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License groups

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

License groups

In Per Device or Per User licensing mode, a license is required for each client device or user that accesses a server product. License Logging service, rather than allocating licenses to computers, allocates them to users when they access a server product for the first time. This fulfills the legal requirement of one Client Access License for each client device only when the number of client devices is the same as the number of users on a network--most simply, when each user has one device.

Having a number of users that is different from the number of devices might provide incorrect licensing information. To obtain correct licensing information, you should organize users in license groups. A license group pools the licenses for devices used by users in a group. When users in a group access the server product, they use the group license and do not consume additional licenses. Thus, you can maintain the one-to-one correspondence between licenses and devices.

Create license groups to obtain correct licensing information under the following conditions:

  • Many people use one device. This can occur when people share jobs or when employees who are working different shifts use the same device.

  • Many users use many devices, but there are more users than devices. This situation might exist in a university's computer lab or in a retail store.

  • One user uses more than one device. This often occurs when software developers create programs on one device and test their applications on several other devices.

To create a license group, specify the users in the group and allocate one license for each client device used to access the server. The number of licenses allocated to a group should correspond to the number of devices used by members of the group. This can be either fewer or more than the number of users.

  • If 10 people are using one device, you need only one Client Access License. The group would include all of the users, but have only one license.

  • If 100 users are using 10 devices, you need 10 Client Access Licenses, one for each of the 10 devices. The group would list the 100 users and have 10 Client Access Licenses.

  • If one user uses 5 devices, you need a Client Access License for each device. The group would list the single user and have 5 licenses.

To create a new license group, see Create a new license group. To add, delete, or change a license group, see Edit or view a license group.