VNC using Windows NT/2000

Fri Jul 5 09:40:02 2002

If you want to allow several users to simultaneously have remote access to
interactive desktops, you would need Terminal Services.  It's part of Windows
2000 Server.  You can install it in Admin mode which allows you to connect
remotely and get a virtual desktop for 1 user - in other words, it isn't visible
on the server console.

If you install in Application mode, it gets more complex.  SEVERAL users can
then connect to the server interactively through an "RDP client", and get a full
Windows desktop which is running on that server

Here are a few details and tradeoffs on the scenario of using Terminal Services
for all of your users.

Setup Details
You want a semi-dedicated server.  You need to do a few things when installing
some software packages to make sure they are running compatibly - many Windows
apps are very poorly designed and were never intended to be used for multi-user
computing, but the core compatibility tools get around all but the worst
offenders.    Once everything is configured, though, administration is an
absolute breeze.

Licensing
Licensing is only a concern if running as an Application-mode system; in Admin
mode, you don't worry about licenses and can only have 2 remote connections.
This was initially one of the most annoying things about Windows 2000 Terminal
Services; they loosened the licensing model a lot after release.  You are
licensed per computer connecting to the TS, and licensing is enforced by a
licensing service running on your server.  Windows 2000/XP systems are issued a
built-in license, so they don't have a cost; other systems do.
Licenses are actually "leased", so 60-90 days after last use they are returned
to the available pool.  If no licenses are available, your systems are issued
"temporary" licenses good for 90 days.

Other Clients
Naturally, Microsoft made no clients for anything but Win32 systems.  There are
aftermarket clients now available for MS-DOS and Macintosh systems, and a
Linux/Unix client is available from http://www.rdesktop.org.

Tryouts
You can "demo" Terminal Services pretty easily.  Here's how you "stretch" the
demo period.
(1) You can run TS in Application mode for 90 days without a Licensing Server.
Do so if you're going to try it out.
(2) After 90 days, Terminal Services won't start unless it detects a license
server.  So around 85-90 days, install the licensing service.  At that point,
the server will start issuing temporary licenses - which are good for 90 days,
so you get an effective demo period of close to 6 months.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miguel Gonzalez Castaqos" <mgc "at" tid.es>
To: <vnc-list "at" realvnc.com>
Sent: Thursday, 2002-07-04 05:18
Subject: Re: VNC using Windows NT/2000

> Alex,
>
>  Could you explain more in depth the part that "you would need to have
> Win200 Server and install Terminal Services" ? Which functionalities
> could I have?
>
>  Many thanks
>
>  Miguel
>
> "Alex K. Angelopoulos" ha escrito:
> >
> > At the same time, and in different sessions? No; you would need to have
Windows
> > 2000 Server and install Terminal Services.  On Windows, VNC acts purely as a
> > "real" desktop remote control application.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Miguel Gonzalez Castaqos" <mgc "at" tid.es>
> > To: <vnc-list "at" realvnc.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, 2002-07-04 02:59
> > Subject: VNC using Windows NT/2000
> >
> > > Dear all,
> > >
> > >  I have been reading through the docs of the VNC viewer I am wondering
> > > if It could be possible that more than one user of a Windows NT or 2000
> > > could access to the same Workstation or Server as happens in a
> > > Unix/Linux system. Is that possible like installing it as a service?
> > >
> > >  Many thanks in advance
> > >
> > >  Miguel
> > >
> > > [demime 0.99c.8 removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a
name of
> > mgc.vcf]
> > > _______________________________________________
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>
> --
>
> ----------------------------------------
> Miguel Gonzalez Castaqos
> Control en el Entorno Msvil
> Telefsnica Investigacisn y Desarrollo
> Parque Tecnolsgico de Boecillo, parc. 118
> 47151 Boecillo (Valladolid)
> Tel.:+34 983 36 79 57
> Fax: +34 983 36 75 64
>
> [demime 0.99c.8 removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of
mgc.vcf]
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