Terminal Services is a component of the Windows operating system that enables a client application to connect to the terminal server. A user can securely access applications or data stored on a remote computer over a network connection. Terminal Services uses RDP to transmit user inputs to the terminal server, and then returns screen refreshes to the client desktop.
Windows Server 2008 provides several enhancements such as RDC 6.0, remote programs, plug-and-play redirection framework. Terminal server also provides additional functionalities such as TS Web Access, TS Gateway, and Session Directory.
You can use various functionalities in Terminal Services by using the Remote Desktop Connection. You can specify the IP address of a remote computer and change the display properties of the remote desktop. You can select a program and pre-configure the server name and logon method. You can also choose not to use a Terminal Services gateway server.
Terminal servers use the Terminal Services Licensing to obtain and manage Terminal Services client access licenses for devices and users, who are connecting to a terminal server. Terminal Services Licensing Centralizes administration for TS CALs, supports communication channels, and reduces impact on network and servers. TS CALs provides license accountability, tracking, and reporting for all devices and users. You can activate a license server to certify the terminal server. You can also activate a license server by using the Web method or the telephone method or the Internet method.
Terminal Services Licensing supports several functionalities in Windows Server 2008. These functionalities include, license server migration, license server co-existence, license server discovery, and user based license tracking.
You can configure Terminal Services connections by using Terminal Services Configuration console. You can use this console to control RDP over TCP protocol. You can set the logon information to be provided by the client and set the connection timeout and the reconnection settings. You can limit the number of connections to the terminal server.
You can configure Terminal Services server settings in Terminal Services Configuration management console. You can delete temporary files on exit, use temporary folders per session, and restrict users to one session. You can configure licensing mode per device and the behavior of Terminal Server Services Directory.
Windows Server 2008 supports Terminal Services Remote Programs, which is a variation of the standard Terminal Services session. By using Terminal Services Remote Programs, you can run applications transparently on a terminal server. You need to consider various requirements related to servers, clients, permissions and Remote Program Links while configuring Terminal Services Remote Programs.
You can access Remote Programs remotely through Terminal Services. The Remote Programs Wizard helps you to manage Remote Programs. You can use the Remote Programs to create RDP package. You can use the Remote Word Pad to create MSI package.
To access remote programs, you can either use the Terminal Server Web access or install a package on your machine to provide the rdp file. The mspaint application is launched remotely on the terminal server by using rdp. You can also use the msi file to remotely open another application and create the msi file by using group policies.
Terminal Services Web Access enables you to allow users to access the Terminal Services Remote Programs from a Web browser. You can use the Terminal Services Web client to log on to a Terminal Server from your Web browser. This provides easy access to Terminal Server sessions.
Terminal Services Web Access can populate the list of Remote Programs, which appears in the Web Part, from Active Directory or from a single terminal server. Before installing the Terminal Services Web Access role service, you must install the Terminal Server role and IIS 7.0. After installing Terminal Services Web Access, you can specify the data source that must be used to populate the list of Remote Programs that appears in the Web Part.
You can access the Terminal Services Remote Programs from a Web browser. Accessing the terminal server provides access to all remote applications. You can populate applications either from Active Directory Domain Services or from a single Terminal server.
TS Gateway is a role service that provides a secure, encrypted connection between authorized remote users on the Internet and terminal servers on the corporate network. TS Gateway allows users to connect remotely over the Internet to computers that are hosted behind firewalls in private networks. It also eliminates the need to deploy VPN servers for users to connect remotely to the corporate network from the Internet.
By using the TS Gateway role, you can enable authorized users to remotely connect to terminal servers and remote desktops on a corporate network. To install TS Gateway role, you need to consider various requirements such as client name specification, CAPs, RAPs and firewall configuration, and network location.
A Windows Server 2008 must be installed on a server before the TS Gateway service is installed on the server. You need to install RPC over HTTP Proxy services, Web Server IIS 7.0, and NPS to ensure effective functioning of TS Gateway. To support the TS Gateway role, the Add Roles Wizard provides Web Server Internet Information Services, NPS, RPC over HTTP, and WAS.
You can configure the Terminal Services Gateway role by using the Add Roles Wizard. You can select the role and the role services you want to install on the server. TS Gateway provides access to Terminal Servers inside a corporate network by using HTTP. Network Access Services delivers a variety of methods to provide users with local and remote network connectivity and to allow network administrators to centrally manage network access.
You can configure the terminal server gateway service by creating Connection Authorization Policies and Resource Authorization Policies in the Terminal Services Manager. You can create a group of terminal servers as a local resource group. You can list the servers by the BIOS name, Internet Protocol address, or a fully qualified domain name. You can use the Resource Authorization Policies to define access for users to the remote computers on the network.
You can use the WSRM tool to allocate CPU and memory resources to applications, services, and processes. By using WSRM, you can reduce the chances of applications, services, or processes affecting the performance of the system. You can use WSRM to manage applications on a single computer or to mange users on a computer with Terminal Services.
The various features of WSRM are process matching, resource allocation policy, process matching criteria, default group and exclusion lists.
You can manage Terminal Server Resources by using WSRM. You can create a new process matching criteria and allocate processor and memory resources to each process matching criteria. You can also suballocate processor resources. You can specify the amount of sub-allocation you want to apply to the original allocation for each process-matching criterion.
