On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 4:57 PM Douglas <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello! > > I have a question about licensing to use Apache Guacamole. > I have a Windows Server 2012 Std license and 5 Device Calls. > Whereas I'm going to put Apache Guacamole on just one device. Can I access > with 50 simultaneous users without restrictions? > > My first recommendation, here, is that you seek the expertise of a Microsoft reseller that can help you with licensing. One that you trust to not just attempt to up-sell you on everything, but an expert on the subject. I offer the following advice based only on my experience and not based on any official training I have... Short answer, no, you are not covered... ==TL;DR== Microsoft has two licensing models: Per-User and Per-Device, which are pretty much what they sound like. Per-user requires that you license each and every user *that is authorized to use the system.* Per-device requires that you license each and every *end device that is authorized to use the system.* In *neither* case is the licensing based at all on concurrency. So, in the per-user model, let's assume you have User01 - User50 that would be logging into a Windows Server via Guacamole. You are required to purchase 50 User CALs to cover all of these users. It's also worth noting you are required to purchase 50 Windows Server User CALs *AND* 50 Remote Desktop Servers (Terminal Services) User CALs, as the Remote Desktop portion is licensed separately from the Windows Server portion. In the per-user scenario, it does not matter if only 5 users will be accessing it at a time, or if all 50 users will be accessing it through a single point (Guacamole), you must license all *USERS* that are authorized to log into the system. In the per-device model, let's say you have User01 - User50, all of whom will be accessing the server through Guacamole. You have to license all of the *devices* that the users will be using to access the server through Guacamole. So, you cannot say that Guacamole represents a single device accessing the server - Microsoft does not count this - they count the actual device that the user is on that is logging into the server. If each user has two devices, you need to license 100 Per-Device licenses for both Windows Server and Remote Desktop. Obviously this can get a little complicated when you do not have control over or even visibility into the devices end-users use - and, in this case, I think you'd be advised to go for the per-user model. Microsoft also has some licensing to cover Internet-facing use-cases, where you do not have the ability to realistically count the number of users or number of devices, but, the take-away from that is the Micro$oft is going to get their $$$$ - you're not getting away with that one easily. Someone is welcome to jump in and correct me if I went wrong somewhere; again, this is my experience and my reading of Microsoft EULAs, and I'm pretty sure they employ enough lawyers to avoid little loopholes like this :-). And, again, seek advice from someone authoritative on the issue - either a lawyer or a reseller. -Nick
