Client and Server Licensing

As many administrators are already aware, Microsoft licensing can be a challenge to decipher. Microsoft offers licensing in the form of two suites:

• Core Client Access License (CAL) Suite

• Enterprise CAL Suite

The Core CAL Suite is equivalent to the following licenses: Windows Server CAL, Microsoft Exchange Server Standard CAL, Microsoft SharePoint Server Standard CAL, and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager Client Management License.

The Enterprise CAL Suite is equivalent to the following licenses:

• The components of the Core CAL Suite listed previously

• The components of the Microsoft Forefront Protection Suite

• Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway CAL

• Microsoft Exchange Server Enterprise CAL

• Microsoft SharePoint Server Enterprise CAL

• Microsoft Office Communications Server Standard CAL

• Microsoft Office Communications Server Enterprise CAL

• Windows Rights Management Services CAL

• The System Center Client Management Suite (composed of the Microsoft System Center Operations Manager Client Management License, Microsoft System Center Service Manager Client Management License, and System Center Data Protection Manager Client Management License)

For Volume Licensing, Lync Server falls under the Enterprise CAL Suite. However, access to the voice workload is licensed through its own Office Communications Server Voice Client Access License (CS Voice CAL). Customers have the option to license the Lync Server Enterprise CAL and the Lync Server Voice CAL either separately or together.