Microsoft Base and Additive CALs-August 2015

Microsoft Base and Additive CALs – Details

There are two practical components when licensing access to Microsoft server products: access to the Windows Server operating system itself, and access to the Microsoft application that works within the Windows Server environment. This is often referred to as licensing “the stack” of products used in an IT environment. Users must license access to each layer of the stack. Common examples of this include use of Exchange Server and Skype for Business Server: users must acquire CALs for Windows Server which is required for use with these products, as well as the appropriate CALs for Exchange and/or Skype for Business Server.

Microsoft Base and Additive CALs – Additive CAL

Some Microsoft software products, such as the Microsoft Windows Server operating system, license additional functionality with licenses known as “additive CALs.” Additive CALs license functionality in the base server product and must be licensed in addition to the base CAL. Additive CALs are sometimes referred to as “premium” or “premium services” CALs. External Connectors are generally available for both base and additive functionalities.
Examples of additive CALs include the Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services CAL and the Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Rights Management Services (RMS) CAL. Both of these additive CALs license functionality included in Windows Server and require a Windows Server 2012 CAL for their use.
The following figure describes the four licensing options with Windows Server CALs.

Microsoft Exchange Server offers an additive CAL called the Exchange Server Enterprise CAL, which is licensed in addition to the Exchange Server Standard CAL. Each user or device requiring functionality from the Exchange Server Enterprise CAL (unified messaging, personal archiving, etc.) also needs to purchase a matching Exchange Server Standard CAL as pre-requisite.
The following figure describes the two licensing options with Exchange Server CALs.

In a similar fashion to these examples, Microsoft SharePoint Server offers the SharePoint Standard CAL (portals, enterprise content management) and the SharePoint Enterprise CAL (business intelligence, enterprise search, electronic forms). Skype for Business Server offers the Skype for Business Server Standard CAL (instant messaging and presence), the Skype for Business Server Enterprise CAL (audio/video/web conferencing), and the Skype for Business Server Plus CAL (Enterprise Voice).

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