I was at a SQL 2005 training class recently and learned something new about licensing for SQL Server. Since it's not really my baliwick to be the one obtaining the SQL
Server licensing for iMIS clients, I've never dug too deepling into the
licensing rules. But I have heard people say that you only need 1 CAL for your web server to connect to your SQL Server, i.e., if CF_CUST connects to the server, that's just one connection.
NO, NO, NO according to the trainer at this class, a former Microsoft employee who has trained SQL Server classes for years. You need to have a CAL for EVERY device connecting to your db, which means anyone using e-Series should certainly be getting Processor licensing if they want to be Microsoft legal. I wonder how many organizations are following this rule.
From Microsoft's licensing document for SQL Server 2005:
Sometimes organizations develop network
scenarios that use various forms of hardware and/or software that reduce the
number of devices or users that directly access or use the software on a
particular server, often called multiplexing
or pooling hardware or software. Use
of such multiplexing or pooling hardware
and/or software does not reduce the number of CALs required to access or use
SQL Server software. A CAL
is required for each distinct device or user that is connected to the
multiplexing or pooling software or hardware front end.
This
is true no matter how many tiers of hardware or software exist between the SQL
Server and the client devices that ultimately use its data, services or
functionality.
If it makes you feel any better, if you're buying multiple core processors, Microsoft is counting each processor as one, regardless of how many cores are on the chip.
