I was reviewing some of the things I’ve written in the past and this article from February of 2009 floated to the top. A little over a year and a lot has changed. I’m going to try and go over everything that I’m aware of for connecting to Terminal Servers (Windows Server 2003) and Remote Desktop Services (Windows Server 2008 and 2008R2) in a series of blog posts. This entry will only focus on Microsoft’s RDP client. I will be covering other RDP clients for other platforms in a future post.
RDP – From version 5 to 7 (6.1)
Microsoft’s RDP protocol has come a long way since Terminal Server 2003. I remember being blown away as how smooth it was to manage something using version 5. Prior to using it to remotely manage XP/Server 2003, most of my experience with Windows 2000 had been with Windows 2000 Professional (not server) and as such the most common way to gain remote access to it was to use VNC, which was and to this day remains a painful way to manage a Windows operating system. RDP access was an option you could enable on Windows 2000 Server but not on the client version of the OS.
Version 5 was a huge improvement, but there was still some room for growth. Security, multi-monitor support, and high latency WAN links were several of the really big items on Microsoft’s list for improvement.
Version 6 stepped up the notch with security, requiring credentials before providing the screen to what you were connecting. This version was associated mostly with Windows Vista. I remember using these steps to put a Vista client back on version 5 because of goofy connection issues with version 6 for several clients. Many also did not like providing their authentication first only to have to often provide it a second time because they were connecting to a XP/2003 system. There were steps to stop this behavior also. Latency was still an issue. It seemed that if your latency to your terminal server on a WAN link got above 100ms, end users would notice typing delays and the phone would start ringing about how “their computer” was slow. A new sysadmin would dig through the server, review the logs, only to find that nothing was wrong. It was only after some additional work with the network team would the “Ahh!” moment be reached and steps could be taken to reduce latency – reduce high bandwidth traffic, implement quality of service, review traceroute and other networking information.
More time passed and we all got a little more used to how RDP 6.0 worked. Microsoft came out with XP SP3 as well as some service packs for Vista. Windows 2008 came and didn’t see immediate implementation like Microsoft would have wanted. Windows Serve r 2008R2 finally was enough to convince the advantages of moving to the new product when able. Unlike the R2 version of 2003, Server 2008R2 was a significant change from the base code of the previous release.
Microsoft released RDP 7 which is really version 6.1 if you look at the mstsc executable. It was released last fall and is available for Windows XP x32, Windows Vista x32, and Windows Vista x64. I’m not the only individual disappointed that there isn’t any support for Windows XP x64, but this version of Windows is really Server 2003 x64 with all of the server specific components removed.
The biggest noticeable thing for me when I installed it was true multi-monitor support. Being able to maximize an application to only one of my monitors instead of trying to manage it via spanning is a long awaited improvement.
There are a number of backend changes, but I want to focus on changes with RDP 7 that users who use RDP to connect to a terminal server environment on a daily basis will be much appreciative of.
Windows Media player is now redirected to the client PC for decoding. This is a huge deal and if you ever have tried to watch video in a terminal server session, you will appreciate this improvement immensely. That being said, most individuals with a lot of experiencing connecting to terminal server will, by habit, minimize their session, and open up video locally. A more noticeable improvement is bitmap acceleration for graphics intensive applications such as rich web media – flash, silverlight, etc – and applications such as PowerPoint. I haven’t tried to experience this change myself, so I don’t have any good comments on if it really works or if it is marginally better than RDP6. I admit that I am in the habit of having my primary remote workspace on one monitor and a web browser on my secondary monitor for research.
If you have the RDP7 client and use it to connect to Server 2008R2, you get an added bonus of the Aero glass environment working and not looking at the class Server 2008 interface. In case you were wondering, this feature does not work with multiple monitors.
I have heard that RDP7 to a Server 2008R2 handles high WAN latency much better than earlier products, but I haven’t done any testing or research to determine if this is the case or just a rumor. I do know that Citrix, Ericom Blaze, and PCoIP handle WAN latency better than regular RDP.
If you haven’t checked out RDP7, I encourage you to do so.