Chapter 2: Windows Terminal Services

Overview

Chapter 1 elaborated on how server-based computing (SBC) can solve a host of corporate IT problems and potentially save corporations significant money. Although Microsoft inherited the Terminal Services Code from Citrix, as described in Chapter 3, 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 SBC. Giga Information Group, in their 2003 market overview, estimated that the SBC market would exceed $1.4 billion in 2003. Clearly, SBC would not be what it is today, nor hold the promising future parlayed in this book, without Microsoft's commitment to this platform.

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 2000 and Windows 2003 Terminal Services. We discuss the many facets of the Remote Desktop Client (RDC) software and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), including the differences between versions 5.0 and the new Remote Desktop Client for Windows 2003. We cover Terminal Services in the enterprise, including migration, domain considerations, and application considerations. Finally, we discuss licensing for Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Terminal Services. Note that Terminal Services is the necessary basis for Windows-based SBC, whether or not Citrix MetaFrame XP is added to the solution. As we will discuss in Chapter 3, Citrix adds additional features and benefits to the Terminal Services included with Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 discussed in this chapter.