Server 2012 + CALs License Clarifications

Dear ALL,
I need some clarifications in licensing to provide the appropriate
solution to my customer.
One of my customer purchased Dell Server with preloaded
Windows Server 2012 OS (Standard Edition) from us(from my company) to replace the
existing server which has windows server 2003.
Now the thing is customer want to transfer/migrate their Server CALs and
Terminal Server CALs of Server 2003 to Server 2012.
But Is that possible to transfer/migration of CALs from server 2003 to 2012?
In case of not possible,
Can I suggest windows server 2003 to install as virtual OS in Hyper-V
to use their existing CAL?
And is there any additional license is required to use server 2003 in
Hyper-V?
Expecting your valuable answer/solution.
Thanks in advance.

I would recommend contacting a Microsoft Licensing specialist to get details about your questions.
Please note that Windows Server 2003 will be not supported soon. So, I would recommend upgrading to a higher OS whenever it is possible.
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.
Ahmed MALEK
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Do i need Windows Server 2012 CAL's if only accessing the Exchange Server?

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thanks in advance !

Hi Jan,
For license question, I would suggest you make a phone call to Microsoft directly:
In the United States, call (800) 426-9400.
In Canada, call (877) 568-2495.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-licensing-licensing-overview-FX103746915.aspx
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How to get Windows Server 2012 trial license key?

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Download the trial version from here -
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VMs per Windows Server 2012 Std License?

Hello All,
Can anybody help me please? I have a question in Windows Server 2012 Std License.
1. If I have 2 Windows 2012 STD Licenses ( 2 CPUs) howmany VMs ( Windows 2012 Server OS installed) can I have on the same Physical Server?
2. Can we assign more than 1 license to a host?
3. If the limit is 4 VMs( 4 Windows server 2012 Std VMs) can we have more/other VMs ( like Linux) in-addition to 4 eligible VMs?
Thanks in advance,
Sudhir

In the Hyper-V world, virtual machines are not licensed. Microsoft does not require that you purchase a license for a virtual machine, ever.
Microsoft does require that you purchase a license in order to run a virtual instance of Windows, always. So, if you have 3 virtual instances of Windows Server Standard, then you need to purchase two Windows Server Standard licenses for the host, because
each license allows for up to two virtual instances of Windows Server Standard.
Since Microsoft does not require that you purchase a license for a virtual machine, they will not charge you to run non-Microsoft operating systems inside them. Whether or not you have to pay for a Linux virtual instance is entirely dependent
upon the licensing of that Linux distribution. Any checks you write for them wouldn't be to Microsoft, though.
This means that, yes, you can legally run an unlimited number of Linux guests on Hyper-V without paying additional licensing fees to Microsoft. If you are using Hyper-V Server and have no Windows guests, you won't pay Microsoft anything. If you are using
Windows Server with Hyper-V and have no Windows guests, then you have to pay for a single host license but you won't pay Microsoft anything else.
In the scenario that you presented, the necessary Microsoft licensing for a dual-core host with WS12-Std installed, 3 WS12-Std guests, and any number of Linux guests will be covered by two WS12-Std licenses. You have one leftover WS12-Std instance that
you can legally run on that host.
Eric Siron
Altaro Hyper-V Blog
I am an independent blog contributor, not an Altaro employee. I am solely responsible for the content of my posts.

Server 2012 Standard license and VM license for windows instances

Hi,
A question about VM instances on standard server 2012 license exists here
I cannot link it here as my account is not verified. The topic is titled "Windows Server 2012 Standard License and VMs"
My question is tad different...
If I understand this correctly, 1 windows server standard license provides support for 1 Physical Operating System Environment (The VM Host / POSE) and permission to run 2 Virtual Operating System Environment(VOSE).
Does this imply that I can install 2 additional instances of Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition on the permitted 2 VM instances on the server? Or... should I purchase additional licenses for each VOSE that runs windows?
Does the standard license provide rights to run 2 Virtual instances AND offer install and activation rights for 2 MS windows (virtual) environments AND install and activation rights for the windows host?
If license is require for each instance of server 2012 running on the VM ... can I avoid purchasing additional licenses for operating systems, say, if I run 2 Centos operating system instances in 2 VOSE?
Please help!
Thanks.

Licensing questions should be asked of a trained Microsoft licensing specialist. I haven't seen one of those lurking in this forum. www.microsoft.com/licensing.
That said, licenses are assigned to the physical host, not to VMs. The License you assign to the host grants you the "right to run" addition virtual operating system environments running Windows Server. It does not grant you additional licenses.
Licensing for Microsoft Windows Server operating system is controlled by Microsoft. Licensing for any other operating system is not covered by the virtualization rights of the Windows Server operating system. Therefore, if the CentOS virtual machines
are properly licensed by whoever licenses them, you can run however many instances that license allows.
A single Standard Edition license can be installed on the physical host granting you the right to run up to two virtual instances of Standard Edition. However, if you run additional services, such as file services or Active Directory or IIS, etc.,
on the physical instance, that means you can only run one additional virtual instance of Windows Server.
Free advice is worth every cent.
.:|:.:|:. tim

Windows Server 2012 Standard License and VMs

Hi,
With one Window server 2012 Standard activated license, I will get 2 VMs. So is there a limit with Windows Server 2012 standard license I can stack and the the number of VMs I can create on one server or across servers (virtual environment). Consider that
all Windows server 2012 standard licenses are activated. If there is no limit on VM creation by add Standard license then why did Microsoft come with Data center licenses with unlimited VMs.
How does the standard license work on Vmware environment. Is there a limit on the number for VMs that we can create.
Please advise me.
Thanks.

If i had one server 2012 standard with its key, i could run it as a vm but not as a virtual host without having the license right?
a single WS2012STD license, allows you to run a server machine (hardware), if that hardware has no more than 2 processors. In this case, you can run 2 VMs, each VM is running WS2012STD. You can also run WS2012STD as the host hypervisor via Hyper-V.
So, that's really 3 OS installations, on the same 2proc machine. The limitation is that the host hypervisor OS is only permitted to do Hyper-V stuff, it's not permitted to use that OS for anything other than hypervisor functions.
If you implement in this way, you would only have purchased a single license for WS2012STD, so you would only have a single key, so you would use that key for the 3 OS installations.
If i bought the single server 2012 standard license, i'd be able to install it as a Host and activate with the key and it'd give me rights to run 2vms on it and for those vms i would have to have 2 keys to activate after installing server 2012 standart
software on them right?
see above.
if you buy via Volume Licensing, things change a little bit due to MAK/KMS keys (it gets a whole lot simpler :)
Sorry for being unclear on the clusters part, i meant HA/failover. we have 2 2008R2 enterprise servers in cluster with shared storage and i was trying to clarify how could i add more vms there.
assuming your failover solution involves traditional server hardware, each failover node is just another hardware machine, so, for each node you have to count up the procs and VMs, just as you would do for non-failover implementations.
if a server is installed and running/executing, it needs to be licensed.
with current configuration, each server is hosting 2vms and if anything happens single host can accommodate all four. I am assuming we have 2 enterprise licenses for them, but if i wanted to run 4vms on each host, we have to buy 2 more enterprise licenses
and install vm togerther with their keys?
There is no Enterprise for WS2012? (WS2012 has STD and DCE)
do you mean as in WS2008R2ENT ?
You can re-assign licenses from one machine to another machine (under the Volume Licensing terms. I'm not sure about Retail terms, you should check that). There are limitations on how often you can reassign licenses (no more than every 90days)
If hardware "fails", you are allowed to reassign the license in a shorter period than 90days.
Don
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Server 2012 key activation for VMs that run on Server 2012 OEM license

Hi
My customer purchase a Dell Server with pre-install OEM Windows Server 2012 standard license, he created 2 VM and attempt to use key provided with physical host. It was fail with error message of 'Key is invalid'. Does customer need to obtain another
key for VM from Microsoft or Dell need to provide this?
thank you

Hi,
OEM key will not be recognized when trying to install a new system as it is not the standard format (25 bytes). As it is an OEM system you should suggest your customer to contact Dell for further help.
TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact [email protected]

Windows Server 2012 The licensing mode for the Remote Desktop Session Host server is not configured

Hi
I have a standard Windows Server 2012 that is hosted in the cloud by a hosting provider -
This server has been up and running fir 6 months - recently we have been getting a warning
"The licensing mode for the Remote Desktop Session Host server is not configured" - The Remote Desktop Session Host server is within its grace period, but the RD Session Host server has not been configured with any license server.
Yet, we only use this with 2 connections as part of the standard licence agreement and this server is not used as a user's desktop only an ftp and web server- do therefore we do not need to purchase any cal licences (we have another server with the same
hosting company that does not have this issue and has been up for 18months)
Please can someone advise how I resolve this issue, the hosting company states that I must resolve it as they only host and resell the server licence
Thank-you
Richard Steele

Hi Richard,
You need to uninstall Remote desktop session host feature. After removing it, you will default two connections which does not need to purchase RD CALs'.
Thanks,
Umesh.S.K

Windows Storage server 2012 Standard Licenseing

We have purchased 2 licenses of Windows Storage Server 2012 standard Edition for production. These 2 servers will be configured in cluster in production. Now we have to install one more server in failover in case the production servers goes down. My question
is do we need to purchase the license for the 3rd server as the same will be working as an DR for the production.

Hello,
yes, you need to purchase th ellicense for the third Server while Windows Server storage is licensed per instance(active or passive).
on th emicrosoft MSLT for Windows Server storage 2012 R2 Standard we hav the following info:
License Model: The software is licensed based on:
the number of instances of server software that you run; and
the number of processors in the physical hardware
Assignment of the License to the Server:
The software license is permanently assigned to the server with which you acquired the software. That server is the
licensed server for that particular license. A hardware partition or blade is considered to be a separate server. You may not assign the same license to more than one server.
thanks
diramoh

Windows Server 2012 R2 License Concerns

Hi,
Good day.
This is my first post, hopefully I am in the right forum to ask.
I have recently transferred to a new job on a new company. There would be various projects also endorsed. One of them are upgrading of legacy IBM servers OS. They have already bought the latest Windows Server OS which is Windows Server 2012 R2 version.
But during the transition the upgrade of OS was given to me, during the upgrade of IBM x346 server there were multiple issues raised (RAID drivers for x64). I was only able to install Windows 2012 Standard version, but our license only have Windows Server 2012
R2.
Can I use the license of Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2012? I do understand we have downgrade rights from Win2k12R2 to various OS like 2k8, 2k12 or 2k8 R2. But this is not a downgrade process. Can I simply input the product key to activate Windows
Server 2012 with Windows Server 2012 R2?
Hope you understand my question. Thank you.

Can I use the license of Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2012? I do understand we have downgrade rights from Win2k12R2 to various OS like 2k8, 2k12 or 2k8 R2. But this is not a downgrade process. Can I simply input the product key to activate Windows
Server 2012 with Windows Server 2012 R2?
If you have purchased the license for WS2012R2, but wish to install WS2012, this is considered a "downgrade" of the license, and, this is usually a permitted entitlement. (it is not necessary to perform the technical installation of WS2012R2 and
then technically install WS2012 - it is permitted to "clean-install" WS2012)
To exercise this "downgrade right", confirm your entitlement to do so, and the entitled version/edition (via your licensing agreement).
You will then need to acquire the installation media for the desired version/edition, and also, acquire the specific license product key to do so.
You can acquire the relevant product key by telephoning Microsoft Product Activation Centre, and explain your scenario, that you wish to exercise your "downgrade rights" - you will be provided with a one-time-use Product Key for this purpose.
Or, have I misunderstood your question?
Don
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This helps the community, keeps the forums tidy, and recognises useful contributions. Thanks!)

Can we use Windows Server 2012 RDS CAL license in RDS 2008 R2 Server

Respected Sir,
We have RDS Server 2012 CAL license select plus but we want to use Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS so is it possible to use 2012 RDS license in RDS 2008 Server?
if yes how can put this.
Waiting for your reply.
thanks,
Hiren Patel
+91 9974091230

Hi,
RDS 2012 CALs can license 2008 R2 and 2008 session hosts. However, RDS 2012 CALs only can be installed on the 2012 Licensing server.
RDS and TS CAL Interoperability Matrix
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14988.rds-and-ts-cal-interoperability-matrix.aspx
Hope this helps.
Jeremy Wu
TechNet Community Support

Migrate Windows Server 2008 RD TS/RDS Per Device CALs from a 2008 r2 RD License server to a 2012 RD License server

I would like to migrate my 2008 r2 CALs from current Server 2008 r2 to a Server 2012 RD License server. Will the Migrate licenses Wizard in 2008 r2 Licensing server work for this or is there another process that I will have to use?

I have a 2008 license server with 2008 licenses that I need to migrate to 2012 servers and also provide some kind of fault tolerance in case one license server goes down. I want to split the licenses since we can't have the same number of licenses
on both servers. Do you know if the existing licenses can be split during the migration and be placed on two different windows 2012 license server as per Microsoft best practice?

Using Windows Server 2012 per-User RDS CAL on Server 2008 R2 Session Host

I have a Remote Desktop Licensing Server setup on my domain controller running Windows Server 2012 R2. I have installed a
’Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services per-User CAL’ there and activated the licensing server already.
Currently I use ONLY Windows Server 2008 R2 machines as RDS Session Hosts (in the future I plan to transition them to 2012 R2, hence the CAL I bought is
already in the newest version).
I have already configured my WS 2008 RDS Session Hosts: set
Per-User licensing mode and specified license server address. The connectivity between my Session Host(s) and my License Server seems to be ok as the
Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration window on the Session Host correctly lists the 2012 per-user
license (CAL installed on server) from the license server.
On the License Server I can also see event logs entries (in
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-Licensing/Admin), indicating that the user has been issued a license.
The issue I am having is that the license being issued is
2008 Per User CAL license (Build-in OverUsed - temporary) and not the 2012 Per User CAL license which is the only license installed on the server. According to the RDS CAL interoperability matrix at
social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14988.rds-and-ts-cal-interoperability-matrix.aspx, I was expecting the 2012 license to be backward-compatible with 2008 client (and that
in the absence of legacy licenses, the (only) 2012 license would be used for all clients connecting to the licensing server)
Before I bought my license, I found this document:
download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/WindowsServerRDS_VLBrief.pdf
which says that - "newer version RDS CALs can be used with an older version of the server software" (In section FAQ, Q4), which means to me that
the 2012 license would work as-is for the 2008 Server and gives me flexibility when upgrading to the new server version.
How can I make this CAL work in my environment?
Note:
I have already explicitly disabled
Prevent license upgrade Group Policy setting which I assumed would fix the issue but nothing has changed.
Then I have enabled License server security group Group Polity setting
and added computers from my domain to RDS Endpoint Servers AD group. I have also created new AD group called
Terminal Server Computers and added the computer accounts there, but it changes
nothing. Reference - technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee791761.aspx , technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725704.aspx and blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2009/09/17/control-the-issuance-of-rds-cals.aspx.
I found one potential ‘workaround’ which involved manually downgrading my CAL license by calling
Microsoft Clearinghouse. I am very reluctant do to so because, as I upgrade parts of my infrastructure to Server 2012, I’d need to then ask Microsoft to manually upgrade a part of my license back as well.
Am I missing something? What should I do to get my 2012 CAL to be issued to 2008 R2 server

Hi, I have tried several other possibilities.
I change expire date for my temporary assigned license (2008 CAL overused). It can be done, by changing Active Directory user properties – msTSExpireDate. When I restart my Session Host server and logged again, my license was renewed
for next 60 days (event ID - 4145).
I also delete information about license for this user (clear msTSExpireDate and msTSLicenseVersion). And the license was successfully removed from License Manager. After another SH restart it gets the same – 2008 overused – license
(event ID 4143 - license server has successfully issued …)
I now, that changing info in AD attributes is a little trick, and this is not a real value - only a reference, but it was useful to delete or change expiration date of license. But it didn’t change type of license as I expected.
Reference -
http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/243320-windows-2008-licensing-questions/
To TP:
I have found your post with information:
If you have a Server 2012 RD Licensing server you may install your 2012 RDS CALs on it (no downgrade necessary) and then set your Server 2008 R2 RDSH to
use the 2012 RDL server. The 2012 RD Licensing server will automatically issue the CALs as 2008. -
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/6046ded1-96bf-4d79-89ce-38aac2a6694e/can-we-use-windows-server-2012-rds-cal-license-in-rds-2008-r2-server?forum=winserverTS
And it showing my situation in brief. I also found
similar problems, but the solutions don’t meet my expectations.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/dcfb1966-89a8-4b5d-bf5a-ff03ac0b7a66/rds-cal-licenses-not-recognized?forum=winserverTS
– “sudden all of the CALS were available”
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/f1228599-8452-4a3e-a263-061de14bfcfe/server-2012-rds-builtin-overused-cals-issue?forum=winserverTS
– “this should go away after a while”
Is there a way to determine this time you mentioned before? Or should I just wait patiently…

Windows server 2012 Standard Edition Licensing

We have SPLA aggrement with MS.
I know, can use two physical processors with Windows server 2012 Standard Edition.
If i am planning to install Windows server 2012 Standard Edition in a virtual environment, lets say it has four cores, then how many licenses we need to buy for this ? Is it like each core has been considered as an separate processor in virtual environment
for Windows server 2012 Standard Edition licensing ?
Thanks,
Amit.

We have SPLA aggrement with MS.
I know, can use two physical processors with Windows server 2012 Standard Edition.
If i am planning to install Windows server 2012 Standard Edition in a virtual environment, lets say it has four cores, then how many licenses we need to buy for this ? Is it like each core has been considered as an separate processor in virtual environment
for Windows server 2012 Standard Edition licensing ?
Note that some information will be different for SPLA (so, check the SPUR to ensure you are in correct compliance).
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/licensing-options/spla-program.aspx
http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=3&DocumentTypeId=2
(if the information provided, clearly states that "this applies to all Volume Licensing programs", this also applies to SPLA, unless SPUR states differently)
(contact your reseller/partner/advisor, or MSFT VL team if you are unsure)
Windows Server 2012 R2 FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/windowsserver2012-r2.aspx#tab=4
Windows Server 2012 R2 Licensing Guide
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/4/E64F72BF-55E9-4D85-9EFE-39605D7CE272/WindowsServer2012R2_Licensing_Guide.pdf
Licensing Brief - Licensing Windows Server 2012 R2 for Use with Virtualization Technologies
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/win2008-virtual.aspx
Licensing Brief - Licensing Microsoft Server Products for Use in Virtual Environments
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/virtual-licensing.aspx
Don
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This helps the community, keeps the forums tidy, and recognises useful contributions. Thanks!)

Downgrade Windows Server 2012 License to WIndows Server 2008 R2

Hi all,
I'm looking to downgrade a windows server 2012 open license to windows server 2008 r2.
Thing is i do not have an existing windows server 2008 r2 VLK.
Can anyone confirm that this downgrade is possible, as clearinghouse is not helping by telling me that i can't buy windows server 2008 r2 licenses

Clearinghouse is right in stating you can't buy Windows Server 2008 R2
licenses anymore.
You'll need a Windows Server 2008 R2 disk kit and product key. They'll sell those to you, since you already own a license that allows you to install and use the software as part of your Windows Server 2012 license.

Server 2012 + CALs License Clarifications

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