Help understanding CALs
- We were on TFS05 workgroup and purchased TFS08 standard w 5 user CALS. TFS08 was installed dual-tier.
We have 3 VS 2008 Team Edition licenses (one is Sys Architects), 1 MSDN premium, and 3 VS 2008 Professional licenses.
My questions:
Based on the licensing whitepaper, this should give us a total of 8 CALS, correct?
Must I do anything to activate the CALs or assign them to users?
One of the reasons for TFS08 purchase was to allow PM/BAs to submit/view workitems. This appears to work using TSWA, however, what does the PM need to be able to view all work items in TSWA, not just his own? Do they need Team Explorer?
Answers
Hi JTCarrm, I guess they (Microsoft employees) are forced to point you to the license people, but I'll try to answer your question.
Q) Must I do anything to activate the CALs or assign them to users?
A) A simple NO, you must however keep track on who’s using what CAL, but there is no technical activation or assigning steps required.Q) What does the PM need to be able to view all work items in TSWA
A) Nothing, Just select a different TeamQuery or create his own. TSWA gives you roughly the same functionality as team explorer, but through a browser. It sounds like your looking at WIWA, a CAL free but limited browser UI.Q) Do they need Team Explorer?
A) Yes, not technically but for the efficiency and user expiries, Team explorer is "free" to use, as long as you have a CAL. Installing TSWA will get you a Windows UI and simple integration between Office (excel/ms project) and TFS.Hope this will help you move on
/Mattias
- Marked As Answer byBill.WangMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, March 25, 2009 6:20 AM
- Edited byMattias Sköld Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:25 PM
All Replies
- Hi
Because the question is a license issue, you can call 1-800-426-9400, Monday through Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (Pacific Time) to speak directly to a Microsoft licensing specialist, and you can get more detail information from there. Worldwide customers can use the Guide to Worldwide Microsoft Licensing Sites to find contact information in their locations.
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/index/worldwide.mspx
Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. - So $4k spent on licenses, many man-hours of configuration, and there's no documentation on who needs what license to do what, and how to install them?
Subversion is looking better all the time! - Hi
Sorry for the incontinence. We sure have documents for license. But MSDN forums are mainly for technical support. The licensing team I pointed to you will provide you the best suggestions of all.
Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. - Bill.Wang said:
Hi
Sorry for the incontinence. We sure have documents for license. But MSDN forums are mainly for technical support. The licensing team I pointed to you will provide you the best suggestions of all.
Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.
If you have documentation describing how CALS are applied and who needs them in the above-described scenarios, I would LOVE to see them, but I have read the TFS licensing whitepaper end-to-end multiple times, and it DOES NOT answer my questions. It is also not contained in any of the TFS install documentation.
It is very disturbing that I continually have to turn to 3rd party forums and blogs to get answers on MS products, especially for something as basic as licensing. May as well save the money and go open source.
I am on hold with your licensing team right now, who are telling me this is a technical issue, so, THANKS A LOT!!! Hi JTCarrm, I guess they (Microsoft employees) are forced to point you to the license people, but I'll try to answer your question.
Q) Must I do anything to activate the CALs or assign them to users?
A) A simple NO, you must however keep track on who’s using what CAL, but there is no technical activation or assigning steps required.Q) What does the PM need to be able to view all work items in TSWA
A) Nothing, Just select a different TeamQuery or create his own. TSWA gives you roughly the same functionality as team explorer, but through a browser. It sounds like your looking at WIWA, a CAL free but limited browser UI.Q) Do they need Team Explorer?
A) Yes, not technically but for the efficiency and user expiries, Team explorer is "free" to use, as long as you have a CAL. Installing TSWA will get you a Windows UI and simple integration between Office (excel/ms project) and TFS.Hope this will help you move on
/Mattias
- Marked As Answer byBill.WangMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, March 25, 2009 6:20 AM
- Edited byMattias Sköld Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:25 PM
- Thank you Mattias. Yes we got policy to redirect licensing question to the licensing team and I'm really a licensing idiot. You know, at office we can apply keys for any software built by Microsoft for working usage. As a result, I didn't gain much experience about licensing and price. :)
Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. - I find the responses to this particularly well set of questions to be severely flawed, both in spelling, grammar and most important of all, assistance.
Best of luck with subversion JTCarm_texas, unfortunately the level of service you receive changes once you have been first assisted (by salespeople) beyond that, they have the money, anything beyond that would simply not be profitable.
Unfortunately, thats capitalism at its best & open source will provide you with more help and assistance, years after you start using an open source product. Best of luck once again.
