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RD Licensing Migration: Post-Migration Tasks

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

This topic describes the steps to be taken after the migration is complete, including running a pilot program, retiring the source server, identifying licensing problems after the migration, and rolling back the deployment.

  • Run a pilot program

  • Retire the source role service servers after migration

  • Identify licensing problems during the migration

  • Roll back migration of Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs) and Terminal Services client access licenses (TS CALs)

Run a pilot program

Consider running a pilot on migrated Remote Desktop license servers before putting them into full production. For more information, see Run a pilot program in the topic Remote Desktop Services Migration Overview: Post-Migration Tasks.

Retire the source role service servers after migration

After you complete and verify the migration of the Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs), the source server can be shut down or disconnected from the network.

Warning

If there is more than one role service on the migrated server, you will not have access to the other role services on that server after disconnecting the server from the network.

Identify licensing problems during the migration

The following section describes how to identify problems with the RDS CALs in the event of a migration failure. If there is a failure during the migration, the source license server can be restored.

The Manage CALs Wizard will perform the migration of a license key pack in two stages:

  1. The license key pack is reinstalled on the target license server by communicating with the Microsoft Clearinghouse.

  2. The license key pack is deleted from the source license server.

    This stage is not applicable in the following cases:

    • The source license server is an earlier version than Windows Server 2008 R2.

    • The source license server is not reachable from the target license server.

    • The source license server is no longer functioning (system crashed or is deprecated).

    • The source license server is deactivated, or not running.

Stage 1 failure

A failure during stage 1 may be due to one of the following reasons:

  • The input details are not accurate (such as agreement number or entitlement).

  • The Microsoft Clearinghouse is unavailable.

  • The target license server is unavailable.

  • There may be other network-related issues affecting connectivity of the source and target server.

Impact: If the migration failed during stage 1, the migration will not proceed to stage 2 to delete the license key pack from a source license server. In this case, there is no change in either license server database. This failure has zero impact on the existing state of the license servers.

Stage 2 failure

Automatic deletion will happen only when the source license server is at least Windows Server 2008 R2.

A failure during stage 2 may be due to one of the following reasons:

  • The license key pack details, provided as input, were not matched with anyone in the source license server database.

  • The source license server is unavailable due to a network issue.

Impact: To stay compliant with the Microsoft Software License Terms, the customer must manually delete the license key packs from the source license server.

Roll back migration of Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs) and Terminal Services client access licenses (TS CALs)

The following section describes how to restore the RDS CALs in the event of a migration failure.

There is no automatic way to roll back the migration operation on a Remote Desktop license server, but you can achieve this by doing the migration itself by swapping the source and target license servers that you used during the initial migration.

  1. If you want to roll back RDS CALs to Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 from a Remote Desktop license server that is running Windows Server 2008 R2, you need to call the Microsoft Clearinghouse and follow their instructions.

  2. If you want to roll back RDS CALs, and both the source and target servers are Remote Desktop license servers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2, you can use the Manage RDS CALs Wizard.

See also