5. Configure Remote Desktop Web Access
One of the other avenues
that your users can access the RDS components on your Windows Server
2008 R2 server is via their local web browser. RD Web Access allows your
users to log on to an RDS session via the browser. In RD Web Access,
you can let your clients access services from around the world. When you
are configuring RD Web Access, you will also need to understand
RemoteApp Manager and how you configure applications to run via the RDS
components.
What you first need to do to
configure RD Web Access is control how the website gets the applications
you want to provide. You can choose either a local RemoteApp server or
an RD Connection Broker to control your access. Your RDS infrastructure
will determine how your users receive applications via the RD Web Access
server.
Open Remote Desktop Web Access Configuration by selecting Start => Administrative Tools => Remote Desktop Services => Remote Desktop Web Access Configuration.
Type in your administrative credentials, and click Sign In. After you are authenticated, you will see a screen similar to Figure 7.
Select
your option, either a Connection Broker server or the RemoteApp server,
and enter the FQDN name (usually you will want the full name instead of
the NetBIOS name).
Click OK, and your server will provide the applications and desktops based on your chosen configuration.
To connect to the RD Web Access
server, you need to open the website. By default the website is named
RDWeb and is enabled for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption security.
For example, if your server is named R2RTM and your domain is admin,
the URL you would type in your browser by default would be https://r2rtm.admin.com/rdweb. After you typed in your authentication, you would see a screen similar to Figure 8.
5.1. Use the RemoteApp Manager
The RemoteApp Manager is a tool
you will use to make applications accessible via RDS. Before you can add
applications through RemoteApp, you have to make sure the applications
are installed or configured correctly with RDS. Although most
applications you will use will work with RDS, other applications, such
as Microsoft Office, need to have special installations or licensing
done in order for them to work properly on an RDS server. Before
installing the applications, you may want to consult the documentation
to see whether they will run with RDS, or look for directions for
Terminal Services.
To configure applications in
RemoteApp, you need to load the RemoteApp Manager either in Server
Manager or via its own tool in the administrative tools.
Open RemoteApp Manager by selecting Start => Administrative Tools => Remote Desktop Services => RemoteApp Manager. You will see a screen similar to Figure 9.
To add an application, click Add RemoteApp Programs in the right Actions pane.
Read the welcome screen, and click Next.
Select
your applications; you can also browse for your applications if they
are not currently listed. You can also modify the properties of a
selected application. After you add an application, click Properties,
and you will see a screen similar to Figure 10.
From the
properties list you can modify any command-line arguments needed for the
program to run or even specify which user accounts or groups can access
the particular application. When you are done adding applications,
click Next.
Review your final settings, and then click Finish.
After you have added
remote applications, you can offer the applications to your users. You
can make your applications available via the RD Web Access front end, an
RDP package, or an .msi package. By
default if you have RD Web Access installed, your applications will
automatically be available via RD Web Access. If you want to hide the
application for RD Web Access, simply click the application and click
Hide In RD Web Access in the Actions pane on the right side of the
console.
You can create an RDP package and place it on a share or in another location to give it to your users:
Open the RemoteApp Manager by selecting Start => Administrative Tools => Remote Desktop Services => RemoteApp Manager.
Click the application for which you want to create an RDP package.
Click Create .rdp File in the middle details pane or in the right Actions pane.
Review the welcome screen, and click Next.
Enter the location for the .rdp
file (usually a shared folder or some other location your users can
gain access to quickly). You can also modify the basic session, gateway,
and certificate settings. When you are finished modifying the session
settings, click Next.
Review the summary screen, and click Finish to create the package.
Creating an .msi
package will allow you to create a installation file that will place the
remote connection file on the user's Start menu. In the case of
applications with files, the .msi
package will also set up an extension association. Windows Installer
files also offer the flexibility to deploy the applications via scripts.
Open the RemoteApp Manager by selecting Start => Administrative Tools => Remote Desktop Services => RemoteApp Manager.
Click the application for which you want to create the .msi file.
Click Create Windows Installer Package in the middle details pane or in the right Actions pane.
Review the welcome screen, and click Next.
Enter the location for the .msi
file (usually a shared folder or some other location your users can
gain access to quickly). You can also modify the basic session, gateway
and certificate settings. When you are finished modifying the session
settings, click Next.
Select
where you want the shortcuts created, either on the desktop, in the
Start menu, or in the folder you specify. You can also set file
extension association, which will automatically launch the RDP session
when the user opens a file with the extension.
Review the summary screen, and click Finish to create the package.
5.2. Connect with Remote Desktop Connection
In addition to using RD Web
Access to allow your users to connect to the RDS components, your users
also have the ability to connect through programs located on the host
computer. In the Microsoft OS, this connection program is called the
Remote Desktop Connection and has been typically located in the
Accessories group on the Start menu. This connection tool will allow you
to connect directly to the RDS components and control many aspects of
the connection.
Open Remote Desktop Connection by selecting Start => All Programs => Accessories => A Remote Desktop Connection.
If
you do not want to modify any of the settings, you can fill in the
server name and your credentials to log on. However, if you want to
modify some of the settings, click Options, and you will see a screen
similar to Figure 11.
General:
This tab contains the basic connection settings, the server name, and
the username. You also have the ability to save these settings to your
own RDP file.
Display: This tab controls the resolution and colors supported for the RDP session.
Local Resources:
This tab allows the RDP session to leverage your existing local
resources. Specifically, you can configure audio, keyboard, printers,
and the clipboard, as well as other local resources. These were new
additions to Windows Server 2008.
Programs: You can specify which programs will load when the RDP session starts.
Experience:
This is new to Windows Server 2008 R2 and allows you make the RDP
session appear very crisp and natural. The goal of these settings is to
make the remote connection appear as close to a real desktop as
possible.
Advanced:
This tab will allow you to control how server authentication failures
are handled and also control the RD Gateway server if configured to
allow a secure connection over the gateway.
When
you are done modifying the settings, click Connect, and you will be
connected to the RDP services, provided you have permissions and the
server is available.
