Licensing Exchange Server 2019

Exchange Server 2019 is licensed with the Server/CAL model but rather than there just being one level of CAL, there are two CALs available for organizations to purchase. These CALs allow access to different levels of functionality, which means that customers can be licensed for whatever functionality their users need to use.

The two CALs are Standard and Enterprise CALs. The Standard CALs are also known as Base CALs and the Enterprise CALs as Additive CALs. An Additive CAL may only ever be purchased in addition to a Base CAL, never solely alone. This means that customers must purchase Standard CALs for all users accessing an Exchange Server and then, additionally, Enterprise CALs for those users who need access to the higher-level functionality.

The diagram below shows some users licensed with just Standard CALs, and others licensed with both Standard and Enterprise CALs:

Exchange 2019 Standard and Enterprise CALs are available as either User or Device CALs.

Exchange Standard CALs allow users to access the basic functionality of Exchange Server and this includes accessing their email, calendar, contacts and tasks from a variety of clients including Outlook, Outlook on the web, or an app on a mobile device. Note that if users are accessing Exchange from a free app they do still need to be licensed with a CAL. As you would expect, if users have several devices that they access the Exchange Server from, then User CALs are a good recommendation.

An Enterprise CAL adds on access to some more sophisticated features, and it’s also available with Services, which licenses users with active SA for the following:

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): this enforces compliance requirements for sensitive data so that important data can’t be emailed, or it’s checked against a template before emailing, for example
• Exchange Online Protection: this provides anti-malware and anti-spam services