Remote Access

Terminal Services can provide remote users with access to applications that would otherwise be unusable because of poor performance across dial-up or slow WAN connections. The screen, mouse, and keyboard information sent by Terminal Services typically uses less bandwidth than an application that must be downloaded and then run locally on a remote user's computer.

Terminal Services Over the Internet

Users can also take advantage of Layer-2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) or Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) to gain access to Terminal Services over the Internet. By using encryption, either tunneling option provides secure access to a private network for users operating over a public medium. These protocols are recommended because of the security they provide, but Terminal Services can be accessed over any TCP/IP implementation.

Firewalls

If your organization uses a firewall for security, remember to keep port 3389 open for RDP connections between the client and server. For best results, use a firewall that employs user-based authentication. A firewall that grants access based on an IP address allows users through if the IP address of the server running Terminal Services has been granted access.