYI

If you are going to use Microsoft office, you will have to read the license terms *very* carefully.

For office, the machine you are connecting from is licensed to use office, not the TS server itself. This means every machine that connects to the TS and runs office must have its own license, its not based on number of users or concurrent devices.

This means if you use it for remote access for staff then you will need an office license for each and every one of the machines that runs office remotely. The server itself doesn't even need an office license unless you run it under the normal console.

This becomes more problematic with 2007 as every *type* of license must also be the same - and you can only install with an enterprise vol license for office.

If you are using it for onsite access with thin clients then it can be a non issue as you just license all your devices. If its for remote then buying enterprise licenses for all your remote working staff might be a bit much! (And I've not looked if they would be covered by any vol agreement anyway).

OpenOffice works though

[mortstar]

Just a FYI

If you are going to use Microsoft office, you will have to read the license terms *very* carefully.

For office, the machine you are connecting from is licensed to use office, not the TS server itself. This means every machine that connects to the TS and runs office must have its own license, its not based on number of users or concurrent devices.

This means if you use it for remote access for staff then you will need an office license for each and every one of the machines that runs office remotely. The server itself doesn't even need an office license unless you run it under the normal console.

This becomes more problematic with 2007 as every *type* of license must also be the same - and you can only install with an enterprise vol license for office.

If you are using it for onsite access with thin clients then it can be a non issue as you just license all your devices. If its for remote then buying enterprise licenses for all your remote working staff might be a bit much! (And I've not looked if they would be covered by any vol agreement anyway).

OpenOffice works though

Microsoft - Keeping Licensing Simple!

Thanks for the info people.

[DMcCoy]

Oh, not sure if its still in but if you are using a laptop belonging to the organization then you can connect to a TS server and use office if your desktop machine is licensed under the portable rights in office.

Why its so complicated I have no idea!

[SpuffMonkey]

I spoke to Neil Atkins at Ramesys about this - he was very helpful...

[dhicks]

For office, the machine you are connecting from is licensed to use office, not the TS server itself. This means every machine that connects to the TS and runs office must have its own license, its not based on number of users or concurrent devices.

This means if you use it for remote access for staff then you will need an office license for each and every one of the machines that runs office remotely. The server itself doesn't even need an office license unless you run it under the normal console.

Ah! This actually works out good for us - I was wanting to turn our SIMS server (for which we already have 30-odd SQL licenses and devices CALs for) into a Terminal Services server so we could avoid messing around installing the SIMS client on workstations. I was thinking we'd have to pay for more Microsoft Office licenses, but it looks like we don't (all the machines we'll be using have MS Office on them already). Great!

--
David Hicks

[meastaugh1]

Ah! This actually works out good for us - I was wanting to turn our SIMS server (for which we already have 30-odd SQL licenses and devices CALs for) into a Terminal Services server so we could avoid messing around installing the SIMS client on workstations.

Are you suggesting your SIMS server will double up as a terminal server (for SIMS)?