They give clients "permission" to access servers. If a client accesses a server and there's no CAL for that client, you're in violation of your licensing agreement. They're kept on paper basically.

As Microsoft phases out older Exchange Server versions, IT leaders are facing new decisions about how to stay compliant and cost-efficient. Understanding the current licensing landscape for Windows ...

Microsoft published a few licensing details this month about its forthcoming Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 products. The documents are noteworthy not just for providing licensing details, ...

At least once a month I run into a seasoned IT professional who will finally admit that they’ve never quite figured out how to license CALs (and at least once a quarter that someone asks “What is a ...

Unless you're running a large company that wants to install, host and maintain Microsoft Exchange Server on its own equipment, you generally don't need to purchase an Exchange Server license.

As of August 1, Microsoft will raise the prices of a number of its User client-access licenses (CALs) by 13 percent. The affected CALs are for on-premises, not cloud, products. The prices of Device ...

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) basically helps us to connect two systems at a distant location. We’ve already seen how to enable, disable the Remote Desktop connection using the RDP protocol. However, ...

Microsoft has a number of volume software license agreements available for its commercial customers. Each of these agreements has different benefits and different restrictions – understanding these ...

Microsoft only just officially released SQL Server 2019 at its Ignite conference in Orlando, Fla., but it announced some key changes to licensing a little bit earlier. Don't worry -- they're all ...

As of December 1, Microsoft is changing the way it prices the "user" option when purchasing client-access licenses (CALs), which will result in higher prices for some customers. With the User CAL, ...