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Guide to Windows Server Editions and Licensing

The purpose of this guide is to help you find the Windows server and licenses appropriate to your organization's needs.

Windows Server is a server operating system that enables a computer to handle network roles such as print server, domain controller, Web server, and file server and to be the platform for separately acquired server applications such as Exchange Server or SQL Server.

2008 and 2003 Versions

Microsoft offers both the 2008 and the 2003 R2 versions of Windows Server through TechSoup New Zealand in order to allow organizations to select the server operating system that will meet their needs.

Generally, Windows Server 2008 is appropriate for organizations that can take advantage of its many enhancements to server management, virtualization, remote access, security and policy enforcement, and its Web and application platforms. In addition, because Windows Server 2008 shares its code base with the Windows Vista system, it is particularly effective and efficient for managing Windows Vista computers.

Windows Server 2003 is appropriate for organizations whose server computers don't meet the system requirements for the 2008 version. Windows Server 2008 requires a faster processor, more RAM, and a bigger hard drive for basic operations. Depending on the system configuration, other requirements might also be higher for Windows 2008.

Most Microsoft products and technologies are compatible with Windows Server 2008, but some are not currently supported, and others are not planned to be supported. See the Microsoft Supported Applications page for details.

Standard and Enterprise Editions

Microsoft offers Windows Server through TechSoup New Zealand in the Standard and Enterprise Editions for both 2003 and 2008. Microsoft also offers three special-purpose editions for 2008: the Datacenter, Web, and Itanium editions.

In general, the Standard Edition is designed for small-to-medium-sized organizations that need no more than one instance of the server software in a virtual operating system.

The Enterprise Edition is appropriate for organizations that need a highly dynamic, scalable IT infrastructure or for organizations that would like to deploy up to four instances of Windows Server (any version) in guest virtual machines.

Datacenter, Web, and Itanium editions

The Datacenter Edition is optimized for large-scale virtualization; its license allows one server to run an unlimited number of Windows Server instances.

The Web Edition is designed to be used only in Internet-facing Web-serving environments.

The Itanium Edition is optimized for the Intel Itanium processor's native 64-bit processing and Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC) architecture.

Licensing

Below are some of the major licensing requirements for Windows Server.

Detailed licensing information can be found in documents you can download from the Microsoft Product Use Rights page:

  • For the current version licensing, click the Download Current Product Use Rights link at the top of the page and select the English language link from the list.
  • For Windows Server 2003 and other earlier products, check the Show Archived box at the top of the Search Documents page and find the document that includes Cha in the Sectors column and North America in the Regions column. The file titled MicrosoftProductUseRights(Worldwide)(English)(January2008) will probably contain the information you need.

Licensing is almost identical for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. See below for the difference in the rights for the Standard Edition operating system license.

Server Operating System Licenses

Windows Server 2003 and 2008 have slightly different licensing models for the Standard Edition:

  • With Windows Server 2003, for each software license you assign, you may run, at any one time, one instance of the server software in one physical or virtual operating system environment on the licensed server.
  • Windows Server 2008 expands the model by allowing one instance in the physical operating system environment and one instance in the virtual operating system environment. If you run Windows Server 2008 in the virtual environment and the physical environment at the same, the instance of the server software running in the physical operating system environment may be used only to run hardware virtualization software and to manage and service operating system environments on the licensed server.

Windows Server 2003 and 2008 have the same operating system licensing models for the Enterprise Edition. With the Enterprise Edition, you are licensed to run, at any one time, one instance of the server software in a physical operating system environment and up to four instances of the server software in virtual operating system environments. You can run earlier versions of the Windows Server operating system, but not later versions, in the virtual environments. However, if you run all five permitted instances at the same time, the instance of the server software running in the physical operating system environment may be used only to run hardware virtualization software and to manage and service operating system environments on the licensed server.

Client Access Licenses (CALs) and External Connector Licenses (ECLs)

A Windows Server device or user CAL is required for each user or device accessing or using the server software, with the exception of anonymous Internet users. An example of such an exception would be unidentified users browsing the organization's public Web site. Alternatively, an organization can use a Windows Server ECL for a large number of authenticated external Internet users. An external user is a person who is not an employee (or similar personnel) of the company or its affiliates and is not someone to whom you provide hosted services using the server software.

If the server is running Terminal Services, separate Terminal Services CALs or ECLs are required to access the services. Terminal Services allows the remote execution of applications from a wide range of devices over virtually any type of network connection.

If the server is running Rights Management Services (RMS), separate RMS CALs or ECLs are required to access the services. RMS is information-protection technology that works with RMS-enabled applications to help safeguard digital information from unauthorized use. RMS functionality is included in the Windows Server license.

Microsoft offers the CALs and ECLs for Windows Server and for Terminal Services through TechSoup New Zealand. RMS licensing is not available through TechSoup New Zealand at this time.

Server Application Licenses

Licenses for server applications — such as SQL Server or Exchange Server — that run on the Windows Server platform are separate. General licensing requirements for server applications offered through TechSoup Stock can be found in the product descriptions. For details, see the Microsoft Product Use Rights documents referenced above.