4 ms·

As far as I understand Microsoft licensing, in normal VPS + Windows solution you would have to pay Windows Server CALs for each user connecting to your web app

As far as I understand Microsoft licensing, in normal VPS + Windows solution you would have to pay Windows Server CALs for each user connecting to your web app on that server (even if you dont use windows authentication). In Azure, MS frees you from that CAL charge. I would be grateful if someone could confirm or reject this licensing issue - I heard it once from a MS employee but perhaps he misunderstood the thing about VPS somehow?

wrs 11y ago
As of Windows 2012, you don't need CALs for a "web workload" (basically, Internet web pages and POP3 email) on the standard edition. Before that, there was a special edition for "web workloads" that was limited in other ways.
- polskibus 11y ago
  Well, I spoke to MS licensing person from Warsaw 3 months ago and she was sure about the need for an external connector license if you don't want to pay CALs (costs around 100 CALs if I remember correctly). What is your source of information if I may ask? Or maybe you can point me towards a publicly available document?
  - wrs 11y ago
    You do need an external connector license for the servers that aren't running "web workloads" (serving pages), e.g., a database or mid-tier application server. See question 5 at http://blogs.technet.com/b/volume-licensing/archive/2014/03/10/licensing-how-to-when-do-i-need-a-client-access-license-cal.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/volume-licensing/archive/2014/03/... That blog post is also a great demonstration of the hilariously complicated MS licensing regime. Hilarious if you don't have to deal with it, that is.
    - polskibus 11y ago
      Thanks a lot for the link! It seems that if I have a web app and database on the same server then user<->web app does not require CAL even if database is involved in handling that web app work load! That's good news for my use case. It really shows how twisted MS licensing is if MS licensing staff does not understand MS licensing ) I am not sure however, whether this changes if authentication is involved - is it still a publicly available web solution or not? I really hope ASP.NET will become rock solid soon on Linux so one can avoid MS licensing twists altogether,
lafar6502 11y ago
don't think you need cals for web apps - a server license is enough for web apps
superuser2 11y ago
You need CALs for things like Domain users (people logging in to managed desktops), Sharepoint users, and Exchange accounts. Your business's internal users of Microsoft products. Your own code running on Windows Server, no. MS charges editions of things like SQL Server and IIS based on functionality, cores, nodes, etc.

wrs 11y ago

As of Windows 2012, you don't need CALs for a "web workload" (basically, Internet web pages and POP3 email) on the standard edition. Before that, there was a special edition for "web workloads" that was limited in other ways.

polskibus 11y ago
Well, I spoke to MS licensing person from Warsaw 3 months ago and she was sure about the need for an external connector license if you don't want to pay CALs (costs around 100 CALs if I remember correctly). What is your source of information if I may ask? Or maybe you can point me towards a publicly available document?
- wrs 11y ago
  You do need an external connector license for the servers that aren't running "web workloads" (serving pages), e.g., a database or mid-tier application server. See question 5 at http://blogs.technet.com/b/volume-licensing/archive/2014/03/10/licensing-how-to-when-do-i-need-a-client-access-license-cal.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/volume-licensing/archive/2014/03/... That blog post is also a great demonstration of the hilariously complicated MS licensing regime. Hilarious if you don't have to deal with it, that is.
  - polskibus 11y ago
    Thanks a lot for the link! It seems that if I have a web app and database on the same server then user<->web app does not require CAL even if database is involved in handling that web app work load! That's good news for my use case. It really shows how twisted MS licensing is if MS licensing staff does not understand MS licensing ) I am not sure however, whether this changes if authentication is involved - is it still a publicly available web solution or not? I really hope ASP.NET will become rock solid soon on Linux so one can avoid MS licensing twists altogether,

lafar6502 11y ago

don't think you need cals for web apps - a server license is enough for web apps

superuser2 11y ago

You need CALs for things like Domain users (people logging in to managed desktops), Sharepoint users, and Exchange accounts. Your business's internal users of Microsoft products. Your own code running on Windows Server, no. MS charges editions of things like SQL Server and IIS based on functionality, cores, nodes, etc.