terminal server.. please explain

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

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The company I work for is purchasing a new CRM software, it has a webportal software so users can access the software remotely. But it is expensive. Another way for users to access the software is i am told via setting up a terminal server/services. Can someone please explain to me how this would work?
Thanks in advance guys :)
 
Essentially you set up a terminal services gateway, it's an extension of RDP (Windows remote desktop) the application runs on a remote server but looks like it's running on your desktop. There's a web gateway for it too where you can launch the apps, it's essentially Microsoft's answer to citrix.
 
Thanks, I have a server with windows server 2003, which is my PDC and a network drive server. Would it be better for me to purchase another server and run it as a terminal server or use my existing server?
Also i take it multiple users would be able to log on and use it at the same time. What are the minimum and recommended specifactions for a terminal server?
 
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To use something that is accessible from the web is quite complicated and to run it in a TS environment complicates it even more.

How much is "expensive"?

To go through the TS route you would need a new box, 2003 or 2008, TS licences, the licences/application that is talked about above from MS or Citrix (citrix is REALLY not cheap) and maybe a new firewall as well... depending what your current FW is capable of.
 
Would a cheap-ish server (hardware-wise) like this one:

HP ProLiant ML115 G5 - Micro Tower Server - 1-way - AMD Opteron™ 1354 Quad Core Processor - 1GB RAM - 160GB 3.5" HD - DVD

With additional memory (increased to 4 or 8GB) be sufficient to run as a terminal server?
 
No offence but seriously, let the software vendor put their solution in or get someone in to quote you to go with the TS set up.

If you don't do it right, and you wont, you will have a massive security hole in your network that hackers will love to play with.
 
I have a watchguard soho hardware firewall in place. And will only open up the necessary ports (will give access via https)
 
I've been supporting Citrix environments for many years. Get the software vendors to suggest a server spec based on their application and the anticipated number of users (with a bit of leeway added).

Whatever you do, DO NOT, I repeat - DO NOT turn your domain controller/file server into a TS application server. For standard office apps the main bottlenecks with TS servers are IO related, namely not enough RAM and slow disk performance. CPU performance is a secondary consideration. We still have a couple of old Citrix servers with dual P3-800s that can run 25+ concurrent users without breaking sweat for a legacy app.

Supporting a half-arsed terminal services deployment is a whole world of hurt.
 
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there will only be a maximum of 10 remote users and 22 users in total (remote and network internal). The minimum spec level for the software (goldmine) is not very high
 
Moredhel said:
Essentially you set up a terminal services gateway, it's an extension of RDP (Windows remote desktop) the application runs on a remote server but looks like it's running on your desktop. There's a web gateway for it too where you can launch the apps, it's essentially Microsoft's answer to citrix.
Click to expand...

Not with server 2003.

Do not forget you need to Licence Terminal Server.

Not cheap :)
 
wijcc said:
I have a watchguard soho hardware firewall in place. And will only open up the necessary ports (will give access via https)
Click to expand...

Terminal Services uses port 3389.




M.

P.S. I agree with the previous posters. Do not touch your PDC or allow access to it. A new server is a much better solution but you should be guided by the application manufacturers. 1GB RAM would be way to small. You have to think how many people can be logged on to this server (so how many people should have access to that application) and then spec accordingly. Go by the recommended spec and perhaps overspec a little just so that the application vendor can't say it's your system should you run into problems.
 
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Does your Soho firewall not support a VPN connection to allow the Goldmine client to connect over the internet back in to your server? I know Windows server can be set up as a VPN/RAS system.

I would have thought Terminal Services would be a major complication and pretty expensive to try and save a few quid on web portal stuff.
 
I have to provide costing for the two options for management

The costing for the web portal is:

Initial set up cost: £2,320 for 10 licences plus installation £850, total of £3,170
Annual cost: £710


Costing for separate terminal server is (as i have got so far)

HP ProLiant ML115 G5 - Micro Tower Server - 1-way - AMD Opteron™ 1354 Quad Core Processor - 1GB RAM - 160GB 3.5" HD – DVD - £199.99

Additional memory 4GB- £65.00

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard w/SP2 - Licence and media - 5 CALs - £478.19

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 - Licence - 5 user CALs - £92.89

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services 5-Device CAL Pack (x2 )- £596.24

Is there anything that I have missed with regards to the costing for a separate terminal server, with the exception of costing for maybe an upgrade to the firewall and other little bits?
THanks again guys :)
 
TS CALS are per device rather than per user. This limits you 10 PCs to connect to the Terminal server. A single 160Gb HDD is also a bad idea, it needs hardware RAID with multiple server grade disks.

What about support for the server? How much of a problem will it be if the TS box is unavailable for a period of time due to for example hardware failure.

You'll also need to sort out policies on the TS box. You don't want an enterprising user accidentally borking the box after they've meddled where they don't belong.
 
thank magicboy, is that 10 specific machines or any 10 machines at any given time?. I will order more HDD but I need the basic costs at first
 
wijcc said:
thank magicboy, is that 10 specific machines or any 10 machines at any given time?. I will order more HDD but I need the basic costs at first
Click to expand...

10 specific machines. Licensing information goes into the client PC registry. I think that licences are eventually freed up for inactive machines, but it's something like 90 or 120 days IIRC.

Part of the minefield of TS licensing is that Citrix license per concurrent user, whereas MS do it per machine. Was much easier under Windows 2000 - each copy of 2000 Pro included an inbuilt TS CAL, so you only had to buy them for thin-clients and legacy machines. Annoyingly they removed this from later products and started charging for CALs separately.
 
bu**er, the whole idea for the terminal services/servers was so that users (10 users at most) could access the goldmine software remotely from anywhere... how would i get around this 10 specific machines rule.. if i need 10 users accessing from any machine?
Thanks again
 
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