Win 2k3 Server CAL licenses

[thodyconsulting]

Hi, we're purchasing a new server with Win 2k3 installed, and I'm clueless when it comes to the user licenses.

There are going to be approximately 7 workstations, and 3 printers on the network.

For now, the printers will not be connected to the server, and the network user administration is going to be handled be our existing server (NT4).

Here are my questions:

1. Do I need licenses for machines to simply read/write to the new server's harddrive?

2. Do I need licenses for printers that are not connected directly to the server? Ie. if the printer is accessed via on one workstation directly from another workstation over the network, does that require a license on the server?

3. When we get rid of the old server, how many licenses are necessary to handle the user sessions via the new server?

4. According to the Microsoft site, there are also several types of licenses, User CALs, and Device CAL, etc...what makes most sense for this network?

5. How are the licenses purchased?

I did my best to find this information from the Microsoft website, but I found it all very cryptic, any help anyone could offer would be great.

Thanks

[blubomber]

Where are you buying the server from? Sometimes you can buy extra CALs in groups of 10 or 25 from the manufacturer.

Is this going to be the only server after you retire the NT4 one? If you are only going to have 7 workstations, have you considered Microsofts Small Business Server 2003?

As far as CALs go, if i am correct, you need one user CAL for each user that will be accessing the servers resources. You will not need a machine CAL for each workstation. You will need a machine CAL for each printer eventually. You might want to check into buying Sever 2003 with 25 CALs from the manufacturer of the server. I believe that Machine and User CALs are the same price. This is how i interpret the information from Microsoft's website on CALs. I could be wrong on some things.

You might also want to think about weather or not you want to deploy Active Directory also. Just a consideration though.

[DVNT1]

One realtively sure way is to call a reseller and ask to talk with their MS licensing rep. That person should be "in the know" when it comes to pricing, packages, and license count required. If you were dealing with a 100+ users I woudl even call 3 different ones to get the most accurate info.

One reseller example to call is CDW http://www.cdw.com/webcontent/hubs/s...msoverview.asp

[Front242]

Bluebomber is correct about the access part. I have w2k3 with 5 seats that I have yet to install, because the new license agreement includes a annual fee for each seat (license).