Manage Terminal Services in Windows 2008

Install software packages on the terminal server and then use the tools in the Terminal Services management snap-in to make applications available to users and manage settings for these installed applications. With these available tools, you can also monitor and manage users, sessions, and processes.

Begin by opening Server Manager and expanding Terminal Services. Under Terminal Services you see RemoteApp Manager, TS Gateway Manager, and Terminal Server Manager. Let’s look at how to manage the terminal server environment using these tools.

One of the most important administrative tasks you will undertake in Terminal Services is installing applications that will be available to remote users. However, before you can make these applications available to users, you must first install them on your terminal server. There are two ways to accomplish this task:

If you are installing applications from a Windows Installer package, the package will automatically install the application in terminal server mode.
If the application uses another installer technology, you will have to put the terminal server in installation mode. To put the terminal server in installation mode, open a command prompt and type change user /install after the application has installed successfully from a command prompt. Type change user /execute to exit from installation mode.

Now you are ready to make these programs available to users in your organization.

Add RemoteApp Programs

In Server Manager, go to the Terminal Services management snap-in. Expand Terminal Services and click RemoteApp Manager. To add applications, perform the following steps:

1.	From the Actions pane, click Add RemoteApp Programs. The RemoteApp Wizard starts.
2.	Read the section titled Before You Run This Wizard Ensure That. If you have met all the requirements, click Next.
3.	On the next screen, Choose Programs to Add to the RemoteApp Programs List, the list is prepopulated with applications to add. You can select all, select none, or choose applications individually. Note If the application is not shown, you can browse to the .exe file to add the program. In this screen, you can also see the properties page for this program. In the properties page, you can set the RemoteApp program name, location, and alias. You can make RemoteApp available through TS Web Access by adding command-line arguments, and you can change the default icon (see Figure 1). Figure 1. A look at the RemoteApp programs list and properties of an application. After you have chosen your programs and selected the properties, click Next.
4.	On the next screen, review the settings. This page shows the program name and path, and it shows whether RemoteApp will be available through TS Web Access and whether command-line arguments have been added. When you are done reviewing the settings, click Finish.

When you have added programs to RemoteApp, you have the option of making these programs available through TS Web Access (see Figure 2), an .rdp file, or a Windows Installer package.

Figure 2. RemoteApp programs available in TS Web Access.

Let’s now look at how to create an .rdp file and a Windows Installer package for RemoteApp programs.

In the RemoteApp Manager, perform the following steps:

1.	Highlight the application you want to distribute and click Create .rdp File.
2.	When the RemoteApp Wizard starts, providing information for creating an .rdp file, click Next.
3.	Specify the package settings: Enter the location to save the packages. (This can be a file share.) Enter the terminal server settings: Choose the server, required authentication, and port for this .rdp file. Enter the TS Gateway settings: Choose to automatically detect TS Gateway, use a specific TS Gateway server, or not use any TS Gateway server for this .rdp file. Enter certificate settings: Choose a certificate to use in signing files or do not use a certificate to sign files for this .rdp file. Finish specifying package settings and click Next.
4.	Review the settings and click Finish. The location where the .rdp file was created will be opened automatically after the wizard closes.

Next, create a Windows Installer package by doing the following:

1.	Highlight the application you want to distribute and click Create Windows Installer Package.
2.	When the RemoteApp Wizard starts, providing information for creating a Windows Installer Package, click Next.
3.	Specify the package settings (which are the same as the .rdp file package settings) and click Next.
4.	Select where the shortcut icons will appear on client computers: Desktop Start menu folder (specify a folder name; “Remote Programs” is the default) Check the box to take over client extensions. This way, users can open local files with programs that are installed on the terminal server. Click Next.
5.	Review the settings and click Finish. The location where the Windows Installer package was created is opened automatically after the wizard closes.

Monitor Terminal Services

There are two places to monitor Terminal Services: the TS Gateway Manager and the Terminal Services Manager. We will begin by looking at monitoring in the TS Gateway Manager.

In Terminal Services, expand the TS Gateway Manager and server. You can then monitor active connections to the TS Gateway server. The monitoring events include the following:

Connection ID
User ID
User Name
Connected On
Connected Duration
Idle Time
Target Computer
Client IP Address
Note
Target Port

To receive details about a TS Gateway connection, click the connection, and the details appear below the summary pane. If necessary, from here, you can disconnect one or all TS Gateway connections for a user.

Monitoring connections in the Terminal Services Manager includes the ability to monitor users, sessions, and processes. Expand Terminal Services and find the Terminal Services Manager.

Expand this console tree and highlight the server you want to manage. From the action menu you can connect or disconnect to a terminal server. In the console view (Figure 8.10), there are three tabs to monitor/manage:

Users: In this tab, you can view information about all users connected to this terminal server, including Server, User, Session, ID, State, Idle Time, and Log on Time. From the Actions pane you can disconnect, reset, send message, check the user’s status (see Figure 3 ), or log off the user.

Figure 3. Monitoring users in a terminal server.
Sessions: In this tab, you can view information about all sessions connected to this terminal server, including Server, Session, User, ID, State, Type (identifies the Remote Desktop client version), Client Name, Idle Time, Log on Time, and Comments. From the Actions pane you can disconnect, reset, send message, or check the user’s status (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. User Status information in the Terminal Services Manager.
Processes: In this tab, you can view processes that are running on this terminal server, and you can end processes running on this terminal server.

In a large environment with RemoteApp programs being deployed both internally and externally, it is important to monitor your terminal servers. Disconnected sessions staying active on a terminal server can affect performance for all users. The tools discussed in this section can help keep your terminal server running efficiently.

Filed under: Windows 2008