One of the more keenly awaited features of Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Server 2008 has to be its licence management tools; they simply have to be an improvement on those in Windows Server 2003.

Anybody familiar with Windows licences will know there is plenty of scope for confusion. For example, each Windows XP and Vista PC needs a Windows Server Client Access Licence (CAL) in order to use Windows Terminal Services. But there is no monitoring or enforcement of these CALs in Windows Server 2003, and a supplier recently told me many firms just buy the licence packs and throw them in a cupboard.

To use Terminal Services, companies also need specific Terminal Services Client Access Licences (TS CALs). Windows issues temporary TS CALs to help firms with new deployments and the documentation says some of these expire after 90 days and some after 120 days. But in some cases these temporary TS CALs continue to be issued for long past the 120-day period, adding more ambiguity.

What’s more, individual servers can be configured to operate in one of two modes: per-device mode or per-user mode. This is the root of most problems.

Servers running in "per-device" mode can use the Terminal Services licensing tool to provide a report on how licences have been allocated. In this case, it is easy to see that the system is working properly and identify which devices are consuming licences. However, when you try to monitor your "per-user" licence usage, there is no reporting on how many "per-user" licences have been issued compared with how many you have left. Actually, there is just about no reporting at all except a simple screen to show how many licences have been installed.

Other problems crop up because, by default, Windows 2003 uses "per-device" licensing for Terminal Services. Firms that want "per-user" licensing must reconfigure their servers to use that mode, and must tick the appropriate op tion when they install their licence packs. Leave one box unchecked and the server could issue licences from its temporary pool rather than from the permanent pool of TS CALs.

The poor licence reporting tools in Windows Server 2003 make it virtually impossible to see if things are actually working correctly. The first you might know about a problem is when warning messages start appearing on people’s screens.

Microsoft has yet to announce details of pricing and licence requirements for Windows Server 2008. However, it said there will be a tool for tracking Terminal Services "per-user" licences.

roger@rogerh.com