Chapter 2: Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services

OVERVIEW

Little has changed technically with Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services since the preceding edition of this book. What has changed during the last two years is that Windows Server 2003 has proved to be a reliable infrastructure for business applications and has overtaken Windows 2000 Server to become the standard for Windows-based IT infrastructure. For those readers that missed the last edition, we will cover the technical essence of Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services in this chapter.

Chapter 1 elaborated on how an access platform can solve a host of corporate IT problems and potentially save corporations significant money. Although Microsoft inherited the Terminal Services code from Citrix, Microsoft has made a tremendous development commitment to the code since that time. Today, the Terminal Services component of Windows Server 2003 represents a very strong foundation for an access platform. Clearly, this platform would not be what it is today, nor hold the promising future parlayed in this book, without Microsoft's commitment to this computing approach.

When installing a Microsoft Windows Terminal Services solution into an enterprise, the methodology for administering and maintaining the system has more in common with a host-based or mainframe computing model than with a distributed PC model. In the traditional, centralized host architecture, dumb terminals provide a simple, character-based interface between the user and the host. Users can log on, run programs, read and write shared files, direct output to shared printers, and access shared databases. Furthermore, each dumb terminal session functions independently from other terminal sessions because the host operating system directs the communication between the host applications and the remote dumb terminal users.

The primary difference between Windows Terminal Services and a centralized mainframe or host architecture is the graphical nature of the Windows operating system. Host environments have traditionally been character-oriented, requiring only a small amount of network traffic to travel over the communication lines between the host and the terminal. With Terminal Services, all of the graphical screen output and related input/output comprising mouse movements, keyboard commands, and screen updates must flow between the desktop client and the server.

In this chapter, we cover Windows 2003 Terminal Services. We discuss the many facets of the Remote Desktop Client (RDC) software and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). We cover Terminal Services in the enterprise, including migration, domain considerations, and application considerations. Finally, we discuss licensing for Windows 2003 Terminal Services. Note that Terminal Services is the necessary basis for Windows-based access, whether or not Citrix Presentation Server is added to the solution. As we will discuss in Chapter 3, Citrix adds additional features and benefits to the Terminal Services functionality included with Windows Server 2003 discussed in this chapter.