License Question

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From: Fao, Sean (enceladus311_at_yahoo.comI-WANT-NO-SPAM)
Date: 11/17/04 

Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 11:08:33 -0500

After searching the list of newsgroups, I was still unsure where to post
questions about licenses. If this is the wrong place, feel free to
redirect me to a better newsgroup.

On that note, I'm in the process of buying MS SQL Server 2000 and I'm
not sure which license *best* suits the needs of my company. The
primary use of SQL on this server is to store a scientific database,
which customers can search from a web site. The Enterprise Manager is a
requirement for this server so I assume that MSDE is out of the question.

I see that the minimum number of CAL's that I can purchase is five. The
problem is that I do not know what a CAL is needed for. I cannot
currently estimate the number of users that will access this site at any
given time. The search engine was written such that "user name"
connects to the server at the beginning of the http session, performs a
"SELECT" when the customer clicks the "Search" button, and disconnects
after the session ends (pretty standard design). Where my confusion
sets in is for the number of users that could potentially connect and/or
perform a search at any given time. For example, if 100+ users connect
to the website at the same time, will I need 100+ SQL CAL's? Or, is
only a single CAL needed since all connections will be from the same web
server and will login to SQL with the same user name.

If the latter is true, 5 CAL's is plenty; however, if a separate CAL is
needed for each user that is connecting to the website, I might want to
go with an alternative plan. For example, I'm told that if I purchase
the "Single Processor" version, that there is no limit on the number of
connections.

Can somebody more knowledgeable on the subject than I, please verify
what I should be purchasing?

Thank you in advance, 

-- 
Sean
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