Citrix RDS CALS Requirement for RDSH servers deployed through MCS service

[phani madani]

HI All,

 

Greetings.

 

Please help me out to understand the RDS CAL's requirements:

For example: if I need 200 users to access 8 to 10 windows server 2016 RDSH servers which are deployed using MCS service, how many RDS CAL's do I need to purchase?

 

200 per user RDS CAL'S or 8-10 per device RDS CAL's?

 

what about, if I want to administer those 8 RDSH servers (which are deployed using MCS service), do I need to purchase any additional RDS licenses?

 

Many Thanks for the help,

Krishna.

 

 

[Kasper Johansen1709159522]

Hi,

 

You will need 1 RDS CAL per user or per device and device in this context is the end point device, aka the device the user logs on to Citrix from.

 

Per User CALs are the most flexible, as it only licenses the AD user account no matter the amount of devices the user logs on from. The RDS Per Device CAL licenses every device that logs on to Citrix, so if a user uses 5 different devices, 5 RDS Per Device CALs are consumed.

 

So in your case you will be able to licenses 200 users with 200 RDS Per User CALs OR 200 unique devices with 200 RDS Per Device CALs.

[phani madani]

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I got it now. I though device is RDSH server, so dumb:)

last question: what about if I want to RDP into those RDSH servers (XenApp servers deployed using citrix MCS) for administration purpose? do I need RDS Licenses such as server CAL's as such?

 

Many Thanks,

Krish.

 

[Kasper Johansen1709159522]

Hi,

 

No, you will not need a RDS CAL for administrative logons. You can "bypass" the RDS licensing server by using the /admin switch on mstsc, like this "mstsc /admin". This will connect you to session 0, which is not license enforced.

[phani madani]

Thanks for the help mate.

 

 

[Kasper Johansen1709159522]

No problem :)

[phani madani]

mate, device can be anything? such as laptop, mobile, iPad, thinclient….etc.

 

please confirm

 

thanks,

 

[Kasper Johansen1709159522]

Hi,

 

Yes, it's any device.

 

You can find more info here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/rds-client-access-license