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UW Computer Science and Engineering Microsoft Windows Terminal Server

Terminal Server allows users to remotely access applications and files on a server from other devices. It provides capabilities not available on some devices and improves performance over accessing resources directly from slower home computers. At the University, Terminal Servers allow access to software installed on lab computers from other locations. The Remote Desktop Connection tool and rdesktop client enable connecting to Terminal Servers from Windows and Linux machines respectively. Users should log off rather than disconnect sessions and save files to network shares rather than local drives for backup and access from multiple devices.

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57 views5 pages

UW Computer Science and Engineering Microsoft Windows Terminal Server

Terminal Server allows users to remotely access applications and files on a server from other devices. It provides capabilities not available on some devices and improves performance over accessing resources directly from slower home computers. At the University, Terminal Servers allow access to software installed on lab computers from other locations. The Remote Desktop Connection tool and rdesktop client enable connecting to Terminal Servers from Windows and Linux machines respectively. Users should log off rather than disconnect sessions and save files to network shares rather than local drives for backup and access from multiple devices.

Uploaded by

Pablo Parreño
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UW Computer Science and Engineering Microsoft Windows Terminal Server

revised July 2006

Terminal Server

Terminal Server
What is it and why should I care?
Terminal Server is built in to all Windows servers and Windows XP/Vista Professional desktop systems. It allows users to log in remotely from various types of workstations and thin clients. By logging in users create their own client sessions on the server. Since the introduction of Windows XP, the concept of remote logins is becoming more familiar to Windows users. But there still may be some questions. If you can run all of your applications on your desktop machine, why would you need to log in to a terminal server? The answers mostly revolve around the theme that not all you need is on your desktop, e.g.: You are sitting at a UNIX workstation and need some capability only Windows provides.1 You are sitting at a Windows XP/Vista machine and need some capability that is not installed on your desktop PC but is available on one of the Windows terminal servers maintained by the department. Improved performance can also be possible when using Terminal Server. Your desktop PC may be able to perform certain tasks, but it may also be old or slow. Or you may be working at home and accessing your leswhich reside on one of the departmental le serversover a slow (by local net standards) link. You will nd it faster in such cases to log into the Terminal Server to edit your large spreadsheet rather than to edit it on your home PC, since the latter would entail downloading the le from your le server directory to your home system, then uploading the results back to the le server.

How does it work?


Terminal Server works by knowing how to respond to a client process that you run on your local UNIX or Windows host. This terminal client presents you with a window that simulates a local monitor. The Terminal Server manages all computing resources for you and provides you with your own environment. The server receives and processes all key strokes and mouse clicks sent by each client and directs display output (audio and video) to each client as appropriate. You have access to all of your authorized network resources and can run any applications made available to you on the server. All the applications supported by Windows 2003 Server can be run via the Terminal Server.

Available Terminal Servers


Currently in the CSE department we have licenses that allow users to log into two Windows 2003 hosts:
1

You could also run Windows on your UNIX workstation using VMware. But since the title of this page is Windows Terminal Server that subject will not be taken up here.

Terminal Server

aqua.cs.washington.edu in the CSERESEARCH domain, or aria.cs.washington.edu in either CSERESEARCH or CSEPCLAB domains. For the most part, aqua and aria have the same software installed as workstations in the instructional labs. Also, all Windows XP Professional systems act as terminal servers and allow remote desktop logins, so you can also log in to your Allen Center desktop XP system from your home system.

Terminal Server Clients

The Microsoft RDP Client for Windows


The following discussion assumes you have an account in the CSERESEARCH domain and that you are familiar with how to use Windows le management tools and how to map remotely shared le systems.

Remote Desktop Connection Tool


Microsoft provides a Remote Desktop Connection tool that allows you to connect to a terminal server. It uses Microsofts RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) to communicate with a Terminal Server. If this is not already installed on your Windows workstation, you can install it by running \\ntdfs\cs\nt\dist-area\miscellaneous\tsclient\msrdpcli.exe Or, you can download a copy of msrdbcli.exe from: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl.asp Once this is installed, a program called Remote Desktop Connection Client will appear on your Start menu, under Programs -> Accessories -> Communications.

CTRL-ALT keys
When in the Terminal Server client window, the equivalent of CTRL-ALT-DEL for the MS client is CTRL-ALT-END. The MS client also allows CTRL-ALT-BREAK to switch between viewing the session in a window and on the full screen.

Terminal Server

Redirection of Local Drives


One of the most useful features of the Windows XP Remote Desktop client is the redirection of your local systems disk drives to the remote desktop session of a remote system. This and other features of the XP client are described in http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;300698. You can enable this feature as follows: on the inital Remote Desktop Connection window (where you enter the remote systems host name) there is an Options tab. If you click the Options->Local Resourses->Disk Drives box, the disk drives on your local (e.g. home) system will be accessible on the remote system (e.g. aqua.cs.washington.edu) when you log in, making transfer of les between home and oce very easy.

The rdesktop tool for Linux workstations


Rdesktop is installed on all CSE Linux systems. rdesktop -f aqua will open up a login window on aqua in full-screen mode. (Enter man rdesktop to see all the options.)

Features Common to all the Terminal Server Clients


Once you have a Windows session set up, all the clients work similarly and present almost the same interface.

Log o vs. Disconnect


If you click the Shutdown... selection on the Start menu you will see two selections: log o and disconnect. When you log o all your applications are terminated; when you disconnect, your applications continue to run, and will be redisplayed when you log in again, even from a dierent workstation. You should log o rather than disconnect so that you dont hang on to resources that others could be using.

Save Files in Your Home Directory


When you save your important les, you should consider saving them in a drive that is a) shared to all workstations, and b) backed up. Examples of such drives are your PC home directory, mapped to drive Z: when you are logged into the Terminal server, or a Unix le server under \\ntdfs\cs\unix (see documentation on NTDFS for more info.) It is a BAD IDEA to save les on the Terminal Servers local disk drives C or D; note that My Documents resides on the Terminal Servers local C drive!

Terminal Server

Table of Contents
Terminal Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What is it and why should I care? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 How does it work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Available Terminal Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Terminal Server Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2


The Microsoft RDP Client for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remote Desktop Connection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CTRL-ALT keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Redirection of Local Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The rdesktop tool for Linux workstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Features Common to all the Terminal Server Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . Log o vs. Disconnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save Files in Your Home Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3

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