Moved Terminal License server - CAL's not showing issued license

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PghTech

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We moved our existing Terminal License server to a new 2003 server. By
de-activating the old Terminal License server first, the existing 3 (per
device) CAL's transfered to the new Terminal License Server when it was
activated.

However, we noticed that once all the company employees connected, none of
the CAL's were showing licenses issued under the "Issued" column. We ran a
test by connecting to the terminal server with a computer that had never
connected, and indeed the terminal server issued a license to the new
computer and it showed as "1" under the "Issued" column of one of the (per
device) CAL's.

So our theory was/is that the CAL's won't show "issued" licenses until the
licenses issued to all the company devices expire and the devices renew/pull
a new license.

However, Talking with the non-technical individuals of Microsoft's Clearing
House, they indicated that a working device with a license from before the
Terminal License Server was moved, should be able to log on at least 2-3
times and it should pull a new license and show up in the "Issued" column.
However, this has not occured - and the Microsoft clearing house couldn't
help technically to know if there is or isn't a problem.

Does anyone know a Micorsoft KB article that defines what is going on and if
it is or isn't a problem? Or can anyone shine some light on this. We really
need a Microsoft KB article (that I haven't been able to find up until now)
to give to the client we set this up for.

Regards,
 
RE: Moved Terminal License server - CAL's not showing issued license

One other note: The "Built-in" license for issuing temp license tokens
doesn't show "issued" licenses either - so it isn't matter of the devices all
picking up temp license tokens. There is a total of 125 licenses between the
3 installed (per device) CAL's.

"PghTech" wrote:

> We moved our existing Terminal License server to a new 2003 server. By
> de-activating the old Terminal License server first, the existing 3 (per
> device) CAL's transfered to the new Terminal License Server when it was
> activated.
>
> However, we noticed that once all the company employees connected, none of
> the CAL's were showing licenses issued under the "Issued" column. We ran a
> test by connecting to the terminal server with a computer that had never
> connected, and indeed the terminal server issued a license to the new
> computer and it showed as "1" under the "Issued" column of one of the (per
> device) CAL's.
>
> So our theory was/is that the CAL's won't show "issued" licenses until the
> licenses issued to all the company devices expire and the devices renew/pull
> a new license.
>
> However, Talking with the non-technical individuals of Microsoft's Clearing
> House, they indicated that a working device with a license from before the
> Terminal License Server was moved, should be able to log on at least 2-3
> times and it should pull a new license and show up in the "Issued" column.
> However, this has not occured - and the Microsoft clearing house couldn't
> help technically to know if there is or isn't a problem.
>
> Does anyone know a Micorsoft KB article that defines what is going on and if
> it is or isn't a problem? Or can anyone shine some light on this. We really
> need a Microsoft KB article (that I haven't been able to find up until now)
> to give to the client we set this up for.
>
> Regards,
 
RE: Moved Terminal License server - CAL's not showing issued license

I assume that you have checked the EventLog on the TS and there are
no warnings or errors regarding licensing?
And with "existing 3 (per device) CAL's" you actually mean 3
separate license packs, with a total of 125 Per Device TS CALs,
correct?

I can't give you a KB article which describes this situation,
because there isn't any, AFAIK.
But I can confirm that your initial theory was exactly right:
clients which still hold a valid license will not show up in the TS
Licensing Manager on the new LS.

It's really very logical: when a client connect to a TS, the TS
checks to see if the client holds a non-expired license. When the
clients does so, the TS never even contacts an LS.

This is described in detail here:

Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing White paper
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/termse
rvlic.mspx

You can prove this by manually removing the locally stored license
for a client. After you have done so, connect twice from this
client. After the first connection, the client will be issued a
temporary license, after the second connection, the client will be
issued a permanent license.

187614 - Removing Terminal Server Licenses from an RDP Client
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=187614

I hope that this will convince your customer.

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

=?Utf-8?B?UGdoVGVjaA==?= <PghTech@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
on 31 jan 2008 in microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services:

> One other note: The "Built-in" license for issuing temp license
> tokens doesn't show "issued" licenses either - so it isn't
> matter of the devices all picking up temp license tokens. There
> is a total of 125 licenses between the 3 installed (per device)
> CAL's.
>
> "PghTech" wrote:
>
>> We moved our existing Terminal License server to a new 2003
>> server. By de-activating the old Terminal License server
>> first, the existing 3 (per device) CAL's transfered to the new
>> Terminal License Server when it was activated.
>>
>> However, we noticed that once all the company employees
>> connected, none of the CAL's were showing licenses issued under
>> the "Issued" column. We ran a test by connecting to the
>> terminal server with a computer that had never connected, and
>> indeed the terminal server issued a license to the new computer
>> and it showed as "1" under the "Issued" column of one of the
>> (per device) CAL's.
>>
>> So our theory was/is that the CAL's won't show "issued"
>> licenses until the licenses issued to all the company devices
>> expire and the devices renew/pull a new license.
>>
>> However, Talking with the non-technical individuals of
>> Microsoft's Clearing House, they indicated that a working
>> device with a license from before the Terminal License Server
>> was moved, should be able to log on at least 2-3 times and it
>> should pull a new license and show up in the "Issued" column.
>> However, this has not occured - and the Microsoft clearing
>> house couldn't help technically to know if there is or isn't a
>> problem.
>>
>> Does anyone know a Micorsoft KB article that defines what is
>> going on and if it is or isn't a problem? Or can anyone shine
>> some light on this. We really need a Microsoft KB article (that
>> I haven't been able to find up until now) to give to the client
>> we set this up for.
>>
>> Regards,
 
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