Windows Server 2012 Licensing Questions - School Environment

[ElectroPulse]

Hello, all!

I am spending the next 9-10 months at a low-budget Mission School outside the US. Still trying to get used to the super slow internet here...

Anyway, the computer teacher last year didn't know much about computers, so the network was in a shambles when I arrived. So, I am currently in the process of trying to overhaul it... It has been set up like a workgroup, all individual computers with two user accounts (student and administrator). There have already been students who have deleted other students' files, so this has to change in the next week or so.

Anyway, I have never dealt with anything newer than Windows Server 2008 R2, and even my experience with that and Windows Server 2003 was relegated to maintaining user lists, and just browsing through the menus to see what all it could do (rather than dealing with the purchasing of, or installing of, the OSs).

So, on to my questions... I have been reading about the differences between Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and I am leaning toward trying to obtain Windows Server 2012 (that and the fact that it may be harder to get 2008 R2 anyway). However, I am a bit confused about licensing...

First off, let me start out with what I have in mind: Since we don't have any servers that were initially designed to be used as servers (just a regular computer that had Untangle installed on it (switched to pfSense due to cost of required features)), I would like to have a backup server ready to swap in any time needed. So here we go: Two computers, running the (what appears to be) free Server 2012 Hyper-V, which will be running 2 VMs: 1 will be Windows Server 2012, and the other will be pfSense. Each will have 3 (or maybe 4 to mirror the OS) HDDs in them: 1 (or 2) smaller one(s) for the OS, and the other two would probably be 1tb drives mirrored in RAID 1 for student files.

So, how would this work? If we are only using one server at a time, and the only one is only there to be a backup in case the primary server dies, are we required to have two separate licenses? (I am not familiar with how Windows Server licensing works) Also, I am a bit confused as to how Windows Server 2012 licensing works with the CAL... We have about 130 students, so with staff I am figuring about 150-160 user accounts (that would be an absolute maximum... I am envisioning 100 being a more realistic number, since not every student is in a computer class, nor would they need to access the computers). What version of 2012 would we need to get, and I'm guessing we would need to purchase extra CALs for the additional users?

And how do the CALs work? Are they for individual servers, or are they per-organization? If we had a backup server, would I need to purchase additional CALs just for the backup server?

EDIT: Just ran across a website (http://www.creationengine.com/html/ld.lasso?ld=46)... Is it really as simple (and cheap) as it appears? $232 for license, then an additional $1 per user? (Oh, and it looks like per device as well....)

Now, another question that I have that is unrelated to licensing: What sort of capabilities are there for using one VM at a time, while the other is just being mirrored? For example, I have two VMs on each server (one VM would Server 2012, the other would be pfSense). If I wanted to have the primary pfSense server be Server 1, and the primary Server 2012 (with AD, file storage, etc.) be Server 2, would this be possible? This is all new to me (I've never dealt with virtualization), so I am trying to learn everything on the fly as quickly as possible.

And as a side note, the computers that have been donated here all came with Windows 7 Professional, so connecting them to the domain will not be an issue.

Thanks in advance! Any help or advice that can be provided would be greatly appreciated

 

[Mushkins]

If you literally want a second server to swap should the first go down, you need a Server 2012 license for each. If you're just making a backup disk image and conveniently have extra hardware standing by, you do not need a second license (because it's a backup, not a second potentially live server).

User CALs come in two flavors, per user and per device. If you buy user CALs, each student accessing the server needs an individual CAL. If that student is no longer with the school or taking the class, their account can be deleted and the CAL reused for another student. For situations like what you're describing, it's usually a lot cheaper to go the per device route as the lab computers are meant to be shared by a lot of different users. These CALs are tied to the device, and can be reused if that PC is decommissioned from the domain.

CALs are per organization, not per server, so you only need one set regardless of what you do with the server. They are also backwards compatible in validity, meaning a Server 2012 user CAL is valid whether you're using 2012 or 2008 or 2003 or whatever (good luck buying 2008 CALs anyway).

I would not trust that CreationEngine site, it looks sketchy. Find a legitimate microsoft partner or contact microsoft volume licensing directly, tell them your situation and that its for a school and they will get you squared away with exactly what you need plus any EDU discounts you may qualify for.

Also of note is that user CALs for 2012 are completely on the honor system, you do not key them into the server anywhere. It's up to you to stay compliant.

 

[heymrdj]

I meant to get to this to help you this morning but I've had to wait till lunch break here to do so.

As mentioned before 2012 cals are on a honor system. Obviously if your org can be autidited, it's in you best interest to stay compliant.

Second, as mentioned, go through a partner. In most cases, proper edu's only have to have cals for "full time staff". Students get free access once you have satisfied that requirement. Again, your partner can help you with this.

For most school scenarios I recommend user cals, that way staff is covered and you can use all the devices you can muster.

Windows Server 2012 Standard gives you 1 physical (the hyper-v host) and two virtualized 2012 instances in the licensing. Datacenter is unlimited virtualized 2012's per host. Both are licensed on a pair processor basis (1 license covers 2 physical processors, so a dual socket server needs 1 license, a quad socket server needs 2 licenses).

If you want redundancy you'll have no choice but to use 2 servers (both licensed for the max amount of vm's they could see, so in your example, a standard 2012 license on each server) and a shared storage (i recommend ISCSI for Hyper-V). There are other, cheaper ways, though not nearly as redundant, to get this clustered scenario if you would like to know.