New to Terminal Services - Where to Begin

[powlaz]

I could use a lot of direction with setting up a Windows 2003 Terminal
Server. Can anyone point me to an online guide or recommended reading?

We are a small company. We have a Windows 2003 domain but we don't use
group policy. A lot of the blogs that I've found go into detail about
setting up Group Policy after running the Terminal Services setup wizard. Do
I need to have this?

Is a second NIC required? I thought I read somewhere that one NIC should be
connected to the network and the other should be directly connected to the
Internet.

We don't use roaming profiles. I don't really have a central location to
put them. Will this hurt us? I have some room on one of my servers where I
could store user profiles if I need to.

Anyway, as you can see I could use a good starter course. Any direction you
can give me will be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,

MJ

 

[jolteroli]

Re: New to Terminal Services - Where to Begin

for the basics: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787876.aspx

there are many good places to start and
http://www.brianmadden.com/tag/content/Microsoft-Terminal-Services is one of
them.

for detailed questions: just ask a newsgroup

-jolt

 

[Jeff Pitsch]

Re: New to Terminal Services - Where to Begin

Brian has released his Win2k3 TS book for free as well from his website.
That is a great primer.

--
Jeff Pitsch
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services

"jolteroli" <jolt1976@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:%23KGWu0WAJHA.5316@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> for the basics: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787876.aspx
>
> there are many good places to start and
> http://www.brianmadden.com/tag/content/Microsoft-Terminal-Services is one
> of them.
>
> for detailed questions: just ask a newsgroup
>
> -jolt
>

 

[powlaz]

Re: New to Terminal Services - Where to Begin

Thanks guys for the response. I read Brian Madden's book and found a couple
of other resources that help me set up and configure my TS. I'll admit I
was a little confused through the process because TS includes some things
that I won't necessarily use. For example, setting up a VPN in our situation
was no big deal. However it took me a while to figure out that TS is
packaged with several of it's own securities for those who can not set up a
VPN.

Anyway, I have a couple of other questions if I may.

Do I need to assign TS licenses or when a user logs in will he be assigned
one automatically?

How dows TS differentiate between an RDP session (like I would use to check
on the server) and a TS session? I obviously don't want to use a TS license
while I'm doing a quick check of the server.

When I log in as a domain admin to the server - either through RDP or while
standing in front of the KVM - will the login have an affect on the open TS
sessions?

How do I reclaim a TS license? I will use a few of them for testing but
this is only temporary.

Should I be adding the users to the list of local users on the server? I
believe this question is so simple that it has really tripped me up.

Thanks again for the reference to BM and for the answers.

MJ

"Jeff Pitsch" wrote:

> Brian has released his Win2k3 TS book for free as well from his website.
> That is a great primer.
>
> --
> Jeff Pitsch
> Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
>
> "jolteroli" <jolt1976@gmx.net> wrote in message
> news:%23KGWu0WAJHA.5316@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> > for the basics: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787876.aspx
> >
> > there are many good places to start and
> > http://www.brianmadden.com/tag/content/Microsoft-Terminal-Services is one
> > of them.
> >
> > for detailed questions: just ask a newsgroup
> >
> > -jolt
> >
>
>
>

 

[jolteroli]

Re: New to Terminal Services - Where to Begin

"powlaz" <powlaz@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:B834FA2D-4FCA-4CC4-B1D2-8499EAB7E0E8@microsoft.com...
> Thanks guys for the response. I read Brian Madden's book and found a
> couple
> of other resources that help me set up and configure my TS. I'll admit I
> was a little confused through the process because TS includes some things
> that I won't necessarily use. For example, setting up a VPN in our
> situation
> was no big deal. However it took me a while to figure out that TS is
> packaged with several of it's own securities for those who can not set up
> a
> VPN.
>
> Anyway, I have a couple of other questions if I may.
>
> Do I need to assign TS licenses or when a user logs in will he be assigned
> one automatically?

Per-Device CAL's will be assigned to the client connecting to the TS.
Per-User-CALS's won't be assigned. That's is explained very good on Brian's
site. Have another look there.

> How dows TS differentiate between an RDP session (like I would use to
> check
> on the server) and a TS session? I obviously don't want to use a TS
> license
> while I'm doing a quick check of the server.

Admins have 2 connections 4free to the console. No user can connect to a
console session.

> When I log in as a domain admin to the server - either through RDP or
> while
> standing in front of the KVM - will the login have an affect on the open
> TS
> sessions?

If you open a third console session, you'll overtake one of the existing
ones. Don't ask me which, may be MVP know that. Jeff? Vera?

> How do I reclaim a TS license? I will use a few of them for testing but
> this is only temporary.

You have a builtin 120 day grace period, whilst the TS will issue temporary
lic's. If other words: An infinite number of user may connect and work on
the TS in this grace period. After that, you need TS-CAL's.

> Should I be adding the users to the list of local users on the server? I
> believe this question is so simple that it has really tripped me up.

This depends on your existing environment. If you have AD (2003?) it will be
much easier to manage the server(s) by GPO's. If the server will be a
standalone solution, you also can go with local users and groups. Though the
W2K3 server can be configured as a domain controller and hence will offer an
AD.

If you want to allow any Domain-User to connect to the TS, just add the
group the Remote-Desktop-Users group on the TS. Or pick some particular
users. Just a matter of taste.

-jolt