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Remote Desktop Services Deployment Guide

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Updated: February 16, 2011

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Remote Desktop Services, formerly Terminal Services, is a server role in Windows Server® 2008 R2 that provides technologies that enable users to access Windows-based programs that are installed on a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server, or to access the full Windows desktop. With Remote Desktop Services, users can access an RD Session Host server from within a corporate network or from the Internet.

Remote Desktop Services lets you efficiently deploy and maintain software in an enterprise environment. You can easily deploy programs from a central location. Because you install the programs on the RD Session Host server and not on the client computer, programs are easier to upgrade and to maintain.

When a user accesses a program on an RD Session Host server, the program runs on the server. Each user sees only their individual session. The session is managed transparently by the server operating system and is independent of any other client session. Additionally, you can configure Remote Desktop Services to use Hyper-V™ to either assign virtual machines to users or have Remote Desktop Services dynamically assign an available virtual machine to a user upon connection.

About this guide

This guide is intended for use by system administrators and system engineers. It provides detailed guidance for deploying a Remote Desktop Services design that has been preselected by you or an infrastructure specialist or system architect in your organization. You can then use this guide to deploy Remote Desktop Services in your production environment.

This guide provides steps for deploying the following Remote Desktop Services designs:

Use the checklists in Implementing Your Remote Desktop Services Design Plan to determine how best to use the instructions in this guide to deploy your particular design. For information about hardware and software requirements for deploying Remote Desktop Services, see Appendix A: Remote Desktop Services Requirements.

To implement Microsoft® RemoteFX™, use the checklists for deploying a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), or Remote Desktop Services with session-based desktops and perform the tasks for RemoteFX.