Windows Small Business Server - Design and Licensing Considerations

Design and Licensing Considerations

Windows Small Business Server has its own type of Client Access License (CAL), that is different and costs slightly more than CALs for the usual editions of the Windows Server operating system. However, the SBS CAL encompasses the user CALs for Windows Server, Exchange Server and SQL Server, and hence is less expensive than buying all the other CALs individually.

Windows Small Business Server has the following design restrictions:

• Only one computer in the domain can be running Windows Small Business Server. That is not to say that the domain only supports a single server. The domain supports multiple servers (including additional domain controllers) running any other operating system, such as Windows Server Standard Edition.
• Windows Small Business Server must be the root of the Active Directory forest.
• Windows Small Business Server cannot trust any other domains. It cannot have any child domains.
• Windows Small Business Server is limited to 75 users or devices depending on which type of CAL (SBS 2008 FE supports a maximum of 15 CALs).
• All Windows Small Business Server versions up to SBS 2003 are limited to 4 GB of RAM. 2008 requires a minimum of 4GB for installation, it needs more for performance. 2008 supports a maximum of 32GB.
• Windows Small Business Server versions prior to Windows Small Business Server 2008 are only available for the x86 (32-bit) architecture.
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 is only available for the x86-64 (64-bit) architecture. This is due to the requirements of Exchange Server 2007, whose production version is 64-bit only. The 32-bit version of Exchange Server 2007 is only supported for testing and non-production scenarios.
• The SQL Server which comes with SBS 2008 is "SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business.". It cannot be installed outside of a network that has a domain controller, and must have fewer than 75 PCs and/or users.
• Only the Remote Desktop for Administration mode is available because Small Business Server always runs on the domain controller, and only two simultaneous RDP sessions are allowed. (Change from SBS 2000 policy) Terminal Services in application sharing mode needs to be run on a second server on the network. This however is possible with SBS 2011 Premium add-on which includes a Windows Server 2008 license for running the second server.
• To remove these restrictions and upgrade to regular editions of Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and ISA Server, there is a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Transition Pack.