Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Remote Desktop Services - 5 User CALs

Need help determining your licensing scenario? Take a look below

Windows Server CAL Licensing Guide

This product includes 5 RDS User CALs

Remote Desktop Services 2008 brings a mature virtualization platform to the table, making end-user maintenance easier than previous versions of Windows Server. New security features are in place, including Network Level Authentication (NLA), which authenticates the user, client machine, and server credentials against each other before a TS session is spun up on the server and the logon screen is presented to the user. Server Authentication uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) to help ensure that clients are connecting to a legitimate terminal server and not some rogue machine.

Will work on:

• Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise

RDS Client Access Licenses (CALs) are required for RDS access, and must be installed on a RD Licensing server. These RDS CALs will be tied to the server, but can be moved to new hardware if needed. Remember that RDS supports both per-user and per-device licensing, and the model you choose should depend if you have more users or computers.  RDS does not have concurrent-user licensing, and the licenses you choose must match the mode for which you configure the RD Session Host server.

Install the RD Licensing role service just as you did the RD Session Host role service. Then you must:

• Activate the RD Licensing server
• Install RDS CALs so the RD Licensing server can allocate them to users and devices
• Tell the RD Session Host server to use the RD Licensing server (you must do this even if the two role services are located on the same machine)

Note that you are likely to see a reduction in the number of simultaneous sessions that can be supported if you choose to virtualize a RD Session Host server. Model on the same machine type, physical or virtual, that you intend to use. If you plan on building a virtual RD Session Host Server, it is recommended to use a server with a processor supporting Second-Level Address Translation (SLAT) to reduce overhead of memory mapping between physical and virtual machines. A Type 1 hypervisor like Hyper-V, not a Type 2, is also a good option to reduce overhead.