[Question]

[InTheWayBoy]

Well, we have yet another kink here at work. Gonna need remote access to a silly little time clock software. There is also rising need for a few financial people to access the Quickbooks app from anywhere...greedy people always like to know what's going on I guess

Looks like Terminal Server is the way to go. I have a spare computer; not server class, but not too shabby. It's AthlonXP 3200+ (Socket A), 1 GB DDR, 2x80GB Mirrored. The time clock application is like 2MB, and Quickbooks takes up around 1GB when it's all patched. We have 20 users for the time clock software, but only five that need access to the Quickbooks.

The usage of the time clock will only be when the clock in/out, so no constant sessions. The Quickbooks is different...there will be one to two on during normal business hours, and then the rest of the use will be from all five users but at random times.

The way I see it I need to install 2003, join the domain as a member server, and then install Terminal Services on it. Then I would install the applications, using Add/Remove Programs...I hear that's important for software that isn't certified to run in TS. Next, I would need to create a scipt for the time clock users that only shows the app and then ends session when it's closed. Then create a security group that has all the users in it, and then add that group to the group that gives access to TS...can't recall the name. Finally, create a GPO that not only launches the script but configures the session settings for TS.

Now, assuming I'm right so far, I have a ton of questions:

1. Will this computer be powerful enough given the info?

2. Is there a way to make a shortcut that would launch a TS session, but execute a different application depending on the shortcut config? So my for the people who need it, they would have a time clock icon as well as a quickbooks icon.

3. How do profiles play into this? I understand that since it's running the session locally there will be new profiles made. I'm not concerned about the profiles...a manditory one would be nice. Can I make just one profile that all users have to use, and then only have to backup one profile?

4. I know Quickbooks isn't certified for TS, but it's just a registry access permissions issue. There is info to get around this. The time clock one might not even work...it's that shaddy. If I run into an issue with the time clock, are there any possible workarounds?

5. When thinking about backup, what should I be concerned with. The profiles? Are there any extra TS only files that I should watch out for?

6. Once this is all configured, can I run it headless? For most admin work I could logon with my domain admin account and be able to configure like normal right?

7. I've seen figures saying each session will require 3-6K per user of bandwidth...that sounds too good to be true.

8. There is the problem that there will be a 'spike' when everyone uses the time clock software...everybody is only the same 9-5 grind. Given that it's such a simple app I would think it could handle that, but I could be wrong.

9. HAHAHA!

10. Is the licensing gonna kill me on this...one per user right? So that's 20 licenses for one stupid little application...grrrr.

It really burns me becuase they bought this crap behind my back, so I didn't have a choice to dismiss this application. But if that's the case then they can eat the costs of the license...b*st*rds.

But, this feeds my craving for more tech stuff. I'm sure I'll have more questions, but that should get me started for now.

And this is a bonus question...since I've never used one I don't fully understand the capabilties, but could I run this whole setup on a hosted server? To be clear, I'm talking about when you pay a monthly fee for a server that they own but you configure and use. I see a lot that can be purchased with 2003, which makes me think I should be able to configure it to be a TS server. But since I always see Plesk or some other management software I don't know if I can get in low enough to do this. It would seem to me it would make a great disaster recovery plan, which we are trying to develop as we speak. Since the hosting companies have fast connections, it should still run just as efficiently then right? Hell, if it's the same I might just forget running this locally and do it all on the hosted server...unless there is some big issue with that.

Thanx again, I know there are some smart mofo's on here, and you all always help me out.

Edited January 14, 2006 by InTheWayBoy

[cluberti]

"1. Will this computer be powerful enough given the info?"

That depends on how many users will be attached at any one time - terminal servers are heavily dependant on system RAM, so I'd say you'd want as much of the 4GB maximum you can put in that machine for starters. 1GB of RAM is enough for 2 or 3 users, but if you plan on having 5 to 10 (or more) users on the box at any one time, you'll want a lot more RAM than 1GB. Not to mention the kernel memory constraints that 1GB of RAM brings to the table, which are going to be heavily exacerbated with TS installed...

"2. Is there a way to make a shortcut that would launch a TS session, but execute a different application depending on the shortcut config? So my for the people who need it, they would have a time clock icon as well as a quickbooks icon."

Yes, but this isn't something that is easy to do - you'd have to replace the explorer.exe shell with your own, and doing so makes group policy processing not work. If you REALLY want to do this, you should strongly consider Citrix and Application Publishing, rather than a full TS login.

"3. How do profiles play into this? I understand that since it's running the session locally there will be new profiles made. I'm not concerned about the profiles...a manditory one would be nice. Can I make just one profile that all users have to use, and then only have to backup one profile?"

If you create a profile on the TS in the Default User profile called "ntuser.man" (rather than ntuser.dat), the profile becomes mandatory for the user and by default no changes can be saved (they can be made, but they aren't saved on logoff).

"4. I know Quickbooks isn't certified for TS, but it's just a registry access permissions issue. There is info to get around this. The time clock one might not even work...it's that shaddy. If I run into an issue with the time clock, are there any possible workarounds?"

Possibly - you need to know what registry and file level permissions need to be made for the application to work - and if the application doesn't play nicely registry-wise, you may be out of luck. These sorts of things are always trial and error - and sometimes, you just can't run something in a TS environment no matter what. Perhaps the vendor of the software in question may have some tips that you can gather from their support line, or perhaps even an updated version that does run natively in a TS environment.

"5. When thinking about backup, what should I be concerned with. The profiles? Are there any extra TS only files that I should watch out for?"

The only time a TS profile is different is when a user is actually logged on - otherwise, TS profiles are really not any different than regular profiles. You can create "roaming" TS profiles via AD as well (you'll notice the Terminal Server Profile tab in the properties of most user accounts), but that makes it harder to do mandatory profiles.

"6. Once this is all configured, can I run it headless? For most admin work I could logon with my domain admin account and be able to configure like normal right?"

As long as the server hardware can boot headless, sure. Most newer machines, desktop or otherwise, can run headless. You can always use the /console switch via mstsc to gain access to the server console as necessary.

"7. I've seen figures saying each session will require 3-6K per user of bandwidth...that sounds too good to be true."

It all depends on your network, the quality of the TS session being sent, audio, printer, and drive redirection, etc. You can probably reach those numbers without any redirection, 256bit color, and 800x600, but using the "advanced" features will likely make that closer to 10K per user. There's no hard and fast numbers that I'm aware of, but those numbers don't seem too far off for "low quality" TS sessions.

"8. There is the problem that there will be a 'spike' when everyone uses the time clock software...everybody is only the same 9-5 grind. Given that it's such a simple app I would think it could handle that, but I could be wrong."

This goes back to your initial question - you're going to need more RAM, likely.

"9. HAHAHA!"

Indeed .

"10. Is the licensing gonna kill me on this...one per user right? So that's 20 licenses for one stupid little application..grrrr."

Yes, either one per user or one per machine - either way, it's going to cost you plenty.

"And this is a bonus question...since I've never used one I don't fully understand the capabilties, but could I run this whole setup on a hosted server? To be clear, I'm talking about when you pay a monthly fee for a server that they own but you configure and use. I see a lot that can be purchased with 2003, which makes me think I should be able to configure it to be a TS server. But since I always see Plesk or some other management software I don't know if I can get in low enough to do this. It would seem to me it would make a great disaster recovery plan, which we are trying to develop as we speak. Since the hosting companies have fast connections, it should still run just as efficiently then right? Hell, if it's the same I might just forget running this locally and do it all on the hosted server...unless there is some big issue with that."

It's possible, but you'd have to find a hosting company that would 1) let you do it and 2) will sell you a hosted server just for you - this will cost you quite a bit more than the other "hosting" packages they sell, because most hosting companies put multiple customers on one server and provision (hence the management software). It can be done, but I think you'd have to purchase a whole server to be able to get lower-level access to the box to do this (which you'd probably want anyway).

Either way you cut it, you're going to be paying for it .

Edited January 14, 2006 by cluberti