by Greg Shields

When installing the Terminal Services role, you’ll immediately discover that five related Role Services can be enabled. If you’re unfamiliar with Role Services, they are a new construct in Windows Server 2008 that provides a way to enable granular levels of functionality based on the role you want your server to hold. Role Services are a great addition to Windows Server 2008 because they provide a way to tailor the specific capabilities-associated with a role-that you want your server to fulfill.

Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 comes equipped with five Role Services. Depending on your needs, you can install them all to a single server or break them out onto individual servers as necessary. Terminal Services’ five Role Services are:

• Terminal Server. This Role Service fulfills the function of what we commonly think of as “Terminal Services.” It enables multiple users to log in to the server for the purpose of working with applications installed to that server.
• TS Licensing. Every Terminal Server instance requires access to a TS Licensing server where your TSCALs are hosted. That TS Licensing server can be collocated with a Terminal Server, installed to a domain controller, or installed to any other server in your infrastructure. As you’ll discover later when we talk about licensing and TSCALs, the positioning of your TS Licensing server will be important based on the scope of your licensing.
• TS Session Broker. When the number of incoming users is greater than can be handled by a single server, TS Session Broker provides a way to load balance those users across multiple servers. TS Session Broker, as you’ll discover later now supports weighted load balancing, giving you the ability to correctly spread users across servers of unequal hardware resources.
• TS Web Access. TS Web Access provides a way for users to connect to their hosted applications via a user-friendly Web site. By enabling a desktop or RemoteApp for hosting via TS Web Access, users can immediately double-click to launch any application. TS Web Access requires IIS as a prerequisite for its installation.
• TS Gateway. Terminal Services has historically not been a secure method to pass content over untrusted networks such as the Internet. With the addition of a TS Gateway server, you can “proxy” RDP connections securely over untrusted networks. TS Gateway also enables the encryption of traffic as it leaves your internal environment, protecting it against prying eyes as it passes through the Internet.

You should immediately see how some combinations will work better than others. For very small environments that will never need more than a single Terminal Server, collocating the Terminal Server Role Service with TS Licensing is a good idea. Adding TS Web Access to that mix also adds easy application access to your single-server solution. Larger environments will want to split these Role Services apart, hosting TS Web Access on a dedicated Web server and TS Licensing elsewhere. TS Gateway, as you’ll learn in later installments, should be installed to its own server. This separate installation allows it to protect external RDP connections from internal resources.

Later parts in this series will discuss each of these Role Services in detail, including their installation, initial configuration, and best practices for their use.

About the Author

Greg Shields is an independent author, speaker, and IT consultant, as well as a Partner and Principal Technologist with Concentrated Technology. With 15 years in information technology, Greg has developed extensive experience in systems administration, engineering, and architecture specializing in Microsoft OS, remote application, systems management, and virtualization technologies. He is a Contributing Editor and columnist for TechNet Magazine and Redmond Magazine, and serves as the Series Editor for Realtime Publishers, the world’s leading provider of high-quality content for the IT market. Greg is a highly sought-after and top-ranked speaker for both live and recorded events, and is seen regularly at conferences like TechMentor Events, Microsoft Tech Ed, VMworld, and more. He is a multiple recipient of Microsoft “Most Valuable Professional” award.