The Remote Desktop License Feature in the MAP Toolkit
The Remote Desktop Services (RDS) product, formerly known as Terminal Services, has provided a reporting solution for device and user client access dating back to the Windows 2000 timeframe. Since MAP has emerged as the standard tool used for SAM and license renewal engagements, a growing number of requests have been made by MAP users over the past several years for the addition of RDS Usage Tracking to MAP.
At long last, the wait is over. Starting in the MAP Toolkit 9.0 release, MAP will include a report on the data it obtains from the Remote Desktop License Server. The addition of this feature further expands MAP’s capabilities and usefulness as a central point for gathering data.
Getting the Data
For this feature, a new option has been added to the list of Inventory Scenarios in the Inventory Wizard, so you will want to choose both:
- Windows computers
- Client Access Tracking for Remote Desktop Services
MAP will conduct a general inventory of the environment and for any RD License servers that are discovered, MAP will use WMI and PowerShell queries to obtain the information needed for the reports. For details on how to prepare your environment for a successful WMI and PowerShell connection, see these TechNet Wiki articles:
Limitations
To make this feature as useful as possible, we included versions of Windows Server as far back as we could; however, some data didn’t exist prior to a particular version. As such, this feature does not support collecting data on versions prior to Windows Server 2008 because many of the WMI classes that MAP needs were not introduced until that version of Windows Server, and some were introduced even later.
Some User CAL data was only made available via WMI starting in Windows Server 2012. The following data will be missing from the report or not included in the counts for any RD License Servers running on Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2:
- Count of issued User licenses will not include licenses issued from servers running Windows Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2
- Count of available User licenses will not include licenses issued from servers running Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2
- Issue date for User CALs
- Expiration date for User CALs (available starting with Server 2008 R2)
- KeyPack ID for KeyPacks containing User CALs
- License Status of KeyPacks containing User CALs
The Report
Here is a brief explanation of the report which contains 5 worksheets:
- Overview – This worksheet reports the total number of RD License Servers discovered as well as the total number of User or Device CALs installed, issued, and available.
- RD License Server Summary – Similar to the Overview worksheet, this worksheet displays summary information, but on a server by server basis.
- RD License Key Pack – This is a list of all the Key Packs installed on the discovered servers.
- User CAL Details – Detailed list of the users that have a CAL issued to them, including the OS version of the issued CAL and the server that issued the CAL.
- Device CAL Details – Detailed list of the devices that have a CAL issued to them, including the OS version of the issued CAL and the server that issued the CAL.