Tracking user licenses for multiple sites

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Tracking user licenses for multiple sites

Users accessing a Windows Server 2003 operating system in more than one site might be allocated multiple licenses for the product. The License Logging service for Windows Server 2003 operating systems collects site-licensing information on the site license server for a single site. This enables a geographical or organizational unit in an organization to purchase and manage their software licenses separately. However, because each site allocates licenses to users independently of other sites, a user connecting to a product in more than one site might be allocated more than one Client Access License for the same product.

If your organization has multiple sites and you notice unexpected consumption of software licenses, you should check for multiple licenses allocated to users in different sites. To search for multiple Client Access Licenses allocated to the same user in more than one site, you must compare the product information for different sites. To compare the users listed in Clients for different sites, use Licensing in Administrative Tools. For more information, see View product license information.

If a user from a different site is allocated a license for a server product in both sites, you can either delete the user or revoke the license. However, do not do this if the user uses a different device for each site--for example, if the user regularly travels between corporate offices and has a different device in each location. The license allocation would then be correct.

Multiple sites for an organization normally reflect groups of users that are distinct geographically or organizationally, working on distinct subnets owned by the organization. If you find that users are constantly accessing servers in different sites, you might want to reconsider how you structure the sites or how you distribute resources among sites.