Chapter 8: Terminal Services Enhancements

Overview

Terminal Services has been available on the Microsoft Windows platform since the days of Windows NT 4.0. So most readers of this book (all seasoned IT pros, I’ll bet) have some familiarity with it as a group of technologies that provides access to the full Windows desktop from almost any computing device, including other Windows computers, Mobile PC devices, thin clients, and so on. When you access a terminal server from one of these devices, the server is doing all the hard work of running your applications, while a protocol named Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sends keyboard and mouse input from client to server and displays information in return. In addition to enabling administrators to run programs remotely like this, Terminal Services also lets administrators remotely control Windows computers that have Remote Desktop (a Terminal Services feature) enabled on them.

Anyway, if you work in a medium-sized organization, you likely have at least one Windows terminal server running either Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003. And larger enterprises likely have a whole farm of them load-balanced together. Either way, you need to take a good hard look at what improvements are coming to Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, and that’s what this chapter is about.

Because this book is brief and covers so many different new features and enhancements found in Windows Server 2008, I’m going to assume you’re already familiar with basic Terminal Services concepts and terminology, including Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), the two Terminal Services clients (Remote Desktop Connection and the Remote Desktop Web Connection ActiveX control), the two Terminal Service modes (Remote Desktop for Administration and the Terminal Server role), and Terminal Services Session Broker-plus various other things, such as console session, client resource redirection, and the different tools (MMC snap-ins, Group Policy, WMI scripts) you can use to configure and manage Terminal servers and their clients. If you’re not up to speed on any of these topics, you can find a good overview a whitepaper titled “Technical Overview of Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services,” which is available from http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=2606110. Another good general source of information concerning Terminal Services is the Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services Technology Center found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/terminalservices/default.mspx . Or you can just buy a mainframe if you find your server room too quiet for your liking. (See Chapter 3, “Windows Server Virtualization,” for why we need to bring back the mainframe-remember those days? You can probably get one at a bargain on eBay.)

Because there have been so many enhancements to Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, we’ll need a roadmap to navigate this chapter. So here’s a quick list of the new and enhanced features we’re going to cover:

• Core Enhancements to Terminal Services

• Terminal Services RemoteApp

• Terminal Services Web Access

• Terminal Services Gateway

• Terminal Services Easy Print

• Terminal Services Session Broker

• Terminal Services Licensing

• Terminal Services WMI Provider

• Deploying Terminal Services

• Other Terminal Services Enhancements

Before we start looking at these enhancements, however, be warned-I’m not just going describe their features. I’ll also provide you with tons of valuable insights, recommendations, and troubleshooting tips from the people who are bringing you Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008. In other words, you’ll hear from members of the Terminal Services product team themselves! Well, that’s not a warning, is it? Do you warn your kids at the end of June by saying, “Warning, summer vacation ahead?”