Chapter 15: How to Plan Production Environments

Overview

A centrally managed Microsoft Windows system with centrally available applications on thin clients for professional users: this was the demand that led to the development of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services. However, there is still much uncertainty regarding how it is best used. Is a terminal server only suited for large companies, or can small and medium- sized enterprises benefit from it, too?

Looking at the degree of complexity in terminal server technology, it is no surprise that global-environment solutions usually are not targeted . Rather than projects with extremely large scope, it is usually preferred to approach Terminal Services in small scopes and detailed analyses. Smaller experimental environments lead to more concrete results. These analyses are usually followed by a project consisting of several phases to establish a terminal server “based environment. In particular, the integration of terminal servers into an existing client/server network environment is a tedious task and needs to be prepared thoroughly.

This chapter leans on the previous technical chapters of this book and will focus on explaining how a production terminal server environment should be planned. Successful project approaches will also be described. The following issues will be covered:

• Analyzing and planning terminal server target environments

• Calculating total costs of a terminal server “based system

• Realizing terminal server projects and finding out how to avoid mistakes