Manually Publishing and Un-publishing Terminal Server License Servers

Terminal Servers automatically discover TS License Servers available in a deployment by querying the Active Directory Catalog for a list of license servers. This list is in the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" object in the Catalog Server. Typically, License Servers in "Enterprise" discovery mode publish themselves to this list during installation. However, this process may go wrong for a variety of reasons, and the publishing step may need to be performed manually. Alternatively, when the discovery mode or deployment location of a License Server changes, it may be necessary to un-publish the LS from the list. In this post, we will discuss how to perform these manual operations in Windows Server 2003 License Server.

Manually Publishing a License Server for Enterprise Discovery

Typical problems that cause the failure of publishing the TS License Server include:

If during the installation of the License Server, Active Directory was down and the License Server was not published in the Catalog.
If the License Server was installed in Enterprise mode, but without Enterprise Administrator Credentials, it will not be published in the Catalog.

In these cases, the License Server may need to be manually published. You may also have to create the TS-Enterprise-License-Server object if it does not yet exist in the Catalog Server.

Publishing a License Server

We can manually publish the Terminal Server License Server, using one of the following two methods,

Using "Active Directory Sites and Services":

1. Open the "Active Directory Sites and Services" snapin; Start -> Programs -> Administrative tools -> "Active Directory Sites and Services"

2. Select the Site in which you wish to publish the Terminal Server License Server

3. Open the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object. If the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" object does not exist, you may have to create it. See below.

4. Under the "Licensing Setting" tab click on the "Change" button

5. Add the License Server machine name and click OK

Using ADSI Edit tool:

1. Open the ADSI* Edit tool

2. Select the "CN=Configuration" node

3. Select the "CN=Sites"

4. Open the node of the site where you wish to publish the License Server

5. Open the "CN= TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object in the right hand panel of the UI. If the "CN=TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object is not present use "Creating the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object in the Catalog" to create the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object

6. Select the "siteServer" Attribute and click "Edit"

7. Give the License Server machine name in the LDAP form (for example "CN=LSMachine,CN=Computers,DC=example,DC=com") and click "Add"

Creating the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object in the Catalog

1. Open ADSI Edit tool

2. Select the "CN=Configuration" node

3. Select the "CN=Sites" node

4. Open the node of the site where you wish to create the "TS-Enterprise-License-Server" object. If there is no such node then there is no License Server installed in "Enterprise mode" in that particular site

5. Action -> New -> Object

6. Select the "licensingSiteSettings" class

7. Give the Value as "TS-Enterprise-License-Server"

8. Click Finish

Manually Un-Publishing a License Server

Typical scenarios that may require manually un-publishing License Server:

While the License Server was being uninstalled, Active Directory was down and License Server could not be un-published from the Catalog.
If you uninstall the license server with a account that does not have Enterprise Administrator Credentials, The License Server won’t be Un-Published from the Catalog
If License Server machine is being moved from domain to workgroup, then License Server scope automatically changes to workgroup mode. It needs to be un-published manually from the Catalog.

In all of these cases, the entry that is left behind in the TS-Enterprise-License-Server object would cause the TS servers to still look for the License Server, even though the LS server may no longer be available or may have moved to a different network. This may cause problems in the license discovery and make the TS servers unable to find the type of CAL needed for a particular user. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep the list as current as possible by manually un-publishing a removed License server from the list in the TS-Enterprise-License-Server object.

Un-Publishing a License Server

We can manually Un-Publish Terminal Server License Server using ADSI Edit tool.

Open ADSI Edit tool*
Select the "CN=Configuration" node
Again select the "CN=Sites"
Open the node of the site, where one wishes to publish the License Server
Open the "CN= TS-Enterprise-License-Server" Object in right hand panel of the UI
Select "siteServer" Attribute and click "Edit"
Select the License Server name under the heading "Value" and click "Remove"