Question

Photo of Hock_Hin Lee

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What Windows Server CAL licences are needed for Rock?

1

What would be the required Windows Server CAL licenses to run Rock, on an internally hosted server,

a) Initially for church staff to enter and update membership data (within Church's Local Area Network)

b) Progress to allowing members to login and update their particulars (within Church's Local Area Network)

c) Later allowing Pastors and ministry workers to access Rock via Internet (from outside the office)

d) Allowing all Rock users to access Rock from the Internet

 

I have tried reading the Microsoft sites on this topic of CAL licensing but there seems to be no simple answer.

Hardware and Server license are the first step in Internal Hosting.

Thanks and Regards.

  • Photo of Jim Michael

    0

    There are two types of licensing you must deal with in this situation: Windows Server, and SQL Server. In the most simple config, where you KNOW the exact number of people accessing the server (say, only church staff) you could be legal just by purchasing X number of Windows CALs and X number of SQL Server CALs. However, once you move past that most-simple of situations, things get more complicated. 

    On the opposite extreme, let's say your Rock server is exposed to the Internet and staff, congregants, and pretty much anyone can visit your (Rock) web site and create an account and log in. Now you're in a situation where it's impossible to KNOW the exact number of people that will ever use your site (and you wouldn't be able to afford a CAL for each person, anyway) so you must licence in a completely differnet manner. For Windows itself, you need what's called an "External Connector" license, and for SQL Server you need "core licenses". The External Connector licenses let "anyone" authenticate against your public-facing Windows web server. The SQL Core licenses let "anyone" use SQL Server. It is a COMMON misconception that since Rock (or any other web app using SQL server) is only one "user" hitting SQL server and users themselves aren't logging into the db directly, that you can get by with a single CAL. This is completely FALSE and Microsoft says no way, and it's not legal... which is why SQL Server Core licensing exists in the first place. You licence the CPU *cores* SQL Server is using, and then "anyone" can use the SQL Server services without a CAL. Similar concept on the WIndows side... External Connector license removes the need for CALs for public-facing users.

    So, that's the KIND of licenses you need if you're going to have a public facing Rock server that (uncountable) people log into. Where it gets most confusing is HOW MANY of these External Connector and SQL Server core licenses you need, and that really depends on whether you're dealing with phsycial servers vs virtual, and how many CPU cores are on the boxes. MS has some decent whitepapers that describe how to buy External Connector and SQL Server core licenses correctly so just google them.

    Finally, if you're a 501c3 I highly recommend you purchase these licenses through TechSoup, which is Microsoft's official outlet for Non-profit purchasing. As a non-profit you will pay just a fraction of what these liceses cost normal businesses. They are not "cheap", but they are waaay more affordable than they would be if you were a normal business. I guess I would end with saying this: If you only ever planned for Rock to be an internal-facing, staff-only portal, then you could just buy Win/SQL CALs for all staff. But if you KNOW you're going to be allowing the public to log into your Rock server at some point, you might as well go External Connector and SQL core licensing from the start.

    • Jim Michael

      Jim Michael

      Oh, I guess I should add that I'm assuming "real" SQL server here, not SQL Server Express. I'm pretty sure if you're using Express, you don't need any SQL Server licensing.... but Express is probably only viable for the smallest of Rock installs.