As you all know the Terminal Services role enables your users to access Windows applications that are installed on a terminal server remotely without them having them to install them in their system or access complete Windows desktop hosted in the server, excellent to have remote users log in using thin client computers that have no data stored on them and avoiding the risk of those computers being stolen and having information compromised.
With Windows Server 2008, Microsoft introduced 2 new Terminal Server role services that provide even further flexibility to the terminal service roles these are:
- TS RemoteAPP - Allows programs installed in Terminal Services to be accessed remotely and appear as if they where running on the local computer. The user can just hit the start menu and open the remote application in his desktop very similar to how Citrix solutions allows access to published application, the feature of RemoteAPP that most impacted me is the fact that I can associate file type entries in my local registry let’s say .doc to open up a RemoteAPP just by double clicking a .doc file.
- TS Gateway - This role service uses RDP over HTTPS to establish a secure, encrypted connection between remote users on the Internet and the internal network resources.
Some of the features that have received an overhaul in Windows Server 2008 that are worth mentioning are:
- TS Web Access - Building on TS RemoteAPP, TS Web Access allows you to access applications on a terminal server over the web, without having to install an ActiveX controller like in past instances of TS Web Access since this control is already a part of the RDC bundled with Vista and Windows Server 2008.
- TS Session Broker - This is mostly a new feature in Server 2008, however you could manually do some work on 2003 to get a session broker to work and load balance sessions between multiple terminal servers in an active directory environment based on Server 200.
- TS Printing - The printing section of terminal servers has had a major overhaul by the addition of the Terminal Services Easy Print printer driver and a Group Policy setting that enables you to redirect only the default client printer.
I could probably go on writing more about each of the previously mentioned features however I think there is already a good set of documentation available in the links provided in this article and in the articles the Microsoft Performance Team was publishing prior to the launch of Windows Server 2008.
Hi All! sorry I’ve been away and haven’t had the opportunity to share with you some more and exciting information about the new features in Windows Server 2008, but my attention has been focused on other items. In order to re-mediate this I have some homework for you all or how should we say some assigned reading material that will help you prep on your road to success with Windows Server 2008.
The Windows Performance team in their blog over at TechNet has been posting the following articles daily since the beginning of February regarding some of the real back-end work that goes on in Windows Server 2008 when talking about topics such as printing, terminal services and some other important topics, I would like all of you to review them at your own pace and I specially recommend the ones highlighted in bold bellow as I think they are quite valuable and worthwhile.
This article series by the performance team will last a couple more days till the official release of Windows Server 2008, so I will add to the list the pending articles they will publish in the upcoming days for your personal reference.
WS2008: Upgrade Paths, Resource Limits & Registry Values
WS2008: Startup Processes and Delayed Automatic Start
WS2008: Windows Service Hardening
WS2008: Service Shutdown and Crash Handling
WS2008: Windows Error Reporting
WS2008: Dynamic Link Library Loader and Address Space Load Randomization
WS2008: Memory Management, Dynamic Kernel Addressing, Memory Priorities and I/O Handling
WS2008: The Print Services Role
WS2008: Understanding XML Paper Specification (XPS)
WS2008: Client-side Rendering
WS2008: The WSD Port Monitor
WS2008: Printer-Driver Packages
WS2008: Print Management Enhancements
WS2008: Terminal Services Architecture
WS2008: Terminal Server Management and Administration
WS2008: Network Level Authentication and Encryption
WS2008: Terminal Services Printing
WS2008: Overview of the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) Client
WS2008: Remote Desktop Connection Architecture
WS2008: RDC Enhancements and Administrative Sessions
WS2008: Frontside Authentication and SSO
WS2008: Terminal Services RemoteApps
WS2008: Terminal Server Web Access Architecture
WS2008: Terminal Server Session Broker Overview
WS2008: Session Broker Load Balancing
WS2008: Terminal Services Gateway Overview
I will come back tomorrow to you all with a post on terminal Services on 2008 and a good point to start and then continue on reading some of the articles mentioned on this extensive list.
TIP: I normally bookmark this articles using a social bookmark aggregator such as del.icio.us or ma.gnolia.com, websites that allow you to store your bookmarks online and access them regardless of your location or the system you are using to browse the web. Be sure to check out services like this to save your personal bookmarks and save some valuable study time.