I'm in a new environment and it's different to my previous experiences of SPLA. In what situations does it apply? a) Web server hosting customer websites (I have no doubt it applies here) b) Web server hosting my company (as in, my employer, the people that own the server) website, which has web apps on it (like account tools for their ISP account) c) Application server which receives data passed to it from another system that processes payment and triggers a release of content in another service for the customer (like something that in the backend processes a pay per view purchase and then tells another system to release that content to the customers set top box) Can I dileneate on whether a customer external to the company is hitting a server directly or not?

I'm in a new environment and it's different to my previous experiences of SPLA. In what situations does it apply? a) Web server hosting customer websites (I have no doubt it applies here) b) Web server hosting my company (as in, my employer, the people that own the server) website, which has web apps on it (like account tools for their ISP account) c) Application server which receives data passed to it from another system that processes payment and triggers a release of content in another service for the customer (like something that in the backend processes a pay per view purchase and then tells another system to release that content to the customers set top box) Can I dileneate on whether a customer external to the company is hitting a server directly or not? yes, netstat -ano should show you the info you want to know on the server itself. Server 2008 also allows a pathping to determine the routes a system can take to a particular server. You should check out a free tool called Net Tools. http://www.axencesoftware.com/index.php?action=NTPro Even if a customer is contacting the server directly, your concerns really should be on the licensing factors and not so much whether or not they have direct access or multiplexed access via a proxy, firewall, or router. Steve Kline Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Product Specialist Microsoft Certified Network Product Specialist This posting is "as is" without warranties and confers no rights.

I'm not sure I understand your reply - I do know in what situations and when a customer is hitting our own servers directly or not, I do not need help in determining that. You're second point of I should be looking at the licensing factors - that's my actual question. The three examples are different situations I'm encountering and I'm confused about what applies where.

Hi, Thanks for the post. You could obtain more detailed information from the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/hosting/en/us/licensing/splahowto.aspx Hope this helps. MilesPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.