Event ID 1028 — Remote Desktop Services Client Access License (RDS CAL) Availability

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

An RD Session Host server must be able to contact a Remote Desktop license server to request Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs) for users or computing devices that are connecting to the RD Session Host server. In addition, the Remote Desktop licensing mode configured on an RD Session Host server must match the type of RDS CALs available on the license server.

Event Details

Resolve

Ensure that the RD Session Host server can contact a Remote Desktop license server

To resolve this issue, do the following:

• Determine if the RD Session Host server can discover a license server.
• Identify and fix any network connectivity problems between the RD Session Host server and the license server. 
• Identify and fix any license server discovery configuration problems.

To perform these tasks, refer to the following sections.

Determine if the RD Session Host server can discover a license server

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To use Licensing Diagnosis in Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration:

1. On the Remote Desktop Session Host server, open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration. To open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.
2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.
3. In the left pane, click Licensing Diagnosis.
4. Under Remote Desktop Services License Server Information, at least one license server should be listed as discovered.

If Licensing Diagnosis does not list any license servers as discovered, there might be a network connectivity or license server discovery configuration problem. Use the following procedures to identify and correct these types of issues.

Identify and fix any network connectivity problems between the RD Session Host server and the license server

To resolve this issue, identify and fix any network connectivity problems between the RD Session Host server and the license server by doing the following:

• Determine if there is a network connectivity problem by using the ping command.
• Perform additional troubleshooting steps, if necessary, to help identify the cause of the problem.

To perform these tasks, refer to the following sections.

Note:  The following procedures include steps for using the ping command to perform troubleshooting. Therefore, before performing these steps, check whether the firewall or Internet Protocol security (IPsec) settings on your network allow Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic. ICMP is the TCP/IP protocol that is used by the ping command.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

Determine if there is a network connectivity problem

To determine if there is a network connectivity problem between the RD Session Host server and the license server:

1. On the RD Session Host server, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

2. At the command prompt, type ping server_FQDN, where server_FQDN is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the license server (for example, server1.contoso.com), and then press ENTER.

   If the ping was successful, you will receive a reply similar to the following:

   Reply from IP_address: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=59

   Reply from IP_address: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=59

   Reply from IP_address: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=59

   Reply from IP_address: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=59

3. At the command prompt, type ping IP_address, where IP_address is the IP address of the license server, and then press ENTER.

If you can successfully ping the license server by IP address, but not by FQDN, this indicates a possible issue with DNS host name resolution.

If you cannot successfully ping the license server by IP address, this indicates a possible issue with network connectivity, firewall configuration, or IPsec configuration.

Perform additional troubleshooting steps

The following are some additional troubleshooting steps that you can perform to help identify the root cause of the problem:

• Ping other computers on the network to help determine the extent of the network connectivity issue.
• If you can ping other servers but not the license server, try to ping the license server from another computer. If you cannot ping the license server from any computer, first ensure that the license server is running. If the license server is running, check the network settings on the license server.
• Check the TCP/IP settings on the local computer by doing the following:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  2. At the command prompt, type ipconfig /all, and then press ENTER. Make sure that the information listed is correct.
  3. Type ping localhost to verify that TCP/IP is installed and correctly configured on the local computer. If the ping is unsuccessful, this may indicate a corrupt TCP/IP stack or a problem with your network adapter.
  4. Type ping IP_address, where IP_address is the IP address assigned to the computer. If you can ping the localhost address but not the local address, there may be an issue with the routing table or with the network adapter driver.
  5. Type ping DNS_server, where DNS_server is the IP address assigned to the DNS server. If there is more than one DNS server on your network, you should ping each one. If you cannot ping the DNS servers, this indicates a potential problem with the DNS servers, or with the network between the computer and the DNS servers.
  6. If the license server is on a different subnet, try to ping the default gateway. If you cannot ping the default gateway, this might indicate a problem with the network adapter, the router or gateway device, cabling, or other connectivity hardware.
• In Device Manager, check the status of the network adapter. To open Device Manager, click Start, click Run, type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
• Check network connectivity indicator lights on the computer and at the hub or router. Check network cabling.
• Check firewall settings by using the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in.
• Check IPsec settings by using the IP Security Policy Management snap-in.

Identify and fix any license server discovery configuration problems

You can use Review Configuration in RD Licensing Manager to identify and possibly correct issues that prevent the license server from being automatically discovered by RD Session Host servers.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To use Review Configuration:

1. Open RD Licensing Manager on the license server. To open RD Licensing Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.
3. In the left pane, click All Servers, click the name of the license server, and then on the Action menu, click Review Configuration.
4. In the Configuration dialog box, review any messages that indicate that RD Session Host servers running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 will not be able to automatically discover this license server.
5. If the discovery scope for the license server is set to Domain, but the license server is not a domain controller, you should consider changing the discovery scope of the license server to Forest. To change the discovery scope of the license server, click Change Scope in the Configuration dialog box.

Verify

To verify that the RD Session Host server can contact a Remote Desktop license server with the appropriate type of Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs), use Licensing Diagnosis in Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To use Licensing Diagnosis in Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration:

1. On the RD Session Host server, open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration. To open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.
2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.
3. In the left pane, click Licensing Diagnosis.
4. Under Remote Desktop Session Host Server Configuration Details, the value for Number of RDS CALs available for clients should be greater than 0.

Related Management Information

Remote Desktop Services Client Access License (RDS CAL) Availability

Remote Desktop Services