Do I need Windows License beside CAL for Active Directory

Question

I could not find an answer to this question.

I am panning to deploy windows server and I am confused with the licensing. Do I need Windows License key for every machine that will be using CAL from the domain controller ? How many licenses I really need in order to run clients properly?

Solution 1

Yes, other than the Windows server license key (2008, 2012 etc) every machine that authenticates through your windows server needs to have a OS license (windows 7/8/10 Pro) and a CAL.

CALs come in 2 flavours: per user or per computer. You should use user CALs if you have more computers than users. You should use computer CALs if you have more users than computers.

CALs are not registered anywhere, its just mandatory to have them on hand in case microsoft comes and asks.

Solution 2

It depends of which Windows Server you're using. For instance, if you're using Microsoft Windows Server Foundations, you can have up to 15 hosts accessing it without the need of CALs, or if you're using Essentials, you can have up to 25 hosts. The problem is that if you need more hosts to access, you're gonna have to buy another Windows Server's edition. There are other limitations, that are addressed in this article.

Basically, as far as I know, you're always gonna need both client and server's license, only CALs being optional, depending of your Windows Server's edition.

Cya!