SBS R2 Extended CAL rights. What does this mean?

With the launch of SBS R2, one of the exciting new changes is the SBS R2 Extended CAL Rights for those with SBS R2 Server licenses. So what do these new CAL rights mean?

SBS R2 Expanded CAL rights provide the following:

The SBS R2 CALs now allow the access of not only the SBS R2 Server itself, but also any additional Exchange Standard or SQL Workgroup Edition member servers in the SBS R2 domain. The reason it is Exchange Standard and SQL Workgroup is because those are the versions included in SBS.

NOTE: Expanded CAL rights allows Users or Devices (depending which type of CALs you have), the rights to access the member servers. They do NOT provide licenses for those additional servers themselves (i.e. If you install an Exchange member server or a SQL member server, you need to buy those Exchange or SQL Server licenses) nor do they provide the rights to split your SBS R2 Server components across multiple servers. This is additional member server access rights just like you had for Windows Server member servers in pre-R2 SBS CALs, except now it also applies to Exchange and SQL.

How many additional Exchange Standard or SQL Workgroup Servers can be accessed with the SBS CAL now? As many additional Exchange Standard or SQL Workgroup Edition Servers as you have in your SBS R2 domain can be accessed with these extended CAL rights. Again, you will need to purchase an Exchange Standard or SQL Workgroup Server license for each additional Server you want to install; however, your SBS R2 CALs will allow you to access as many as you have.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager
Small Business Community Engagement
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights