The Terminal Services Licensing service includes the following features and benefits:
Centralized administration for TS CALs and the corresponding tokens
License accountability and reporting
Simple support for various communication channels and purchase programs
Minimal impact on network and servers
The remainder of this document explores the design goals and implementation of Terminal Server Licensing for Windows Server 2003, and explains how an enterprise can make use of this service.
Service Deployment
The Terminal Server Licensing service is a separate entity from the terminal server. In most large deployments, the license server is deployed on a separate server, even though it can be co-resident on the terminal server in some smaller deployments.
Terminal Server Licensing is a low-impact service. It requires very little CPU or memory for regular operations, and its hard disk requirements are small, even for a significant number of clients. Idle activities are negligible. Memory usage is less than 10 megabytes (MB). The license database will grow in increments of 5 MB for every 6,000 license tokens issued. The license server is only active when a terminal server is requesting a license token, and its impact on server performance is very low, even in high-load scenarios.
A terminal server running Windows Server 2003 does not communicate with a terminal server licensing server running Windows 2000. It is, however, possible for a terminal server licensing server running Windows Server 2003 to communicate with a terminal server running Windows 2000 Server. Therefore, when upgrading terminal servers running Windows 2000, you need to install and activate a licensing server that runs Windows Server 2003, which communicates with terminal servers that run both Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003.
Terminal Server Grace Period
A terminal server allows clients to connect without license tokens for 120 days before it requires communicating with a license server. This period is known as the license server grace period, and begins the first time a terminal server client connection is made to the terminal server. This grace period is designed to allow ample time for the administrator to deploy a license server. It is not designed to provide for a period of “free” access to a terminal server. Per the Windows Server 2003 EULA, licenses are required to be purchased in order to access a terminal server. There is no provision in the EULA for accessing a terminal server without the appropriate licenses.
The license server grace period ends after 120 days, or when a license server issues a permanent license token through the terminal server, whichever occurs first. Therefore, if the license server and terminal server are deployed at the same time, the terminal server grace period will immediately expire after the first permanent license token has been issued.
Licensing Service Installation
To install the license service, choose Terminal Server Licensing during product setup, or at any time by choosing “Add or Remove Programs” from Control Panel, then “Add/Remove Windows Components”.
In Windows Server 2003, the licensing service can be installed on a workgroup–based server, a member server, or a domain controller.
During the installation of the Terminal Server Licensing service, you need to choose between the following modes of the license server:
Your entire enterprise (enterprise license server)
Your domain or workgroup (domain/workgroup license server)
These options determine how and when a license server will be discovered by terminal servers. In a workgroup or non-Active Directory domain, you must choose “Your domain or workgroup.” In this scenario, a license server is automatically discovered by any terminal server within the same subnet as the license server.
In an Active Directory–based domain, you might choose either option. An enterprise licensing server is automatically discovered by any terminal server within the same site as the license server. A domain licensing server is automatically discovered by any terminal server that is a member of the same domain as the license server.
Licensing Service Activation
A license server must be activated in order to certify the server and allow it to issue client license tokens. A license server is activated using the Activation Wizard in the Terminal Server Licensing administration tool. To activate a license server, choose Activate Server from the Action menu while the server is highlighted. For more information, see “Terminal Server Licensing” in Help and Support Center for Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003.
There are three connection methods to activate your license server:
Internet (Automatic) The quickest and easiest way to activate and install licenses and is the one recommended by Microsoft. This method requires Internet connectivity from the device running the Terminal Server Licensing admin tool. Internet connectivity is not required from the license server itself. The internet method uses TCP/IP (TCP port 443) to connect directly to the Clearinghouse.
Web The Web method should be used when the device running the Terminal Server Licensing admin tool does not have Internet connectivity, but you do have access to the Web by means of a Web browser from another computer. The URL for the Web method is displayed in the Activation Wizard.
Phone The phone method allows you to talk to a Microsoft Customer Service Representative to complete the activation or license installation transactions. The appropriate telephone number is determined by the country/region that you chose in the Activation Wizard and is displayed by the wizard.
When you activate the license server, Microsoft provides the server with a limited-use digital certificate that validates server ownership and identity. Microsoft uses the X.509 industry standard certificate for this purpose. Using this certificate, a license server can make subsequent transactions with Microsoft and receive client license key packs. A client license key pack contains multiple license tokens for distribution by the license server.
A license server must be activated only once. While waiting to complete the activation or license token installation processes, your license server can issue temporary tokens for clients that allow them to use terminal servers for up to 90 days.
Upgrading a Windows 2000 License Server
When upgrading a license server that runs Windows 2000 to run Windows Server 2003, the license database and installed license tokens will be preserved. However, it may be necessary to re-activate the license server after the upgrade has been completed. To re-activate your license server that is upgraded from Windows 2000, start the Terminal Server Licensing tool and choose Re-activate Server from the Action menu while the server is highlighted. For more information, see “Terminal Server Licensing” in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.
License Purchase
The process for purchasing TS CALs for Windows Server 2003 remains the same as for purchasing other Microsoft Client Access licenses. Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing technology does not alter the purchase process. Customers might purchase these licenses by obtaining a Microsoft License Pak (MLP), Microsoft Open License, or through one of Microsoft’s volume licensing programs, such as Microsoft Select.
Important
If you purchase your TS CALs by means of a Microsoft License Pak, note that Microsoft added some additional components to the MLP for TS CALs, starting with Windows 2000. Previously, the contents of a MLP included EULAs. The Windows Server 2003 TS CAL MLP, like the Windows 2000 Server TS CAL MLP, will include the EULAs as well as a new component called a license addendum. This license addendum contains a 25-character alphanumeric code, called a license code, which represents the quantity of TS CALs purchased. The system administrator uses this license code and chooses a licensing program called Retailto install the MLP TS CAL tokens on the license server.
License Installation
License tokens must be installed on your license server in order to deploy them to client devices. After you have purchased TS CALs, you can then install the corresponding license tokens by using the CAL Installation Wizard, which is located in the Terminal Server Licensing tool.
Installing license tokens supports the three connection methods that are supported for license server activation. When you install license tokens, you will be asked for information regarding your purchase of the licenses. Depending on how you obtained your licenses, the information requested might include your Microsoft Enterprise or Select Enrollment number, your Campus, School, Services Provider, Multi-Year Open, or Open Subscription Agreement number, your Open License and Authorization numbers, or your 25-character License Code if you purchased a License Pak. If you obtained your licenses from a program or by a method not listed earlier in this paper, consult your program documentation for more information.
Licensing Service Discovery
Terminal servers use a discovery process to locate license servers. The process begins when the Terminal Server service starts. The discovery process varies based on the environment the terminal server is currently in.
It is also possible to override this discovery process by specifying a preferred license server (or multiple license servers) on a terminal server by using a WMI script. For three scripts that you can use to set preferred license servers, delete preferred license servers, or query preferred license servers, see “Administration” later in this document.
Workgroup/Non-Active Directory Domain Discovery
In a workgroup or non-active directory domain, a terminal server first attempts to contact any license servers specified in the LicenseServers registry key. If unsuccessful, it performs a mailslot broadcast, which locates any license servers in its subnet.
Active Directory Discovery
In an Active Directory–based domain, a terminal server first attempts to contact any license servers specified in the LicenseServers registry key. If unsuccessful, it attempts to locate any enterprise license servers by performing a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) query for the following object in the Active Directory:
LDAP://CN=TS-Enterprise-License-Server,CN=,CN=sites,CN=configuration,DC=,DC=com
The terminal server then attempts to locate any domain license servers by querying all domain controllers within its site, and then all domain controllers within its domain.
Important
Although it is possible for non-domain controllers to be license servers in Windows Server 2003, it is important to note that domain license servers are not automatically discovered. You must configure a preferred license server on all terminal servers that need to communicate with non-Domain controller license servers configured as domain license servers. Enterprise domain license servers deployed on non-domain controllers are automatically discovered.
The terminal caches the names of license servers that it locates in the following locations of the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing\Parameters\EnterpriseServerMulti (Enterprise license servers)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing\Parameters\DomainLicenseServerMulti (Domain license servers)
If no license server is found, the terminal server attempts a discovery once every hour. After a license server is located, no discovery will be attempted until all of the cached license servers in the Terminal Server registry are unavailable.
|
