Terminal Services
Applies To: Windows Server 2008
The following is a list of the installed Help content that is available for Terminal Services in Windows Server® 2008.
Note
In Windows Server 2008 R2, Terminal Services was renamed Remote Desktop Services. To find out what's new in this version and to find the most up-to-date resources, visit the Remote Desktop Services page on the Windows Server TechCenter.
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The Terminal Services server role in Windows Server 2008 provides technologies that enable users to access Windows®-based programs that are installed on a terminal server, or to access the full Windows desktop. With Terminal Services, users can access a terminal server from within a corporate network or from the Internet.
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A terminal server is the server that hosts Windows-based programs or the full Windows desktop for Terminal Services clients. Users can connect to a terminal server to run programs, to save files, and to use network resources on that server. Users can access a terminal server by using Remote Desktop Connection or by using Terminal Services RemoteApp (TS RemoteApp).
Terminal Services Configuration
You can use Terminal Services Configuration to configure settings for new connections, modify the settings of existing connections, and delete connections. You can configure settings on a per-connection basis, or for the server as a whole.
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You can use Terminal Services Manager to view information about and monitor users, sessions, and processes on terminal servers. You can also perform certain administrative tasks; for example, you can disconnect or log off users from their Terminal Services sessions.
Terminal Services User Properties
You can configure Terminal Services-specific user account properties by using the Local Users and Groups snap-in or the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.
The Terminal Services Extension adds Terminal Services-specific tabs to the Properties sheet of a user account in Local Users and Groups or Active Directory Users and Computers. The Terminal Services-specific tabs are Remote Control, Terminal Services Profile, Environment, and Sessions.
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Terminal Services enables organizations to provide access to standard Windows programs from virtually any location, to any Windows device, from the Internet or an intranet. Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 includes TS RemoteApp.
TS RemoteApp enables you to make programs that are accessed remotely through Terminal Services appear as if they are running on the end user's local computer. These programs are referred to as RemoteApp programs. Instead of being presented to the user in the desktop of the remote terminal server, the RemoteApp program is integrated with the client's desktop. The RemoteApp program runs in its own resizable window, can be dragged between multiple monitors, and has its own entry in the taskbar.
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Terminal Services Licensing (TS Licensing) manages the Terminal Services client access licenses (TS CALs) that are required for each device or user to connect to a terminal server. You use TS Licensing to install, issue, and track the availability of TS CALs on a Terminal Services license server.
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Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) is a role service that enables authorized remote users to connect to resources on an internal corporate or private network, from any Internet-connected device that can run the Remote Desktop Connection client. The network resources can be terminal servers, terminal servers running RemoteApp programs, or computers with Remote Desktop enabled.
TS Gateway uses the Remote Desktop Protocol over HTTPS to establish a secure, encrypted connection between remote users on the Internet and the internal network resources on which their productivity applications run.
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Terminal Services Session Broker (TS Session Broker) is a role service in Windows Server 2008 that keeps track of user sessions in a load-balanced terminal server farm. The TS Session Broker database stores session state information that includes session IDs, their associated user names, and the name of the server where each session resides. TS Session Broker uses this information to redirect users who have an existing session to the terminal server where their session exists.
If the TS Session Broker Load Balancing feature is enabled, TS Session Broker also tracks the number of user sessions on each terminal server in the farm, and directs new sessions to the terminal server with the fewest sessions.
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Terminal Services Web Access (TS Web Access) is a role service that enables you to make RemoteApp programs, and a link to the terminal server desktop, available to users from a Web browser. Additionally, TS Web Access enables users to connect from a Web browser to the remote desktop of any server or client computer where they have access.
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The Remote Desktops snap-in enables you to manage Remote Desktop connections to terminal servers and computers that are running a version of Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista®, or Windows® XP.