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Temporary licenses for SBS 2003
I have a client that hired me to deploy their network. They were supposed to purchas CAL's for their new SBS 2003 server. They did not. So they have only the 5 cals shipped with it, but they have about 30 workstations. I was adding workstations to the domain, setting up Outlook and printers, etc. when I realized they did not have enought CAL's. They are budgeted to order new CAL's and are placing the order tomorrow. However it can take a week or two to get them in. Is their a way to get 30 day licenses from Microsoft to hold them over until they CAL's come in? Any suggstions are appreciated.
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Hi
You can wait for the CALS, theres no limit (75)how many extras you can be. And the server wont shut down or anything.
The licensing will change in Cougar and Centro.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
You can wait for the CALS, theres no limit (75)how many extras you can be. And the server wont shut down or anything.
The licensing will change in Cougar and Centro.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
thats what i thought, but then all of the sudden it stopped letting me access exchange mailboxes via outlook or print to network printers. it allowed me to add workstations to the domain and setup outlook to talk to the mailstore, but it would not let me get into the mailbox. the error on the server said that it would stop issueing licenses and stuff.
It complains but doesnt stop anything.
Run SBS BPA (Best Practice Analyzer) tool to find out whats the issue.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
Run SBS BPA (Best Practice Analyzer) tool to find out whats the issue.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
I ran the the tool. It came up with two critical issues, tcp ip chimney and something about offloading tasks. The rest were minor, mostley stuff about windows updates or timezone update for exchange. I corrected them. In the Even Viewer I was getting Event ID 201: No license was available for user DOMAIN\PFouts using product FilePrint . Use Licensing from the Administrative Tools folder to ensure that you have sufficient licenses.
Hi again
Have you restarted the server? version of SBS RTM, SP1, R2?
I know companies who has missed to activate their CALS for month without issues.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
Have you restarted the server? version of SBS RTM, SP1, R2?
I know companies who has missed to activate their CALS for month without issues.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
I totally agree with you, I'm rebooting now. Its nearly 3am on Friday where I am in the U.S., so I'm going to bed. I'll keep the topic updated. I'm hoping to complete the project this weekend. I appreciate you input.
Javas
Javas
Robert, you aren't correct about this. It will allow overage for only so long and then it will stop allowing new user access. SBS Licensing is generous, but not that generous.
The problem is that the first 5 CALs can be either USER or DEVICE. So if you were to join all the workstations using the same user account that would work just fine. But once you start logging into those workstations with different user accounts you'll exceed available licenses.
Jeff
TechSoEasy
The problem is that the first 5 CALs can be either USER or DEVICE. So if you were to join all the workstations using the same user account that would work just fine. But once you start logging into those workstations with different user accounts you'll exceed available licenses.
Jeff
TechSoEasy
Hi
Jeff,
This is within 24 hours so it should not be a time issue. I have a client with 72 clients but only 50 CALS (I´ve told them) The been running for a year. I´m surprised myself how generous it was.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
Jeff,
This is within 24 hours so it should not be a time issue. I have a client with 72 clients but only 50 CALS (I´ve told them) The been running for a year. I´m surprised myself how generous it was.
Robert Lundqvist
Small Business Specialist
Sweden
Here is what happened. The server was setup on the network and I setup 30 user accounts in AD. Then I began adding workstations, about 30 of them total. Each user account has a mailbox. We added about 16 workstations to the domain in about an hour, when all of the sudden we were unable to add printers and open Outlook. Outlook said something about unable to open default folders and synchronization. When I went to the server it was seeing if anything was going on, their were licensing errors like ones above.
I rebooted as suggested and will be looking at it again either today or tomorrow. I've never seen a SBS server do this with licensing. Kinda wierd.
I rebooted as suggested and will be looking at it again either today or tomorrow. I've never seen a SBS server do this with licensing. Kinda wierd.
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It's not weird at all... if you look at the Licensing Snap-in on the server it will say that you have 5 CALs available, and probably have MAX Used of 16. Way out of line with more than 300% over, and definitely different than Robert's example of going about 40% over what was installed.
As I stated, if you hadn't logged into those workstations with separate user accounts then you could have avoided the problem. Of course, having 30 CALs would also have avoided the problem.
Jeff
TechSoEasy