Windows Server 2008 R2 offers better terminal services

With the R2 release, Microsoft's VDI play involves the integration of several components with which you're likely already familiar. The most notable of these components are Hyper-V and Terminal Services or, as it is now known, Remote Desktop Services (RDS). This tip examines how familiar components of Terminal Services have been integrated into Windows Server 2008 R2 to better orchestrate and manage Microsoft VDI deployments.

Hyper-V and RDS: Two critical components of hosted desktops:
In Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V provides the virtualisation platform for hosting desktops. As a result, the first step in any Microsoft VDI deployment is to determine -- and then deploy -- the number of Hyper-V servers you'll need to support your virtual machines (VMs).The second necessary component is Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services. The re-named RDS expands on Terminal Services by supporting connections to traditional presentation virtualisation servers while also supporting hosted desktops.

Remote Desktop Gateway and Remote Desktop Web Access:
Windows Server 2008 R2 contains other Terminal Services featuers. Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access have now been re-named as Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) and Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access), respectively. The combination of these two services provides a Web-based mechanism for presenting a list of assigned applications and hosted desktops to users. As previously, adding the RD Gateway to an environment enables you to traffic applications and desktops across the Web through an encrypted connection.


Provisioning virtual machines in Microsoft VDI deployments:
In data centers, changes have occurred in how VMs are provisioned to users. Administratively speaking, VMs can be made available to users in one of two ways. The first is through a direct assignment called a personal virtual desktop. Using this mechanism, the administrator can create a VM on a Hyper-V host. That VM is then directly assigned to a user through the RemoteApp and Desktop (RAD) Connection Manager console. Once a VM is created, the user assigned to it will then see his personal desktop available as a link in RD Web Access.

In both cases, user profiles are abstracted from individual VM instances through the use of Remote Desktop Services roaming profiles. These roaming profiles are similar to the traditional Terminal Services roaming profiles that have been used with Terminal Services for years.
Much like Citrix's recent move to VDI with XenDesktop, Microsoft's foray into the VDI space is brilliant in how it takes mature technologies and repurposes them for a more advanced use. In the next article of this series, I'll give you click-by-click instructions on how to begin building a VDI deployment with Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V and RDS.

Source: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/32424-Windows-Server-2-8-R2-offers-better-terminal-services