How to: License Microsoft Windows Server in a VMware environment – Part 2
We talked about licensing Windows Server on a VMware environment but that’s only one part of the licensing nightmare. You will also need client access licenses also called CALs.
Client Access Licensing
In addition of the Windows Server 2008 License you also need a Windows Server 2008 Client Access License also called CAL. This is required for each user or device (or combination of both) that accesses or uses the Windows 2008 software.
Requirements
Every user or device accessing the Windows Server 2008 needs a CAL. You don’t need a CAL when:
- You access the instance of server software only through the internet without being authenticated or individually identified by the server software;
- You access Windows Web Server 2008;
- If external users are accessing the instances of server software and you have acquired a Windows Server 2008 External Connector License for each server being accessed;
- You only administer the server software with two devices or users;
- You use the Windows Server 2008 solely as a virtualization host.
The last point doesn’t impact us much because we use VMware ESXi solely as our virtualization platform.





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