Microsoft Terminal Services

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It was an accident that I stumbled into Microsoft Terminal Server and later MetaFrame 1.0 atop TSE 4.0. Just about 8 years ago I was returning from Malaysia after setting up SMS for a company with sites in Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia. Malaysia was the last to join the SMS inventory list. The flight from Kuala Lumper to Los Angeles is almost 20 hours. Even the Boeing 747-400 had to stop for more fuel in Taiwan to get across the Pacific. It made the final leg, a “red eye” flight from LA the the east coast, seem like a puddle jumping commute. The project was completed almost three months early and I thought that the rest of my contract was about to be canceled. Not so.

Upon my arrival back the next day, I was summoned to IT Mount Olympus. Was informed that some guys from MS were bringing “Hydra” over in the afternoon. Advised since I had three more months on my contract I should talk with them and then set up a test bench replicating the company's global network for testing “Hydra” in the lab similar to what I did with SMS. The objective was to go wireless and replace the miles of CAT 5 cable that ran though the plants using TSE. An on staff person and I were to enumerate “Hydras” capabilities and flush out the flaws that would negatively impact the objective.

We split the evaluation into to two components. Wireless and PC (Desktop) replacement. The desktop replacement component hosted an audition for thin client manufactures and selected one to provide a 75 user test environment. The wireless component had the more difficult of task forecasting which wireless technology would win the standards war. He did, and the project made it onto the do list. Early the next year we had 15 brand new Certified Citrix Administrators spread out over 4 continents.

Citrix and/or Microsoft TS dominate the Server Based Computing market. For most IT administrators their choice is to add Citrix atop MS TS or go with TS alone. But even Microsoft acknowledges that at some point in the build out process you may need an additional product to leverage MS TS resources.

RDP has come a long way over the years. The differences between ICA and RDP for most users is not measurable. The differences are often at the implementation level and can be narrowed down to a few requirements. They are application-level load balancing, seamless presentation of applications, listing published applications based on user authentication and web based operations. If none of these features are on your have to have list, then MS TS may be all you need. Many of the vendors listed in the column to left think that upon your investigation of SBC, critical evaluation, and subsequent reflection, you just may need their assistance.

Microsoft Terminal Services can present to a user a remote desktop based on a profile and membership in a GPO. The user profile may be defined specifically for the TS experience or bypassed in favor of one profile. It is not complicated. The complications begin to arise when one starts to try make TS do on its own what the vendors listed in the left column have already done. The reason they exist is because there are complications achieving what they have done using TS alone.

I was teaching a Citrix MetaFrame class near Washington, DC comprised almost exclusively with employees of U.S. government agencies. The group at large looked as if they wanted to be somewhere else. To wake them up I said, “ninety nine percent of the Fortune 100 companies use this technology, and it is not because it costs a lot of money and does nothing”! It worked. Heads popped up and eyes opened. I remember it as one of my better classes.

But if all you need is a remote desktop for a subset of your IT users, MS TS may be all your need. You can download Microsoft Server 2003 R2 for evaluation. They have some on line forms to fill out to download the evaluation copy. I did for 32 bit and 64 bit versions. No problems. The URL is “http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/default.mspx”. This is a good place to start. Write down what your objectives are for implementing a remote desktop environment. Could be the old favorite, lower TCO. Could be a new favorite, lower my energy costs. A 5 watt thin client consumes less energy and generates less heat than a 200 watt PC. Then cross off all the objectives that can be achieved using MS TS. Nothing left on your list? You now have the beginnings of a solution.

Got something left over on the list? Look to the left column under SBC Vendors.

Until the next post,

Steve