Skip to main content

How Many KMS Servers can a single KMS license activate.

Here is the official word from Microsoft:   In particular, this paragraph:

What is Key Management Service (KMS) and how does it work?

KMS is a lightweight service that does not require a dedicated system and can easily be co-hosted on a system that provides other services. With KMS, you can complete activations on your local network, eliminating the need for individual computers to connect to Microsoft for product activation.

A KMS host key is used only to activate the KMS host with a Microsoft activation server. A KMS host key can activate six KMS hosts with 10 activations per host. Each host can activate an unlimited number of computers. If you have an existing machine configured as Windows KMS* host, you will need to enter and activate the Office 2010 KMS host key before the KMS host can activate Office 2010, Project 2010, and Visio 2010. If you need additional KMS activations so you may activate more than 6 KMS hosts, find the telephone number for your Microsoft Activation Center to activate your KMS host.

KMS requires a minimum number of either physical or virtual computers in a network environment. These minimums, called activation thresholds, are set so that they are easily met by enterprise customers. For computers running:

  • Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 you must have at least five (5) computers to activate.

  • Windows Vista or Windows 7 you must have at least twenty-five (25) computers to activate. These thresholds can be a mix of server and client machines to make up the threshold number.

  • Office 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010 you must have at least five (5) computers to activate. If you have deployed Microsoft Office 2010 products, including Project 2010 and Visio 2010, you must have at least five (5) computers running Office 2010, Project 2010 or Visio 2010.

Here are some more reference materials to assist you:

*Only Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 volume editions, and Windows Server 2008 R2 are supported as Office KMS hosts.

 

This one is a bit confusing.  Is it 6 KMS servers or 60???  Here is a bit more details from Sean Metcalf

 

A KMS key is used to activate only the KMS host with a Microsoft activation server. A KMS key can activate up to six KMS hosts with 10 activations per host. Each host can activate an unlimited number of computers. If you need to activate more than six KMS hosts, contact your Volume Licensing Service Center (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=184280), and state why you must increase the activation limit.

In other word, the answer is 6.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

You may not have an error at all.  Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off.  It is not an error.  It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle.  This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the mapped drive. If the