Server 2008 and Terminal Services

Quick note on some new improvements in Server 2008 vs 2003/2000 that some people may still not be aware of. Some or all of these may provide a compelling reason to migrate.

Server 2008 includes enhancements to many current Windows Server features. Terminal Services is one of them. In Windows Server 2008 it has been enhanced to provide more functionality when compared with the previous versions. Some of these improvements are:

– Easier to install and configure

– Application publishing

– Seamless windows and session sharing

– Published applications can be accessed using a built-in web interface

– Applications can be accessed securely from outside the firewall without an SSL VPN or modifying firewall configurations, using HTTPS tunneling

– Enhanced printing

– Session-based load balancing

– 32-bit color and new RDP compression

– Display data prioritization

– Large display and custom resolution support

– Support for monitor spanning

– Enhanced Plug-and-Play device redirection

– Single Sign-On

Having all these improvements, Terminal Services should be more appealing to IT organizations wanting to reduce complexity in their deployment scenarios.

A few things you must keep in mind when you consider migrating because of the above improvements:

– Most of Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services’ new features require Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3 on the client side. As a result, these features are not available for older platforms.

– To benefit from all the new features of Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services you must upgrade all your servers to this version.

– Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services provides session-based load balancing capabilities that are only for groups of identical servers.