Access Front End, SQL Server Back End Required Liscensing

[stopher2475]

Hi I am currently developing a reconciliation tool using SQL server as a back end with SQL as a front end.
Do I require SQL CAL licenses for each access client? Can't I just get a processor license for the server?
You need to be an accountant to decipher their licensing guide.

 

[lameid]

I've been out of the licensing arena for a while but I want to say you buy the SQL server and Cals to use it on clients... CALS can be used as per user (so me using my laptop, desktop and mobile device is one CAL) or per device so that a workstation is licensed and it doesn't matter if John, Mary and Sue all use it.

I think larger enterprises have site level licenses that may be econimacal depending on the implentation but those are very expensive compared to cals for small businesses.

I think there used to be per processor type licensing that went away with multi-core chips...


Of course all this stuff changes about once a year so to what degree I am off in 5 years, who knows.

The easiest thing to do would be to call one of the big three and talk to a Volume Licensing expert... By big three I mean the big three computer sellers (CDW, Inight, PC Connections). You might post back here with a general licensing question because you are really talking about client access (Access front end is not relevant information and some people tend to ignore questions about it in the SQL forums).

 

[lameid]

Worth a mention there is some sort of liecense to accomodate Web Servers so you don't have to have a CAL for every Public user.

 

[gmmastros]

If you can get away with it (depending on the limitations), you could use SQL Express.

SQL Express is free and does not require any cals. There are limitations though, like:

Each database is limited in size (10 gb for SQL 2008 R2 and SQL 2012 or 4 gb for earlier versions.

There is no SQL Agent, so you cannot use SQL server management studio to schedule backups (but you can do it command line with windows task scheduler).

Basically... if you don't require the features of SQL Server standard, use express and save some money.

-George
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
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"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[stopher2475]

A kind fellow on Expert's Exchange helped me out.

[link

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartne...ncise-sql-server-2012-licensing-overview.aspx

]

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartne...ncise-sql-server-2012-licensing-overview.aspx

[/url]

It looks like you can go with:
A. Core license on processor with minimum of 4 cores.
or
B. VM license similar to A. with 4 core minimum.
or
C. 1 VM license and individual CALs.