Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services

Preface

Posted by Benny Tritsch on July 18, 2009

 

So, you want to introduce the latest version of Remote Desktop Services – formerly known as Terminal Services – to your IT environment?  I hope that you are aware that in the past Remote Desktop Services used to play a rather unimportant role within the Microsoft product universe.  It’s interesting to note that only over the last one or two years remoting technologies in combination with desktop virtualization and cloud computing started enjoying more attention, gradually moving from the outer rim of this universe right to the center.  As a matter of fact, new virtualization concepts extended the scope of desktop remoting substantially.

From a Microsoft perspective, desktop remoting is not only limited to a Terminal Services platform anymore.  It also takes remote applications and virtualized Windows workstations – also known as virtual desktops – into account.  For a while the term presentation virtualization was used extensively when talking about the combination of remote desktops, remote applications and virtual desktops.  Only recently it became more popular to use the terms Remote Desktop Session Host and Remote Desktop Virtualization Host for these topics.  That being said, it is quite obvious that remote access to Windows desktops and applications is one of the hottest topics in IT industry.

This tutorial covers concepts, installation, configuration, and administration of presentation virtualization introduced with Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.  It not only presents the pure facts, but also describes how using remote desktops and applications affects the way users interact with computers.  In addition it introduces system extensions that are important to successfully establish presentation virtualization infrastructures.

Now you may ask yourself what qualifies me to write about remote desktops and terminal servers.  Here's a short answer.  In 1995, I first heard about a special multi-user variant of Microsoft Windows NT.  It was called WinCenter Pro and, through integrating additional functions, it allowed multiple users to log on simultaneously.  It was not necessarily easy to configure and run a server with a multi-user Windows NT installed.  The amount of time that I needed to set up a stable system (and understand what I was doing) was quite substantial.  Other administrators reported similar experiences, and the idea took root to modify the hands-on training seminars that I had been conducting since 1996 on Windows NT administration to include the multi-user aspect.

These seminars became surprisingly successful; they were quickly adapted to Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition, and Windows 2000 Terminal Services as soon as they became available.  In view of the success of these seminars I started writing books about Windows Terminal Services for the German-speaking market, all published by Microsoft Press.  The first book covered Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition.  It enjoyed an unexpected and huge success; a second terminal server book followed when Windows 2000 was launched.  The next book I wrote in 2003 became an international edition – in English, German and Russian – and described Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services.

Due to the large international audience I reached with my books, my training classes and my presentations, I have received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Windows Server - Terminal Server in each year since 2004.  In 2006 I was a winner of the Citrix Technology Professional (CTP) charter award.

Over the last years, the world of technology has become more agile.  This is particularly true for computers and software.  For this simple reason I decided that an online tutorial on Windows Server 2008 (R2) Remote Desktop Services is more suitable, allowing me to more dynamically modify its content according to readers' requirements.