Remote Desktop Session Host Farm Design
Updated: March 23, 2011
Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1
RD Connection Broker keeps track of user sessions in a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm. The RD Connection Broker database stores session state information that includes session IDs, their associated user names, and the name of the server where each session resides. When a user with an existing session connects to an RD Session Host server in the load-balanced farm, RD Connection Broker redirects the user to the RD Session Host server where their session exists. This prevents the user from being connected to a different server in the farm and starting a new session.
The following are the benefits of the RD Session Host server farm design.
Allows users to reconnect to their existing sessions in a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm. This prevents a user with a disconnected session from being connected to a different RD Session Host server in the farm and starting a new session.
Enables you to evenly distribute the session load among RD Session Host servers in a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm.
Provides users access to virtual desktops hosted on RD Virtualization Host servers and to RemoteApp programs hosted on RD Session Host servers through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
There are two RD Connection Broker components to consider in a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm.
RD Connection Broker server. This is the server that runs the Remote Desktop Connection Broker service and tracks user sessions for one or more load-balanced RD Session Host server farms. RD Connection Broker uses a farm name to determine which servers are in the same RD Session Host server farm.
RD Session Host servers that use RD Connection Broker. These are RD Session Host servers that are members of a farm in RD Connection Broker. To participate in RD Connection Broker, a server must meet the following criteria:
The server must have the RD Session Host role service installed.
The server must be a member of an Active Directory domain.
The server must be a member of the Session Broker Computers local group on the RD Connection Broker server.
The server must be a member of a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm.
If you are using the RD Connection Broker Load Balancing feature, you can configure load-balancing settings together with other RD Connection Broker settings.
Important
To be a member of a farm that uses RD Connection Broker in Windows Server 2008 R2, an RD Session Host server must be running either Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008.
For detailed instructions for implementing a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm design:
| Task | Reference | |
|---|---|---|
.gif) |
Deploy an RD Session Host server. |
|
|
Deploy an RD Session Host server farm. |
|
|
|
Deploy remote programs. |
|
|
Deploy an RD Gateway server. |
.gif)
When you deploy a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm for full desktop connections, users can connect to the RD Session Host server farm by typing the server farm’s name into the Remote Desktop Connection client. Only users with the right to log onto the RD Session Host servers and members of the Remote Desktop Users Group will be able to connect using RDP.
By default, all users connecting to the full desktop will see the full set of applications installed on the RD Session Host server. They will have the permissions associated with their user accounts, so although they will be able to see (for example) the RDS tools they will not be able to reconfigure the server.