Chapter 4: Licensing

Highlights

Licensing is probably the most dreaded component of any environment's implementation. In Terminal Server environments, you must account for both OS licenses and application licenses. Licensing is really no different from nonTerminal Server environments, except that Windows Server 2003 has technical components that force you to comply with your licenses. If you decide to skip this chapter and ignore licensing, you'll most likely revisit it in 120 days when your Terminal Servers stop functioning because they weren't licensed properly. Terminal Servers running on Windows 2000 were the first to use Microsoft's new licensing enforcement technology, and Windows 2003 builds on that.

The only thing that changes faster than technology is the licensing of technology. For that reason, it's important to note that this licensing chapter was up-to-date when this book was printed. However, it's possible that the details of Microsoft licensing have changed since then. You can find current information on the web at www.microsoft.com/licensing or www.brianmadden.com.

This chapter concludes with a look at how third-party applications are licensed in Terminal Server environments.