Monitoring and Routing Remote User Access on Microsoft Terminal Services

Question

Hello forum members,

I hope you're all doing well. I have a question regarding Microsoft Terminal Services and the management of server resources when it comes to remote user access.

Is there a tool or method provided by Microsoft that allows administrators to check the resource usage (CPU and RAM) of a specific server and, based on that, route remote users' connections effectively?

I'd like to know more about how they can be used for this purpose or if there are other recommended solutions.

Your insights and expertise on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Best regards, Tal Israel

Answer 1

If I read it correctly this might be what your looking for, The Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) is a role service that comes as part of Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services (RDS) suite. Its primary function is to balance the load on an RDS farm by distributing client connections across multiple servers. This ensures that resources like CPU and RAM are optimally utilized across all RDS servers in the deployment.

• Session Load Balancing: It routes incoming sessions to the least-loaded RDS server in the farm, ensuring better resource allocation.
• Session Reconnection: In the event of a disconnection, the RD Connection Broker ensures that a user reconnects to their existing session instead of starting a new one, maintaining application state and reducing load.
• Session Persistence: Connection Broker can help maintain a session's state, especially useful if your infrastructure is VM-based or has multiple RDS servers.
• Aggregation: It can group together multiple RDSH (Remote Desktop Session Host) servers into a single aggregated pool, simplifying management and scaling.
• Fault Tolerance: You can deploy RD Connection Broker in a high-availability mode to ensure there's no single point of failure.

Setup and Config:

1. Installation: Add the RD Connection Broker role via the Server Manager under the 'Add roles and features' section.
2. Configuration: Once installed, configure the RD Connection Broker to join a farm of RDS servers through the RDS management console.
3. High Availability (Optional): If required, configure a secondary RD Connection Broker for high availability by using database replication and DNS round-robin or other load-balancing techniques.

Answer 2

Hello DarkerFirestar,

Thank you so much for your detailed response!!

The RD Connection Broker is indeed a valuable tool for managing Remote Desktop Services environments.

I wanted to clarify that I'm already familiar with and have implemented the RD Connection Broker in my current setup. However, my specific concern is centered around resource management, not just routing users based on the number of connections to the server.

I'm looking for a solution that addresses resource allocation and usage optimization in more detail. If you have any further insights or suggestions on this aspect, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Once again, thank you for your input and expertise.

Best regards,

Answer 3

Hello talisrael,

As far as I’m aware, Microsoft has no such tool that can provide dynamic routing of remote user connections based on real-time resource usage. However, there might be third-party solutions and hardware load balancers available for more advanced resource management.

Best regards,

Karlie