Parallels Remote Application Server - 15.0 Administrator’s Guide

Parallels Remote Application Server

Administrator's Guide

v15

Parallels IP Holdings GmbH Vordergasse 59 8200 Schaffhausen Switzerland Tel: + 41 52 632 0411 Fax: + 41 52 672 2010 www.parallels.com Copyright © 1999-2016 Parallels IP Holdings GmbH and its affiliates. All rights reserved. This product is protected by United States and international copyright laws. The product’s underlying technology, patents, and trademarks are listed at http://www.parallels.com/trademarks. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Windows NT, Windows Vista, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Mac, the Mac logo, Mac OS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, FaceTime HD camera and iSight are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Introduction to Parallels Remote Application Server...............................................9

What is Parallels Remote Application Server?.................................................................... 9

About This Document .....................................................................................................10

Terms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................ 10

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server ......................................................13

System Requirements ..................................................................................................... 13

Software Requirements ......................................................................................................... 13

Hardware Requirements........................................................................................................ 14

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server.................................................................. 15

Signing In to Parallels Business Account ......................................................................... 21

Activating Parallels Remote Application Server ................................................................ 23

Managing Your Licenses ................................................................................................. 23

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever .....................................24

Parallels Remote Application Server Console ..................................................................24

Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment ............................................................................26

Add a Terminal Server ........................................................................................................... 27

Publish an Application ........................................................................................................... 28

Invite Users............................................................................................................................ 28

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 32

Sites and Administrators.........................................................................................33

Sites and Management ................................................................................................... 33

Adding a New Site to the Farm.............................................................................................. 34

Managing Sites...................................................................................................................... 36

Administrators: Adding, Managing and Configuring ......................................................... 37

Adding an Administrator Account .......................................................................................... 37

Configuring Administrator Accounts Permissions .................................................................. 38

Managing Administrator Accounts......................................................................................... 39

Using Instant Messaging for Administrators........................................................................... 39

Contents

Joining Customer Experience Program ...........................................................................40

Terminal Servers...................................................................................................... 41

Viewing the Available Terminal Servers ............................................................................ 41

Adding a Terminal Server ................................................................................................ 42

Installing RAS Terminal Server Agent Manually ...................................................................... 44

Configuring a Terminal Server .........................................................................................45

Check RAS Terminal Server Agent Status ............................................................................. 45

Change a Terminal Server Site Assignment ........................................................................... 46

View and Modify Terminal Server Properties.......................................................................... 46

Grouping Terminal Servers.............................................................................................. 50

Using a Terminal Server Scheduler.................................................................................. 51

Managing Logons From Client Sessions.......................................................................... 53

Publishing from a Terminal Server ...................................................................................54

Publishing a Desktop from a Terminal Server ........................................................................ 54

Publishing an Application from a Terminal Server .................................................................. 57

Publishing a Web Application from a Terminal Server ............................................................ 60

Publishing a Network Folder from a Terminal Server.............................................................. 61

Publishing a Document from a Terminal Server ..................................................................... 63

VDI Hosts .................................................................................................................64

Adding a VDI Host .......................................................................................................... 64

Checking the RAS VDI Agent Status ..................................................................................... 66

Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually......................................................................................... 66

Installing an Appliance and Configuring a VDI Host.......................................................... 67

Managing RAS Templates...............................................................................................71

Creating a RAS Template ...................................................................................................... 72

How Virtual Guests Are Created From a Template ................................................................ 72

Configuring a RAS Template ................................................................................................. 73

RAS Template Maintenance .................................................................................................. 74

VDI Host Pool Management ............................................................................................ 75

Adding and Deleting Pools .................................................................................................... 76

Adding and Deleting Pool Members ...................................................................................... 76

Configuring Virtual Guests in a Pool....................................................................................... 77

Using the Wildcard Function.................................................................................................. 79

Contents

Persistent Guests............................................................................................................ 79

Publishing from a Guest .................................................................................................. 79

Publishing a Virtual Desktop from a Guest............................................................................. 79

Publishing an Application from a Guest ................................................................................. 80

Publishing a Web Application from a Guest........................................................................... 81

Publishing a Network Folder from a Guest............................................................................. 82

Publishing a Document from a Guest .................................................................................... 82

VDI Agent Technology..................................................................................................... 83

Citrix XenServer..................................................................................................................... 84

Microsoft Hyper-V ................................................................................................................. 92

VMWare vSphere .................................................................................................................. 95

Remote PC’s.......................................................................................................... 111

Adding a Remote PC .................................................................................................... 111

Installing RAS PC Agent Manually .................................................................................112

Configuring a Remote PC ............................................................................................. 113

Publishing from a Remote PC .......................................................................................114

Publishing a Desktop from a Remote PC............................................................................. 114

Publishing an Application from a Remote PC ...................................................................... 115

Publishing a Web Application from a Remote PC ................................................................ 115

Publishing a Network Folder from a Remote PC.................................................................. 116

Publishing a Document from a Remote PC ......................................................................... 116

Publishing and Filtering.........................................................................................118

Managing Published Applications.................................................................................. 118

Managing Published Desktops ...................................................................................... 123

Managing Published Documents................................................................................... 124

Managing Published Folders ......................................................................................... 126

Filtering Rules by User, Client, IP, MAC, and Gateway................................................... 127

RAS Secure Client Gateways................................................................................130

RAS Secure Client Gateway Overview........................................................................... 130

Adding a RAS Secure Client Gateway ........................................................................... 132

Manually Adding a RAS Secure Client Gateway ............................................................132

Checking the RAS Secure Client Gateway Status ......................................................... 133

Managing RAS Secure Client Gateway.......................................................................... 134

Enabling and Disabling a RAS Secure Client Gateway......................................................... 134

Contents

Configuring the IP Address for Incoming Connections......................................................... 135

Configuring RAS Secure Client Gateway Network Options.................................................. 136

Enabling SSL Encryption on a RAS Secure Client Gateway................................................. 137

Enabling HTML5 Support on the Gateway .......................................................................... 139

Changing the Gateway Mode and Forwarding Settings....................................................... 142

Support for Wyse Thin Client OS ......................................................................................... 142

Filtering Access to RAS Secure Client Gateway................................................................... 143

Gateway Tunneling Policies...........................................................................................143

Configuring Tunneling Policies............................................................................................. 143

RAS Web Portal.....................................................................................................144

RAS Web Portal: Prerequisites and Installation .............................................................. 144

Logging Into the Administrative Page ............................................................................146

Farm Settings................................................................................................................ 147

General Settings ........................................................................................................... 150

Backup Publishing Agents....................................................................................156

Adding a Backup Publishing Agent ...............................................................................156

Managing Backup Publishing Agents ............................................................................ 157

Load Balancing...................................................................................................... 158

Resource Based & Round Robin Load Balancing.......................................................... 158

Load Balancing Advanced Settings............................................................................... 160

High Availability Load Balancing .................................................................................... 161

Configuring HALB Appliances in the RAS Console .............................................................. 162

Changing HALB Appliance Password.................................................................................. 164

Contents

Universal Printing ..................................................................................................166

Managing Universal Printing Servers.............................................................................. 166

Universal Printing Filtering ............................................................................................. 168

Font Management.........................................................................................................169

Universal Scanning................................................................................................170

Managing Universal Scanning .......................................................................................170

Managing Scanning Applications................................................................................... 172

Managing Devices

Inviting Users to Connect Devices ................................................................................. 173

Monitoring Devices........................................................................................................ 175

Managing Windows Devices .........................................................................................176

Windows Desktop Replacement.......................................................................................... 179

Windows Device Groups............................................................................................... 182

Scheduling Windows Devices & Groups Power Cycles.................................................. 183

Managing Parallels Client Settings................................................................................. 184

.................................................................................................173

Reporting ...............................................................................................................189

Deploy and Configure RAS Reports ..............................................................................189

Advanced Settings .............................................................................................................. 190

RAS Reports................................................................................................................. 191

Connection and Authentication Settings.............................................................. 194

RAS Publishing Agent Connection Settings................................................................... 194

Restricting Access by Parallels Client Type and Build Number ...................................... 196

Second Level Authentication ......................................................................................... 196

Configuring Parallels Remote Application Server ................................................................. 197

Working with Safenet........................................................................................................... 200

Working with Deepnet ......................................................................................................... 203

Managing Parallels Remote Application Se

Parallels Remote Application Server Status ................................................................... 217

Licensing ...................................................................................................................... 218

Managing Sessions....................................................................................................... 220

Configuring Monitoring Counters and Email Alerts ......................................................... 221

Configuring Monitoring Counters ......................................................................................... 221

Configuring SMTP Server Connection for System Notifications via Email............................. 221

rver...................................................217

Contents

Viewing Parallels Remote Application Server Configuration Changes............................. 222

Configuring Auditing Logging ........................................................................................ 222

Parallels Remote Application Server Logging Per Server ..................................................... 223

Parallels Remote Application Server Logging Per Site ......................................................... 223

Maintenance and Backup .............................................................................................224

Exporting and Importing Farm Settings .........................................................................224

Problem Reporting and Troubleshooting ....................................................................... 225

Port Reference

.......................................................................................................229

Index ......................................................................................................................232

C HAPTER 1

Introduction to Parallels Remote Application Server

In This Chapter

What is Parallels Remote Application Server? ........................................................... 9

About This Document............................................................................................... 10

Terms and Abbreviations.......................................................................................... 10

What is Parallels Remote Application Server?

Parallels Remote Application Server provides vendor independent virtual desktop and application delivery from a single platform. Accessible from anywhere with native clients and web enabled solutions, like the Parallels RAS HTML5 Gateway, Parallels Remote Application Server allows you to publish full desktops, applications and documents within a virtual environment, improving desktop manageability, security and performance.

Parallels Remote Application Server extends Windows Terminal Services by using a customized shell and virtual channel extensions over the Microsoft RDP protocol. It supports all major Hypervisors from Microsoft, VMware, and others enabling the publishing of virtual desktops and applications to the Parallels Client.

The product includes powerful universal printing and scanning functionality, high capacity resource based load balancing and management features.

With the Parallels Client Manager Module for Parallels Remote Application Server you can also centrally manage user connections and PCs converted into thin clients using the free Parallels Client.

How does it work?

When a user requests a virtual desktop or application, the system finds a virtual guest on one of the least loaded VDI hosts, or it finds a least loaded terminal server, and starts or restores an RDP connection with it. Using Microsoft RDP protocol, the virtual desktop or published application is presented to the user.

Introduction to Parallels Remote Application Server

Users can connect to the Parallels Remote Application Server using Parallels Client (available at no charge), which can run on Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, Chrome, and iOS. Users can also connect via an HTML5 browser or Chromebook.

As newer versions of Windows keep on being developed as time goes by, how can you defend the migration cost to your business? Parallels Remote Application Server can help. Desktop replacement allows you to extend the lifespan of your hardware and delay migration to the latest OSs to a time that suits you best. The Parallels Remote Application Server solution allows you to be very flexible: you can lock machine configurations on the user side, placing your corporate data in an extremely secure position; or you can opt to allow users to run some local and remote applications. Parallels Client Desktop Replacement is able to reduce the operability of the local machine by disabling the most common local configuration options, while guaranteeing the same level of service and security afforded by thin clients, directly from your existing PCs.

About This Document

This guide is intended for system administrators responsible for installing and configuring Parallels Remote Application Server. This guide assumes that the reader is familiar with Microsoft Terminal Server and has an intermediate networking knowledge.

Terms and Abbreviations

The following terms and abbreviations are used in this guide.

Term/Abbreviation Description

Parallels Remote Application Server Console.

RAS Console

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

In This Chapter

System Requirements .............................................................................................. 13

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server ........................................................... 15

Signing In to Parallels Business Account .................................................................. 21

Activating Parallels Remote Application Server ......................................................... 23

Managing Your Licenses .......................................................................................... 23

System Requirements

Software Requirements

Core Parallels Remote Application Server Components

RAS Publishing Agent and RAS Secure Client Gateway (the core components of Parallels Remote Application Server) must be installed on one of the following versions of Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2003 SP1 and newer

• Windows Server 2008

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows Server 2012

• Windows Server 2012 R2

Note: Parallels Remote Application Server should not be installed on a domain controller or any other server where a DHCP server is running.

RAS Terminal Server Agent

RAS Terminal Server Agent must be installed on one of the following versions of Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2003 SP1 and newer

• Windows Server 2008

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows Server 2012

• Windows Server 2012 R2

Note: Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier versions) must be enabled.

Parallels Client

Parallels Client is approved for the following operating systems (both 32 bit and 64 bit systems are supported, where applicable):

• Windows XP SP3, Vista, 7, 8.x, 10

• Windows Server 2003 SP1 and newer

• Windows Embedded

• Windows CE

• OS X 10.8 and newer

• iOS 7.0 and newer (iPhone and iPad)

• Android 2.2 and newer

• Chrome OS

• Windows Phone

• Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

• Open Suse 12.3

• OpenSuse 13.2

• Fedora 20

• Xubuntu 15.10

• Raspbian OS Wheezy

• Raspbian OS Jessie

Hardware Requirements

Parallels Remote Application Server is extensively tested on both physical and virtual platforms. The minimum hardware requirements approved to run Parallels Remote Application Server are outlined below.

• Physical Machines – Dual Core Processor and a minimum of 4GB RAM.

• Virtual Machines – Two Virtual Processors and a minimum of 4GB of virtual hardware memory.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

The server hardware requirements to install and configure Parallels Remote Application Server can vary according to end-user requirements.

Typically for an installation of 30 users or under, Parallels Remote Application Server can be installed on one high specification server and the resources published directly from it. For more than 30 users, multiple servers may be required.

The below should be considered during the planning stage of a Parallels Remote Application Server deployment:

• High specification servers should be used, consisting of multiple CPU cores, a high specification disk transfer rate and plenty of RAM.

• Virtual machine hypervisors can be used as long as the resources required by the end-users are calculated accordingly.

• Terminal servers should not exceed 50 users per terminal server in usage.

• The Secure Client Gateway should not exceed 200 users per server for incoming connections.

• When planning VDI Hypervisor resource requirements, extra requirements such as RAM usage

per virtual machine and disk space should be taken into account.

For port requirements, please see the Port Reference section (p. 229).

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

To install Parallels Remote Application Server:

1 Before proceeding, make sure that you are logged into the computer where you'll be

performing the installation with an account that has administrative privileges.

2 Download the latest version of Parallels Remote Application Server from the Parallels website.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

3 Double click the RASInstaller.msi file to launch the Parallels Remote Application Server

installation wizard.

4 Click Next.

5 Review and approve the end-user license agreement and click Next.

6 Specify the folder location where Parallels Remote Application Server will be installed and click

Next.

7 Select the installation type:

• Select Parallels Remote Application Server to run the default installation.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

• Select Custom and then (after clicking the Next button) specify the components to install.

8 Click Next.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

9 If there's a port conflict on your computer, review the notice on the Important Notice wizard

page. You can resolve the conflict later.

10 Click Next.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

11 On the Firewall Settings page, select Automatically add firewall rules to automatically

configure the firewall on this computer for Parallels Remote Application Server to work properly.

12 Click Next and then click Install.

13 Wait for the installation to finish and click Finish.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

Logging Into RAS Console for the First Time

The first time the Parallels Remote Application Server Console is launched, you need to specify credentials of a user with administrative privileges (usually a domain or local administrator). The user name must be specified using the UPN format (e.g. administrator@domain.local). The specified user will be automatically configured as the Parallels Remote Application Server administrator.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

Signing In to Parallels Business Account

o begin using Parallels Remote Application Server and working with the RAS console, you need a Parallels Business Account. When you run the RAS console for the first time, you'll see the Sign In to Parallels Business Account dialog.

If you already have an account, provide the email address and password you used to register the account and click Sign In.

To create a new Parallels Business Account:

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

1 Click Register. The Register Parallels Business Account dialog opens.

2 If you have an existing 2X Remote Application Server license and are upgrading to the new

Parallels Remote Application Server, the Register Parallels Business Account dialog will be prefilled with the information from your existing license. If you don't have an existing license (or if you've installed Parallels Remote Application Server on a new server), you'll need to fill in the registration information.

3 Click Register to create an account.

If you are upgrading an existing 2X license, the Migrating license key window will open and your license will be migrated to the new Parallels Remote Application Server format. When the migration is completed, your upgraded license key will be registered with your Parallels Business Account and your Parallels Remote Application Server will be activated.

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

If you don't have an existing 2X license, you should see the confirmation message saying that "Your Parallels Business Account was registered successfully". Click OK to close the message box. In the Sign In to Parallels Business Account dialog, provide the email address and password you used to register your Parallels Business Account and click Sign In. You'll see the Activate Product dialog. Read on to learn how to activate Parallels Remote Application Server.

Activating Parallels Remote Application Server

If you already have a Parallels Remote Application Server license key, select the Activate using license key option and enter the key in the field provided. You can click the button next to the field

to see the list of subscriptions and/or permanent license keys you have registered with your business account. If the list is empty, it means that you don't have any subscriptions or license keys yet and need to purchase one first.

• To purchase a subscription online, click the Purchase a license link.

• You can also activate a trial version of Parallels Remote Application Server by selecting the

Activate trial version option.

After entering a license key (or selecting to activate a trial version), click Activate. You should see the confirmation message that your Parallels Remote Application Server was activated successfully.

Managing Your Licenses

If later you need to view the Parallels Remote Application Server license information or if you decide to switch to a different Parallels Business Account or activate Parallels Remote Application Server using a different license key, you can do that from the Licensing category in the Parallels Remote Application Server console. For more information, please see the Licensing section (p. 218).

C HAPTER 3

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

In This Chapter

Parallels Remote Application Server Console............................................................ 24

Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment ..................................................................... 26

Parallels Remote Application Server Console

One of the fundamental features of Parallels Remote Application Server is the ability to publish seamless applications individually to your users. This means users will only see the applications you give them access to and not a full terminal service desktop.

The Parallels Remote Application Server Console is where you manage Parallels Remote Application Server. Use the console to publish an application or a desktop, add a terminal server of a VDI host to the farm, backup the Parallels Remote Application Server configuration and other configuration changes.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

Parallels Remote Application Server Console Layout

The RAS Console consists of the following sections:

This section lists categories. Selecting a category will populate the right pane with elements relevant to this category.

This section becomes available only for the Farm and the Publishing categories. The navigation tree allows you to browse through the objects related to that category.

This section displays the selected object or category properties, such as servers in a farm or published application properties.

This information bar displays the site you are currently logged into and the user account being used for the connection. Please also note the "Press Apply to commit the new settings" message in the middle (in red). The message is displayed when you made changes to one or more objects/items, but did not commit them to Parallels Remote Application Server. Click the Apply button (at the bottom of the screen) to commit the changes. If there are no currently pending changes, the message is not displayed.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

The information bar at the bottom of the screen is used to display the most recent console notification (if one is available).

Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment

In this section, we'll set up a simple Parallels Remote Application Server environment where all required components run on a single server. Once you are familiar with the basic principles of setting up a Parallels RAS environment, you can use the instructions provided here as a basis for setting up a more advanced multi-server environment according to your needs.

To set up a Parallels RAS environment:

1 Log into the Parallels Remote Application Server console.

2 In the console, select the Start category. This category gives you access to three wizards that

you can use to easily perform essential tasks, such as adding terminal servers, publishing applications, and inviting users to use those applications.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

Add a Terminal Server

First, we need to add a Terminal Server to the site. In this tutorial, we'll add the local server on which Parallels Remote Application Server is installed.

To add a Terminal Server:

1 Click the Add Terminal Servers item. The Add Terminal Servers wizard opens.

2 On the first page, select the local server in the list or type the host name in the edit box at the

bottom of the page and then click the plus-sign icon.

3 Click Next.

4 On the next page, you can specify whether the firewall should be configured on the server and

the RDS role should be installed (and some others). Keep the default values and click Next.

5 Review the settings and click Next.

6 The Install Terminal Server Agent dialog opens. When the Terminal Server Agent is installed

on the server, click Done to close the dialog.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

7 Click Finish to close the wizard.

If you would like to verify that the Terminal Server has been added to the site, click the Farm category (below the Start category) and then click Terminal Servers in the navigation tree (the middle pane). The server should now be included in the Terminal Servers list. The Agent State column may display a warning message. If it does, reboot the server. The Agent State column should now say, "Agent OK", which means that your Terminal Server is fully operational.

Publish an Application

Now that you have a Terminal Server, you need to publish an application that it will serve to the users. In this example, we'll publish the RAS Console application (you can publish any other application that's available on the server if you like).

To publish an application:

1 Click the Publish Applications item.

Note: If you see a message box saying that there are no servers available, make sure that you added the server as a Terminal Server to the site and then restarted it.

2 The Publish Applications wizard opens.

3 The first page of the wizard will not be displayed if you have just one Terminal Server. If you

have more than one Terminal Server, the page will be displayed and you can select the Terminal Server(s) from which the application should be published. For instance, you can select the Individual Servers option and then select the local server in the list.

4 On the next page, navigate to Parallels / Parallels Remote Application Server and select the

Parallels Remote Application Server Console application (or any other application that you

want to publish).

If you have more than one Terminal Server and select more than one server on the previous screen, the Show applications not available on all target servers option becomes enabled. If the option is cleared (default), the directory tree will contain applications that are available on each and every server that you selected. If the option is selected, the tree will contain applications that may be available on some server(s), but not on the others.

5 Click Next. Review the summary information and click Next again.

6 Click Finish when ready.

7 To verify that the application has been published, select the Publishing category and see that

the Parallels Remote Application Server Console application is present in the Published Resources list (the middle pane).

Invite Users

Your Parallels RAS environment is now fully operational. You have a Terminal Server and a published application. All you need to do now is invite your users to install the Parallels Client software on their devices, which will enable them to use the published application.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

To invite users:

1 Click the Invite Users item. The Invite Users wizard opens.

2 If you haven't configured anything yet in your Parallels RAS installation, the first wizard page will

prompt you to configure a mailbox for sending notifications to your users.

3 Enter your outgoing mail server name and sender address (e.g. your email address). Choose

whether to use the TLS/SSL protocol and whether your SMTP server requires authentication (provide the username and password if it does). You can also send a test email to test your outgoing mail server settings.

4 Click Next.

5 On the next page of the wizard, specify target devices and connection options:

• In the target devices list, select the types of devices to send an invitation to. Each target

device of a particular type will receive an email with instructions on how to download, install, and configure the Parallels Client software on that device type.

• In the Public Gateway IP field, specify the RAS Secure Client Gateway domain name or IP

address. Please note that this can be a public IP address in order to reach the system from a remote user. You can click the [...] button to select a gateway from the list.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

• In the Connection Mode drop-down list, select the RAS Secure Client Gateway connection

mode. Please note that SSL modes require the gateway to have SSL configured.

6 Click Next.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

7 On the next page, specify the email recipients. Click the [...] button to select users or groups.

8 Review the invitation email template displayed in the Review the invitation e-mail box. You

can modify the template text as needed. The template also uses variables, which are explained below.

• %RECIPIENT% — Specifies the name of a recipient to whom the email message is

addressed.

• %SENDER% — The sender's email address that you specified in the first step of this wizard

when you configured the outgoing email server settings.

• %INSTRUCTIONS% — Includes a script for automatic configuration of Parallels Client and a

link that will run it.

• %MANUALINSTRUCTIONS% — Includes instructions for manual configuration of Parallels

Client.

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

The variables are defined dynamically depending on the type(s) of the target devices and other settings. Normally, you should always include them in the message, so your users will receive all the necessary instructions and links. To preview the message, click the Preview button. This will open the HTML version of the message in a separate window. This is the email message that your users will receive.

9 Click Next, review the settings that you specified, and click Next again to send the invitation

email to the selected users.

After you send the invitation email to your users, they'll be able to follow the instructions in it and install Parallels Client on their devices. They will then be able to connect to Parallels Remote Application Server and use the application that you published for them.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we configured a simple Parallels Remote Application Server environment consisting of one Terminal Server and one published application. We then configured a mailbox for outgoing emails and sent an invitation email to our users with the instructions on how to install Parallels Client, connect to Parallels Remote Application Server, and run the published application remotely. In other words, we successfully created a fully functional Parallels Remote Application Server serving applications to remote users!

If you wish, you can repeat the tutorial and add more Terminal Servers or publish more applications, or send an invitation email to users of different types of devices. The instructions remain essentially the same.

C HAPTER 4

Sites and Administrators

In This Chapter

Sites and Management............................................................................................. 33

Administrators: Adding, Managing and Configuring .................................................. 37

Joining Customer Experience Program..................................................................... 40

Sites and Management

Sites

A Parallels Remote Application Server farm can have multiple sites. Each site consists of at least one RAS Publishing Agent, RAS Secure Client Gateway (or multiple gateways), and agents installed on Terminal Servers, VDI hosts, and PCs. At least one server on a site has to be dedicated for hosting the master RAS Publishing Agent and the RAS Secure Client Gateway. Note that a given Terminal Server, VDI host, or PC can be a member of only one site at any given time.

The first default site added to the Parallels Remote Application Server farm is the Licensing Server, where the main Parallels Remote Application Server configuration database is stored. Every additional site on the farm will have a synced copy of the configuration database. When changes are applied to a particular site, the main configuration database is automatically updated to contain the changes.

Sites and Administrators

To manage sites in the Parallels Remote Application Server Console, click the Farm category. The available sites are displayed in the middle pane.

Note: The Farm node is only available to administrators who have full permissions on the farm. For more information about administrators and permissions refer to Administrators: Adding, Managing, and Configuring (p. 37).

Adding a New Site to the Farm

To add a site to a farm:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Farm node and then select the farm in the navigation tree.

2 In the Tasks drop-down menu (the right pane, above the site list) and click Add (or click the +

icon).

3 In the Add Site dialog:

• Specify a site name and the IP address or FQDN of the server where the master publishing

agent and gateway will be installed.

• Select the Add an SSL certificate and enable HTML5 Gateway option to automatically

create a self-signed certificate, enable SSL, and enable HTML5 support. For more info, please see Enable HTML5 Support on the Gateway (p. 139).

Sites and Administrators

4 Click Next.

5 The Site Master Properties dialog opens. First, it verifies if RAS Publishing Agent is installed

on the specified site server. If it isn't, it will say so in the Status field. Click the Install button to install the agent.

6 In the Install RAS Publishing Agent dialog, highlight the server name on which the RAS

Publishing Agent is to be installed.

7 (Optional) Select the option Override system credentials to specify and use different

credentials to connect to the server and install the agent.

8 Click Install to install the publishing agent and gateway. Click Done once it has been

successfully installed.

Accessing Site Configuration

Once a new site is created you can access its configuration by running the Parallels Remote Application Server Console on the site server or by switching to its configuration from the Parallels Remote Application Server Console as explained in the following section Switching Between Sites Configurations.

Note: When running the Parallels Remote Application Server Console, you'll always be connected to the main configuration database, even if running it from a site server. Once changes are applied, configuration changes are replicated from the licensing server to the site servers.

Sites and Administrators

Switching Between Sites Configurations

From the Parallels Remote Application Server Console you can only view the configuration of one site at a time. If you login as a farm administrator, the configuration of the Licensing Server site will be loaded. If you login with an administrator that has access to a specific site, the configuration of that site will be loaded.

To switch between the configuration of different sites from the Parallels Remote Application Server Console follow the below procedure:

1 Open the Farm category and click on the Farm node from the navigation tree to access the list

of sites in the farm.

2 Select the site you want to configure and click Switch to this Site in the Tasks drop-down

menu. Alternatively you can use the top bar and select the site you want to switch to in the Site drop-down list.

Managing Sites

Replicating Site Settings to all Sites

Any setting which is site dependant can be replicated to all other sites. Refer to the table below for more specific information about which settings can be replicated to other sites.

Sites and Administrators

To replicate site setting to all other sites, select <site-name> / Settings in the middle pane and then select the Replicate settings option (at the bottom of the Auditing tab page). Please note that this option is hidden if you have just one site in the farm.

Overriding Site Replicated Settings

If an administrator who has permissions to enable or disable replication settings makes a change to a specific setting, such setting is replicated to all other sites.

If an administrator has access to a particular site only, upon modifying site settings which have been replicated, the replicated settings are overridden and the option Replicate Settings is automatically cleared, therefore such settings will no longer be replicated to other sites.

Setting a Site as a Licensing Server

If the licensing server fails, or if you would like to set a different site as a Licensing Server, click on the site name in the Farm node and then click Set Site as Licensing Server in the Tasks drop- down menu.

Administrators: Adding, Managing and Configuring

You can have more than one Parallels Remote Application Server administrator who can manage the farm and the sites. If needed, you can configure permissions to limit access to specific categories and sites.

If the Parallels Remote Application Server is installed in an Active Directory environment, any user that has elevated privileges and write access to the installation directory can be configured as a Parallels Remote Application Server administrator.

If the Parallels Remote Application Server is installed on a standalone machine, any user that has elevated privileges and write access to the installation directory can be configured as a Parallels Remote Application Server administrator.

Default Parallels Remote Application Server Administrator

The user you specified when you logged into the RAS Console for the first time is automatically granted full permissions and can perform any task in the farm. There should always be at least one enabled administrator with full permissions in the farm.

Adding an Administrator Account

To add an administrator account to the Parallels Remote Application Server:

Sites and Administrators

1 In the RAS Console, select the Administration category and then click the Administration tab

in the right pane.

2 Click the Tasks drop-down menu and choose Add.

3 The Administrator Properties dialog opens.

4 Specify a user name, email address, and the mobile phone number.

5 The Permissions field allows you to configure permissions for this user. By default, the Full

Permissions option is selected. To grant specific permissions, click the Change Permissions button. For further instructions, please read the Configuring Administrator Accounts Permissions section (p. 38).

6 In the Receive system notifications via drop-down list, select Email,

notifications are sent to the specified email address. Select None to disable email system notifications for this account.

7 Click OK to add the new administrator account.

so any system

Configuring Administrator Accounts Permissions

Administrator permissions can be configured when creating a new administrator account or from the Properties of an existing account. Permissions can be assigned per category (e.g. Farm, Publishing, Universal Printing, etc.) and also per site.

Select the Full Permissions option to enable the administrator to modify all categories, sites, and global settings in the farm.

Select one or more options in the Site permissions section and then select one or more sties to which these permissions should apply. You can grant the following permissions to an administrator:

• Allow Site changes. Can modify the following categories: Site, Load Balancing, Universal Printing, Universal Scanning.

Sites and Administrators

• Allow Publishing changes. Can modify the Publishing category.

• Allow Connection changes. Can modify the Connection category.

• Allow viewing of RAS Reporting. Can view reports generated by the RAS Reporting engine.

• Allow viewing of Site Information. Can view (but not modify) the site information.

• Allow Session Management. Can manage running sessions.

• Allow Client Management changes. Can modify the Client Manager category.

• Allow access to Information. Can view the read-only Information category.

Managing Administrator Accounts

To view and modify administrator's accounts:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Administration category and click the Administration tab.

2 Right-click an account and choose Properties in the context menu.

3 Use the Administrator Properties dialog to modify the necessary information. For more info,

see Adding an Administrator Account (p. 37).

Logging off an Administrator

When an administrator is accessing a category (e.g. Universal Printing), the category is locked for all other administrators. Therefore, upon trying to access a category locked by another administrator, the administrator will be alerted with an error that the object is locked.

If you need to release a lock, you can do the following:

1 On the Administration tab page, click the Tasks drop-down menu and choose Show

Sessions.

2 In the Sessions dialog, select the administrator who's locking a category and then click Send

Message to communicate with the administrator or click Log Off.

Using Instant Messaging for Administrators

Parallels Remote Application Server administrators that are logged on to the same farm can communicate with each other using a built-in instant messenger.

To communicate with an administrator (or all logged on administrators) using the instant messenger:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Administration category.

2 Expand the drop-down menu next to your name (top-right corner of the console screen) and

click Chat....

3 The Parallels Remote Application Server Chat window opens.

Sites and Administrators

To send a message:

1 Type the message text in the lower input panel.

2 In the Logged on administrators list box, select a particular administrator to send the

message to or All to send the message to all logged on administrators.

3 Click Send.

4 Your message history is displayed in the Messages panel. To clear the history, click Clear All.

5 You can also view the chat history listing all messages between all administrators (not just your

own messages). To do so, select the Administration node in the console and then select the Chat History tab.

Joining Customer Experience Program

Parallels Customer Experience Program helps us to improve the quality and reliability of Parallels Remote Applications Server. If you accept to join the program, we will collect information about the way you use Parallels Remote Application Server. We will not collect any personal data, like your name, address, phone number, or keyboard input.

To jon the program:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Administration category.

2 In the right pane, click the CEP tab (you may need to scroll the right pane horizontally to see it).

3 Select the Join Parallels Customer Experience Program option.

After you join the program, CEP will automatically start to collect information about how you use Parallels Remote Application Server. Data collected from you and other participants is combined and thoroughly analyzed to help us improve Parallels Remote Application Server.

C HAPTER 5

Terminal Servers

In This Chapter

Viewing the Available Terminal Servers ..................................................................... 41

Adding a Terminal Server ......................................................................................... 42

Configuring a Terminal Server................................................................................... 45

Grouping Terminal Servers ....................................................................................... 50

Using a Terminal Server Scheduler ........................................................................... 51

Managing Logons From Client Sessions................................................................... 53

Publishing from a Terminal Server............................................................................. 54

Viewing the Available Terminal Servers

To be able to publish applications and desktops for your users through Parallels Remote Application Server, the farm must have one or more terminal servers.

To view the list of the terminal servers in the farm:

1 In the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <site-name> / Terminal Servers.

2 The available terminal servers are displayed on the Terminal Servers tab page in the right

pane.

Filtering the Terminal Servers List

If you have an extensive list of terminal servers, you can filter it to display only the servers you want to see:

1 Click the magnifying glass icon, which is located on a toolbar above the list.

2 An extra row is displayed at the top of the list where you can type a string in one or more

columns that will be used to filter the list.

3 For example, if you want to search for a server by its name, enter the text in the Server column.

You can type the entire server name or the first few characters until a match is found. The list will be filtered as you type and only the matching server(s) will be displayed.

4 If you type a filter string in more than one column, they will be combined using the logical AND

operator.

5 To remove the filter and display the complete list, click the magnifying glass icon again.

Terminal Servers

6 If you click the magnifying glass icon one more time, you'll see that the filter that you specified

earlier is still there. To remove it completely, simply delete the filter string(s) from the column(s).

Adding a Terminal Server

To be able to publish applications and desktops for your users through Parallels Remote Application Server, you need to add one or more terminal servers to a site.

Note: To add a terminal server to a site, it must have the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) installed. RDS was known as Terminal Services prior to Windows 2008 R2. On some older versions of Windows Server, Terminal Services are not installed by default. The functionality described here allows you to install RDS on a server right from the RAS Console.

Quickly Adding a Terminal Server

You can quickly add a Terminal Server to a site from the Start category in the RAS Console. The Add Terminal Servers Wizard there implements a streamlined process that requires minimal user

interaction. The process is described in the Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment section (p.

26).

The rest of this sectio process consists of more steps, but gives you more control over the available options.

n describes how to add a Terminal Server from the Farm category. This

Searching for Servers

You can search for servers in your Active Directory domain that meet the necessary requirements to be used as terminal servers (see System Requirements).

To search for servers:

1 On the Terminal Servers tab page, click Tasks > Find.

2 The Find Servers dialog opens and begins to search for suitable servers. If no servers are

found, you'll see a message box where you can click OK to close the box and the dialog. In such a case, you can add a server manually (jump to the Adding a Terminal Server Manually subsection below).

3 If at least one suitable server is found, it will be displayed in the dialog.

4 Select a server that you would like to add as a terminal server to the site and verify whether the

RAS Terminal Server Agent is installed on it by looking at the Agent column. If the agent is not installed, click the Install Agent button and follow the instructions. Make sure that you install RDS on the server too (see the note above).

Terminal Servers

Adding a Terminal Server Manually

If you couldn't find any servers using the functionality described above, you can add a server manually as follows:

1 Click Add in the Tasks drop-down menu to launch the Add Terminal Server wizard.

2 In the Server field, specify the server IP address or FQDN.

3 Select the Add Firewall Rules option to automatically configure the firewall on the server.

4 Select the Install Terminal Services option if the server doesn't have it installed. See the note

at the beginning of this topic.

5 Select the Reboot option if required. Please note that this option is ignored if a reboot is

pending on a local machine (i.e. the reboot of a local machine will not be forced).

6 Click Next.

7 In the next step, a checking is performed if the RAS Terminal Server Agent is installed on the

server.

If the result is negative (agent is not installed):

a Click Install to push install the agent.

b In the Installing Terminal Server Agent dialog, select the server name on which the agent

is to be installed.

c (Optional) Select the Override system credentials option to specify and use different

credentials to connect to the server.

d Click Install to install the agent. Click Done once the agent is installed. If the push

installation of the RAS Terminal Server Agent fails (e.g. SMB share is not available, cannot push agent due to firewall rules, etc.), refer to the Installing RAS Terminal Server Agent Manually section (p. 44), which follows this one.

8 In the Agent Information dialog, click Add to add

Application Server farm.

9 Click Apply to commit the new settings.

the terminal server to the Parallels Remote

Terminal Servers

Installing RAS Terminal Server Agent Manually

You may need to install the RAS Terminal Server Agent manually if the automatic push installation cannot be performed. For instance, an SMB share may be not be available or the firewall rules may interfere with the push installation, etc.

Installing RAS Terminal Server Agent Manually

1 Log into the server where the RAS Terminal Server Agent is to be installed using an

administrator account and close all other applications.

2 Copy the Parallels Remote Application Server installation file (RASInstaller.msi) to the

server and double-click it to launch the installation.

3 Once prompted, click Next and accept the End-User license agreement.

4 Specify the path where the RAS Terminal Server Agent should be installed and click Next.

5 Select Custom and click Next.

6 Click on RAS Terminal Server Agent and select Entire Feature will be installed on local

hard drive from the drop-down menu.

7 Ensure that all other components are deselected and click Next.

8 Click Install to start the installation.

9 Click Finish once the installation is finished.

The RAS Terminal Server Agent doesn't require any configuration. Once the agent is installed, highlight the server name in the Parallels Remote Application Server Console and click Check

Agent in the Tasks drop-down menu to update the server status.

Uninstalling RAS Terminal Server Agent

To uninstall RAS Terminal Server Agent from a server:

1 Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program.

2 Find Parallels Remote Application Server in the list of installed programs.

3 If you don't have any other Parallels RAS components on the server that you want to keep,

right-click Parallels Remote Application Server and then click Uninstall. Follow the instructions to uninstall the program. You may skip the steps below.

4 If you have other RAS components that you want to keep on the server, right-click Parallels

Remote Application Server and then click Change.

5 Click Next on the Welcome page.

6 On the Change, repair, or remove page, select Change.

7 On the next page, select Custom.

Terminal Servers

8 Select RAS Terminal Server Agent, then click the drop-down menu in front of it, and click

Entire feature will be unavailable.

9 Click Next and complete the wizard.

Configuring a Terminal Server

Check RAS Terminal Server Agent Status

A terminal server must have a RAS Terminal Server Agent installed to provide the intended functionality. In addition to the this, Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services) must be installed in Windows on the server.

Normally, when you add a terminal server to a site in the RAS Console, the Terminal Server Agent and the Remote Desktop Services are installed by default. However, if you skipped the installation (or if you or someone uninstalled the agent or RDS from the server later), you can check their status and take appropriate actions.

To check the RAS Terminal Server Agent and RDS status and install them if necessary:

1 First, you can look at the Agent State column in the Terminal Services list. If there's a

problem with the Terminal Server Agent or RDS, the column will display an appropriate error message.

2 Right-click a server and then click Check Agent in the context menu. The Agent Information

dialog opens.

3 If the agent and/or Terminal Services (RDS) are not installed on the server, you need to install

them. To do so, click Install and follow the instructions.

4 After the installation is complete, you may need to reboot the terminal server on which the

installation was performed.

Terminal Servers

Change a Terminal Server Site Assignment

You can assign a terminal server to a different site in your farm if you need to do so. Please note that this functionality is only available if you have more than one site in your farm.

To change the site assignment:

1 Right-click a terminal server and then click Change Site in the context menu. The Change Site

dialog opens.

2 Select a site in the list and click OK. The server will be moved to the Terminal Servers list of

the target site (Farm / <new-site-name> / Terminal Servers).

View and Modify Terminal Server Properties

To configure a Terminal Server:

1 In the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <site-name> / Terminal Servers.

2 Right-click a server and click Properties in the context menu.

3 The Server Properties dialog opens where you can configure the terminal server.

The rest of this section describes how to set individual server configuration properties.

The Properties Tab Page

Terminal Servers

Select or clear the Enable Server in site option to enable or disable a server on the site. By default, a server is enabled. A disabled server cannot serve published applications and virtual desktops to clients.

Other elements on the Properties page are:

• Server — specifies the server name.

• Description — specifies the server description.

• Change Direct Address — select this option if you need to change the direct address that

Parallels Client uses to establish a direct connection with the terminal server.

Terminal Servers

The Agent Settings Tab Page

Each terminal server in the farm has a RAS Terminal Server Agent installed to provide a connection between the Parallels Remote Application Server and the terminal server. Use the Agent Settings tab page to configure the agent.

To use the default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. To view or modify the default settings, click the Edit Defaults link.

If you want to specify custom settings for a given server, clear the Inherit default settings option and specify agent properties as follows:

• Port. Specifies a different remote desktop connection port number if a non-default port is configured on the server.

• Max Sessions. Specifies the maximum number of sessions.

• Publishing Session Timeout. Specifies the amount of time each session remains connected in

the background after the user has closed the published application. This option is used to avoid unnecessary reconnections with the server.

Terminal Servers

• Allow Client URL/Mail Redirection. Select this option to allow http and mailto links to be opened using a local application on the client computer rather than the server’s resources. To configure a list of URLs which should not be redirected, navigate to the URL Redirection tab in the Settings node of a site.

• Logging. Enables or disables the RAS Terminal Server Agent logging. Such logging should only be enabled if instructed by the Parallels Support.

• Use RemoteApps if available. Enable this option to allow use of remote apps for shell-related issues when an app is not displayed correctly. This feature is supported on the Parallels Client for Windows only.

• Allow 2XRemoteExec to send command to the client. Select this option to allow a process running on the server to instruct the client to deploy an application on the client side. More on 2XRemoteExec in the following subsection.

Using RemoteExec

RemoteExec is a feature that facilitates the servers ability to send commands to the client. This is done using the command line utility 2XRemoteExec.exe. Command line options include:

Command Line Parameter Parameter Description

-s

-t

"Path for Remote Application"

Used to run the 2XRemoteExec command in ‘silent’ mode. Without this parameter, the command will display pop up messages from the application. If you include the parameter, the messages will not be displayed.

Is used to specify the timeout until the application is started. Timeout must be a value between 5000ms and 30000ms. Note that the value inserted is in ‘ms’. If the timeout expires the command returns with an error. Please note that the application might still be started on the client.

Shows a help list of the parameters that 2XRemoteExec uses.

The Application that will be started on the client as prompted from the server.

Examples:

The following command displays a message box describing the parameters that can be used.

2XRemoteExec -?

This command runs Notepad on the client.

2XRemoteExec C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe

In this example, the command opens the C:\readme.txt file in the Notepad on the client. No message is shown and 2XRemoteExec would wait for 6 seconds or until the application is started.

2XRemoteExec C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe “C:\readme.txt”

Terminal Servers

RDP Printer Tab Page

The RDP Printer tab page allows you to configure the renaming format of redirected printers. The format may vary depending on which version and language of the server you are using.

To use the default RDP printer settings, select the Inherit default settings option. To view or modify the default options, click the Edit Defaults link.

The RDP Printer Name Format drop-down list allows you to select a printer name format specifically for the configured server.

Select the Remove session number from printer name and/or the Remove client name from printer name to exclude the corresponding information from the printer name.

Grouping Terminal Servers

Terminal Servers groups can be used to specify from which group of servers a published resource should be published in the wizard. It is highly recommended to use groups in a multi-server environment to ease the management of publishing items.

Terminal Servers

To create or modify a terminal server group:

1 With Farm > Terminal Servers selected in the navigation tree, click the Groups tab.

2 To create a new group, click Add from the Tasks drop down menu (or click the + icon). To

modify an existing group, right-click it and then click Properties in the context menu.

3 In the Group Properties dialog, specify the group name and select the servers to add to the

group.

Using a Terminal Server Scheduler

The Scheduler tab page in the Terminal Servers view allows you to reboot or temporarily disable servers according to a schedule.

To create a new scheduler task or modify an existing one:

1 In the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <server-name> / Terminal Servers.

2 In the right pane, click the Scheduler tab.

3 To create a new task, click Add in the Tasks drop-down menu and select a desired task from

the following options:

• Disable Server

• Disable Server Group

• Reboot Server

• Reboot Server Group

To modify an existing task, right-click it and select Properties in the context menu. To delete a task, right-click it and select Delete.

4 The schedule properties dialog will have slightly different options depending on the task type

that you choose in the Tasks > Add drop-down menu. The differences are described in the following steps.

5 Select Enable Schedule to enable the task.

6 Specify the task name, target server (or server group if you've selected a group task), and an

optional description.

7 Specify the start date and time, duration, and the scope (the Repeat property). If you select

Never in the Repeat drop-down box, the task will run only once.

8 The Notify Users Message box allows you to type a message that will be sent to the users

before the task is executed (you can select the time period using the Send message [ ] before action is triggered drop-down list).

9 The Options section will have different options depending on the task type:

• If a task is Disable Server or Disable Server Group, the available option is On Disable.

You can use

it to specify how the active session states should be handled.

Terminal Servers

• If a task is Reboot Server or Reboot Server Group, the available options are Enable Drain

Mode and Force Server Reboot After (the options work together). If you enable the drain

mode, the following will happen. When the task triggers, new connections to a server will be refused but active connections will continue to run. A server will be rebooted when all active users end their sessions or when it's time to force reboot it, whichever comes first. For active users not to lose their work, specify a message in the Notify Users Message box advising them to save their work and log off. Please also see the Terminal Server Drain Mode Examples subsection below.

10 Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.

Terminal Server Drain Mode Examples

Example 1: Scheduling a server group for reboot without the drain mode

A server group contains 3 servers: A, B, C

• Date: 7/24/2015

• Start Time: 10:45am

• Send Message: 2 minutes before

Users with active sessions are notified 2 minutes before the server rebooting task is triggered.

Example 2: Scheduling a server group for reboot with the drain mode enabled

A server group containing 3 servers: A, B, C

• Date: 7/24/2015

• Start Time: 10:45am

• Drain mode: enabled

• Force reboot after: 3 hours

• Send Message: 2 minutes before

The session users are notified 2 minutes before the server rebooting task is triggered.

When the task is triggered:

1 The drain mode is enabled on the servers.

2 Server A and B have no active or disconnected sessions, so they are restarted immediately.

3 Server C still has open/disconnected sessions, so it continues to run until all users end their

sessions. If the server still has active sessions in three hours, the sessions are terminated and the server is restarted.

Note: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Remote Desktop Services / Remote Desktop Session Host / Connection / Allow users to connect remotely using remote desktop services must be set to Not configured, otherwise it takes precedence.

Terminal Servers

Managing Logons From Client Sessions

The logon management feature allows you to enables or disable logons from client sessions. The feature performs the same tasks as the change logon command-line utility.

To manage logons from client sessions:

1 In the Parallels Remote Application Server Console, navigate to Farm / <site-name> / Terminal

Servers.

2 Select a terminal server and click Tasks > Control.

3 The Control menu item has the following submenu items:

• Enable logons — enables logons from client sessions, but not from the console. This

option performs the same action as the change logon /enable command.

• Disable logons and reconnections — disables subsequent logons from client sessions,

but not from the console. Does not affect currently logged on users. This option performs the same action as change logon /disable command.

• Disable logons until server reboot — disables logons from new client sessions until the

computer is restarted, but allows reconnections to existing sessions. Same action as the change logon /drainuntilrestart command.

To see the current logon control mode for a terminal server, right-click it and point to Control in the context menu. The checked-out option indicates the current logon control mode of the selected terminal server. To do this check from the command line, execute the change logon /QUERY command on the server.

Please also note the following:

• When applying a logon control mode on a server, ensure that the agent state is updated accordingly.

• You must set the logon control options for the servers one-by-one. If you need to do it for a group of servers, you can use the scheduler (see Using a Terminal Server Scheduler (p. 51)).

• There's no o existing sessions (change logon /DRAIN) because its behavior is identical to the Disable

logons until server restart option (change logon /DRAINUNTILRESTART).

• Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Remote

Desktop Services / Remote Desktop Session Host / Connection / Allow users to connect remotely using remote desktop services must be set to Not configured, otherwise it takes

precedence.

ption for disabling logons from new client sessions but allowing reconnections to

Terminal Servers

Publishing from a Terminal Server

This section of the guide describes how to publish resources hosted by a Terminal Server. The publishing functionality described here is accessed from the Publishing category in the RAS Console.

You can also publish resources using a publishing wizard in the Start category, as described in the Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment section (p. 26). The Start category publishi simplified version that gives you convenient options of selecting the resources that you want to publish. You may try both approaches and choose the one that better suits your needs.

Publishing a Desktop from a Terminal Server

To publish a desktop from a terminal server:

4 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree. This will launch the publishing wizard.

ng wizard is a

5 In the first step of the wizard, select Desktop and click Next.

Terminal Servers

6 In the Select Desktop Type step, select Terminal Server Desktop and click Next.

7 Select the Terminal Server(s) which desktops you want to publish. You can select all servers on

the site, server group(s), or individual servers. Please note that if you have just one terminal server, this step will be skipped.

8 Click Next.

9 In the next step:

• Specify a name and description for the shared desktop, and, optionally, change the icon.

• Select the Connect to console option, so that the users will be connecting to console

rather than a virtual session.

Terminal Servers

• Specify the desired screen resolution using the Size drop-down list. To set a custom width

and height of the screen, select Custom in the Size drop-down list and specify the desired values in the fields provided.

10 When done, click Finish to publish the desktop.

Publishing an Application from a Terminal Server

To publish an application from a terminal server follow the below procedure:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

Terminal Servers

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Application and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Terminal Server and click Next.

4 One the Select Application Type page, select one of the following available options:

• Single Application. Choose this option to fully configure the application settings yourself

such as the executable path etc.

• Installed Application. Choose this option to publish an application that is already installed

on the server, therefore all of the application settings are automatically configured.

• Predefined Application. Choose this option to publish a commonly used Windows

application such as Windows Explorer.

5 Click Next.

6 On the Publish From page, specify from which terminal servers the application should be

published. You have the following options:

• All Servers in Site. If selected, the application will be published from all servers that are

available on the site.

Terminal Servers

• Server Groups. Select this option and then select individual server groups to publish the

application from.

• Individual Servers. Select this option and select individual servers to publish the application

from.

Please note that the Publish From wizard page will appear only if you have multiple terminal servers. If you have just one server, this page will be skipped by the wizard. The page will also be skipped if the application type that you are installing is Predefined Application.

7 Click Next.

8 Depending on the application type that you selected on the Select Application Type page, the

next wizard page will be one of the following:

• If you selected Single Application, the Application page will open where you have to

specify the application settings manually (more about this option later in this section).

• If you selected Installed Applications, the Installed Applications page will open listing

available applications (the applications are grouped by functionality). Select an application you wish to install and click Next. Follows the instructions to complete the wizard.

• If you selected Predefined Application, the Select Predefined Applications page will

open listing available applications. Select an application you wish to publish and click Finish.

9 If you selected Single Application on the Select Application Type wizard page, the

Application page will open at this point. Specify the application settings as follows (see the

screenshot below):

Note that if you populate the Target field first using the "browse" button ([...]), the application Name, Description, and icon will be chosen automatically. You can override this selection if you wish.

• Name. Choose and type a name for the application.

• Description. Type an optional description.

• Run. Select the application window state (normal window, minimized, maximized).

• Change Icon. Change the application icon (optional).

• Server(s). Allows you to specify the rest of the server parameters individually for each server

the application was published from. Select a server from the drop-down list box and specify the parameters. Repeat

• Target. Specify the application executable path and file name.

• Start in. If the Target field is valid, this field will be populated automatically. You can specify

your own path if needed.

for other servers in the list.

Terminal Servers

• Parameters. If the application accepts startup parameters, you can specify them in this

field.

10 When done, click Finish to publish the application.

Publishing a Web Application from a Terminal Server

A web application is like any other application that you can publish using the standard application publishing functionality. However, to simplify publishing of straight URL links to web applications, a separate publishing item type is available that allows you to accomplish this task with minimal number of steps.

To publish a web application:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Web Application and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Terminal Server and click Next.

Terminal Servers

4 On the Publish From page, select the server(s) to publish from. Note that if you have just one

terminal server, the Publish From page will not appear.

5 On the Web Application wizard page that opens, specify the web application name,

description, window state, and the URL. Select the Force to use Internet Explorer option if needed. To browse for a specific application icon, click Change Icon.

6 When done, click Finish to publish the application.

When published, the web application will appear in the Publishing > Published Resources list, just like any other application.

Publishing a Network Folder from a Terminal Server

You can publish a filesystem folder via UNC path to open in Windows explorer. To minimize the number of configuration steps, a special publishing item is available that allows you to publish a network folder from a terminal server.

To publish a network folder:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Folder on the file system and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Terminal Server and click Next.

4 On the Publish From page, select the server(s) to publish from. Note that if you have just one

terminal server, the Publish From page will not appear.

5 On the UNC Folder wizard page, specify the usual application properties.

Terminal Servers

6 In the UNC path field, enter the UNC path of the folder you wish to publish. Click the [...]

button to browse for a folder (it may take some time for the Browse for Folder dialog to open).

7 Click Finish to publish the folder and close the wizard.

When published, the network folder will appear in the Publishing > Published Resources list, just like any other application. If you select it and then click the Application tab, the application settings will be as follows:

• The Target property will always be set to PublishedExplorer.exe. This binary is created automatically (via agents pushing) and is simply a copy of the standard explorer.exe executable.

• The Parameters property specifies the network folder that we want to publish. The folder path can be in any format that the explorer.exe can handle.

Please note that although you have all standard application property tabs enabled for this publishing item, at least the following items should be ignored, as they are completely irrelevant:

• Publish From

• File Extensions

Terminal Servers

Publishing a Document from a Terminal Server

To publish a document from a terminal server, follow the below procedure:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Document and click Next.

3 Select Terminal Server and click Next.

4 Specify the content type of the document you want to publish. You can select the content type

from the predefined list or specify a custom content type in the Custom content types input field.

5 Click Next when ready.

6 On the Publish From page, specify from which terminal servers the application should be

published. You have the following options:

• All Servers in Site. If selected, the application will be published from all servers that are

available on the site.

• Server Groups. Select this option and then select individual server groups to publish the

application from.

• Individual Servers. Select this option and select individual servers to publish the application

from.

Please note that the Publish From wizard page will appear only if you have multiple terminal servers. If you have just one server, this page will be skipped by the wizard.

7 On the Application page, enter a name, an optional description, a Window state, and an icon if

needed.

8 Use the [...] button next to the Target input field to browse for the document. All other fields will

be automatically populated. To edit any of the auto populated fields, highlight them and enter the required details.

9 (Optional) In the Parameters input field, specify the parameters to pass to the application when

it starts.

Note: Use the Server(s) drop down list to specify different document settings for a specific server in case the document is configured differently on that particular server. The settings will be saved for each server you select individually.

10 Click Finish to publish the document.

C HAPTER 6

VDI Hosts

In This Chapter

Adding a VDI Host.................................................................................................... 64

Installing an Appliance and Configuring a VDI Host................................................... 67

Managing RAS Templates ........................................................................................ 71

VDI Host Pool Management ..................................................................................... 75

Persistent Guests ..................................................................................................... 79

Publishing from a Guest ........................................................................................... 79

VDI Agent Technology .............................................................................................. 83

Adding a VDI Host

A VDI host is a computer on which a hypervisor is running one or more virtual machines (also known as virtual guests or simply guests). Each virtual machine runs an operating system called a guest operating system. A host can run multiple virtual machines, each running a guest operating system. Parallels Remote Application Server supports Windows as a guest operating system only.

By adding a VDI host to a Parallels Remote Application Server site, you can manage virtual machines running on it, create new virtual machines from a template, and publish desktops and applications from their respective guest operating systems.

Note: Before adding a server as a VDI host to a site, you need to install one of the supported hypervisors on it. The VDI Agent Technology section (p. 83) provides information on how to install different hypervisors. The rest of this section assumes that a hypervisor is already installed on a server.

Searching for VDI Hosts

To search for available VDI hosts on your network:

1 In the RAS console, navigate to the Farm / <site-name> / VDI Hosts node, where

<site_name> is the site to which you would like to add a VDI host.

2 On the Virtual Desktop Hosts tab page, click Tasks > Find.

3 The Find Virtual Desktop Hosts dialog opens and begins to search for VDI hosts. If no VDI

hosts are found, you can add a host manually (jump to the Manually Adding a VDI Host subsection below).

VDI Hosts

4 If at least one suitable VDI host is found, it will be displayed in the dialog. You can select the

Show all hosts option to display all available hosts, including the hosts that don't meet the minimum system requirements. To refresh the list, click Refresh.

5 Verify that the host of interest has RAS VDI Agent installed by looking at the Agent column. If

the agent is not installed, click the Install Agent button and follow the instructions.

6 Click OK to add the VDI host to the site.

Manually Adding a VDI Host

To add a VDI host manually:

1 In the Tasks drop-down menu, click Add to launch the Add VDI Server wizard.

2 Select the hypervisor type that your VDI host is running and specify the host's IP address or

FQDN.

3 Select the Add Firewall Rules option to automatically configure the firewall on the server.

4 The VDI Agent-specific options behave differently for different hypervisor types. The VDI Agent

Technology section (p. 83) provides the complete details.

5 Click Next.

6 In this step,

VDI host. If the agent is not installed, do the following:

a Click Install to push install the agent on the VDI host.

b In the Installing RAS VDI Host Agent dialog, highlight the server name on which the RAS

Agent is to be installed.

c (Optional) Select the Override system credentials option to specify and use different

credentials to log into to the target server.

d Click Install to install the agent.

e Click Done once the agent is installed. If the automatic installation of the RAS VDI Agent

fails, refer to the Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually section (p. 66).

7 Click Add to add the V

Parallels Remote Application Server checks if the RAS VDI Agent is installed on the

DI host to the Parallels Remote Application Server farm.

VDI Hosts

Checking the RAS VDI Agent Status

The RAS VDI Agent must be installed on a VDI host in order for it to communicate with the hypervisor and provide the remote desktop services.

To check the RAS VDI Agent status:

1 First, you can look at the Agent State column in the VDI Hosts list. If there's a problem with

the agent, the column will display an appropriate error message.

2 Right-click a host and then click Check Agent in the context menu. The VDI Agent

Information dialog opens displaying the information about the VDI Agent, VDI Services, and

other related info.

3 If the VDI Agent is not installed, click the Install button and follow the instructions. Similarly, if

VDI Services are not enabled, enable them.

Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually

You may need to install the RAS VDI Agent on a VDI host manually if the automatic push installation cannot be performed. For instance, an SMB share may be not be available or the firewall rules may interfere with the push installation, etc.

Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually

To install the agent:

1 Log into the server where the RAS VDI Agent is to be installed using an administrator account

and close all other applications.

2 Copy the Parallels Remote Application Server installation file (RASInstaller.msi) to the

server and double-click it.

3 Once prompted, click Next and accept the End-User license agreement.

4 Specify the path where the RAS Agent should be installed and click Next.

5 Select Custom and click Next.

6 Click on the RAS VDI Agent and select Entire Feature will be installed on local hard drive

from the drop-down menu.

7 Ensure that all other components are deselected and click Next.

8 Click Install to start the installation. Click Finish once the installation is finished.

The RAS VDI Agent does not require any configuration. Once the agent is installed, highlight the server name in the RAS Console and click Check Agent. If the agent is installed properly, the status should change to Agent Installed.

VDI Hosts

Uninstalling RAS VDI Agent

To uninstall the RAS VDI Agent from a server:

1 Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program.

2 Find Parallels Remote Application Server in the list of installed programs.

3 If you don't have any other Parallels RAS components on the server that you want to keep,

right-click Parallels Remote Application Server and then click Uninstall. Follow the instructions to uninstall the program. You may skip the rest of these instructions.

4 If you have other RAS components that you want to keep on the server, right-click Parallels

Remote Application Server and then click Change.

5 Click Next on the Welcome page.

6 On the Change, repair, or remove page, select Change.

7 On the next page, select Custom.

8 Select RAS VDI Agent, then click the drop-down menu in front of it, and click Entire feature

will be unavailable.

9 Click Next and complete the wizard.

Installing an Appliance and Configuring a VDI Host

For some of the hypervisors, such as VMWare ESXi server, you have to configure and run an appliance instead of the RAS VDI Agent. An appliance is a virtual machine, configured in a certain way, which you can designate as RAS VDI Agent.

Installing the Appliance

For the information about how to install an appliance, refer to the VDI Agent Technology section (p. 83).

Configuring a VDI Host

To configure a VDI host, select it in the Virtual Desktop Hosts list and click Tasks > Properties. The Host Properties dialog opens.

Note: Some of the properties described below may be unavailable on some servers. This depends on the type of the hypervisor installed on the host server.

VDI Hosts

Enabling or Disabling a VDI Host in the Farm

By default a VDI host is enabled in the farm. When it is disabled, published applications and virtual desktops cannot be served from it. To disable a host, clear the Enable Host in site option on the

Properties tab page.

Configuring VDI Host Connection Settings

The following properties can be configured on the Properties tab page:

• VDI Type. Virtualization technology type.

• VDI Version. A version of the selected virtualization technology. If the hypervisor version that

you are using is not listed, select Other.

• VDI Host. The VDI host IP address.

• VDI Port. Port number on which the VDI host listens for incoming connections.

• VDI Agent. The appliance IP address (if the agent is running on an appliance).

VDI Hosts

• Change Direct Address. If selected, allows to specify the IP address that can be used by Parallels Clients to directly connect to the host. The direct address is only used in the Direct Connection mode and it could be an internal or external IP address.

Specifying Credentials

On the Credentials tab page, specify the user name and password to log into the VDI host. Click the Check Credentials button to verify the credentials that you've entered.

VDI Hosts

Configuring the RAS VDI Agent on the Server

Each VDI host in the farm has the RAS VDI Agent installed (or running as an appliance). The VDI agent can be configured on the Agent Settings tab page.

• Max Connections. Specifies the maximum allowable number of powered-on guests.

• Publishing Session Timeout. Specifies the amount of time each session remains connected in

the background after the user has closed the published application. This option is used to avoid unnecessary reconnections with guests.

• Allow Client URL/Mail Redirection. Select this option to allow http and mailto links to be opened using a local application on the client computer rather than the server resources.

• Logging. Enable or disable the RAS VDI Agent logging. Logging should only be enabled if instructed by the Parallels RAS Support.

Configuring RDP Printing

The RDP Printer tab allows you to configure the renaming format of redirected printers. The format may vary depending on which version and language of the server you are using. Select the RDP Printer Name Format option specifically for the configured server:

VDI Hosts

• Printername (from Computername) in Session no.

• Session no. (computername from) Printername

• Printername (redirected Session no)

The other RDP Printing options available in the RDP Printer tab are:

• Remove session number from printer name

• Remove client name from printer name

Configuring VDI Host Maintenance Time Window

The Scheduler tab page allows you to create a maintenance time window for the server. During this time, published resources won’t be accessible from that server.

To configure a maintenance time window click Tasks > Add and then set the following options:

• Start date

• Time

• Duration

• Repeat

The On disable option allows you to specify what should happen to current sessions when a scheduled task triggers.

Managing RAS Templates

RAS Templates are used to automate the creation and deployment of virtual guests in Parallels Remote Application Server. A RAS Template is created as a copy of an existing virtual guest, but cannot be run as a regular virtual guest. You can customize a RAS Template for use with Parallels Remote Application Server and according to your needs. Once a template is ready, you can use it to create virtual guest clones that will inherit all the properties of the template, but are created as normal virtual guests from which you can serve applications, document, desktops, etc. to your Remote Application Server users.

RAS Templates can only be created with the following versions of Windows as a guest OS (no other operating system types are supported):

• Windows XP SP3

• Windows Vista

• Windows 7

• Windows 8

• Windows 10

VDI Hosts

Creating a RAS Template

Note: To create a template from an existing virtual guest, the guest operating system (Windows) must be configured to obtain an IP address via DHCP server.

To create a new RAS Template:

1 In the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <site-name> / VDI Hosts.

2 Select the RAS Templates tab in the right pane.

3 In the Tasks drop-down menu, click Add.

4 In the Virtual Guest List dialog, select a guest from which you would like to create a RAS

Template and click OK.

5 In the next step, Parallels Remote Application Server will check if the guest has the RAS Guest

Agent installed. If the agent is not installed, click Install and then specify credentials to log into Windows in the virtual guest. Click Done when finished. If the automatic installation of the RAS Guest Agent fails (e.g. an SMB share is not available or the firewall rules don't allow to perform a push installation), try installing it manually by running the main Parallels Remote Application Server installer (RASInstaller.msi) in Windows in the virtual guest. Use the Custom installation option and select the RAS Guest Agent component to install.

6 In the Guest Agent Information dialog, click the Make Template button to create a RAS

Template.

7 The source virtual guest will be powered off (if needed) and the template creation process will

begin.

How Virtual Guests Are Created From a Template

After the RAS Template changes are committed to Parallels Remote Application Server, it will begin creating virtual guests from the template, one guest at a time. The number of guests that will be created is determined by the value specified in the Pre-Created Guests field on the Properties page (see Configuring a RAS Template (p. 73)).

As soon as creating a new guest from the template, so the number of pre-created guests remains as configured. Please note that creating a new guest from a template takes some time. If a virtual guest is available when a user tries to connect to it, the user doesn't have to wait for the connection. If a guest is in the middle of being created, and no other guests are available, the user will have to wait.

When a virtual guest is no longer in use, and if the number of existing guests exceeds the "precreated" value, a guest is deleted after the time period specified in the Delete unused guest after field on the Properties page. If you didn't select that option, a guest is never deleted, but the total number of guests will never exceed the value specified in the Maximum guests field on the Properties page.

a user connection to a virtual guest, Parallels Remote Application Server begins

VDI Hosts

Configuring a RAS Template

Once the template is created, the template configuration wizard will automatically open. You need to complete the wizard before you can use the template to create virtual guest clones.

The RAS template configuration wizard consists of a few pages, which are described below.

Note: You can access the same configuration pages for an existing template by selecting it in the list and then clicking Tasks > Properties. This will open a dialog (instead of the wizard, which is described below), but the pages and configuration options will be the same.

Properties

On the Properties page, specify the following options:

• RAS Template. Choose and type a name for the template.

• Maximum Guests. Specify the maximum number of guest clones that can be created from the

template.

• Pre-created Guests. Specify the number of guest clones that will be automatically pre-created so they become available for users to connect to immediately.

• Guest Name. Specify a name for guest clones that will be created from this template. A guest ID will be appended to this name to make each guest's name unique.

• Delete unused guests. Enable this option to automatically delete guest clones that haven't been used for a specified period of time. Use the after drop-down list to specify the period of time.

Advanced

On the Advanced page, specify the following options:

• Folder. Specify the folder where guest clones created from this RAS Template will be stored. This option is available if you are using Hyper-V, Hyper-V Failover Cluster, VMware vCenter and Citrix XenServer.

• Native Pool. Specify the native pool to add the guest clones to. This option is available if you are using VMware ESX and VMware vCenter.

SysPrep

On the SysPrep page, you can configure SysPrep settings in Windows inside the RAS Template.

The options are:

• Computer Name. Specifies the computer name that should be assigned to a guest clone.

• Owner Name. Specifies the owner name.

VDI Hosts

• Organization. Specifies the organization name.

• Administrative Password. Specifies the Windows administrator password.

• Join Workgroup. Select this option and specify a workgroup if you want a virtual guest clone

to be a part of a workgroup.

• Join domain. Select this option and specify a domain name and credentials if you want a virtual guest clone to be a part of a domain.

License Keys

On the License page, you can specify the license key and the key limit for activation of Windows installed in the RAS Template.

To add a key:

1 Click the Add button.

2 Type a valid key in the License key field.

3 In the Max. guests field, specify the maximum number of guests that can be created from this

template.

4 Click OK.

5 Click the Finish button to save the template configuration information.

If you need to change the template configuration information later, select it in the RAS Templates list and click Tasks > Properties. Use the dialog that opens to view and modify the template properties.

RAS Template Maintenance

In addition to viewing and modifying a template configuration properties, you can perform a number of maintenance tasks on a template. These tasks are described below.

Viewing Virtual Guests Created from a Template

To view the list of virtual guests created from a template, select a template in the list and click Tasks > Info. The Template Guests List dialog lists the virtual guests and their relevant information. You can also see remaining licenses info at the bottom of the screen.

Updating the RAS Guest Agent Inside a Template

A RAS template should have the latest version of the RAS Guest Agent installed in it. The agent is installed when you create a template. When a new version of the RAS Guest Agent becomes available, it should be updated.

To check the RAS Guest Agent status inside a template, click Tasks > Update. If the agent is up to date, a message box will be displayed confirming that it is. 74

VDI Hosts

If a newer version of RAS Guest Agent is available, you'll see a dialog asking you if you want to update it. Click Yes to update the agent. If you click No, you can check the status again later and update the agent at that time.

Using a Template Maintenance Mode

If you need to update Windows inside a template (e.g. install a service pack or a new software), you need to put the template into the maintenance mode. To do so, select the template and click Tasks > Maintenance.

While in the maintenance mode, guests cannot be created from the template, and it will be grayed out in the RAS Templates list. In the maintenance mode, you can start the template as a normal virtual machine and configure it as necessary. Once the changes are applied and the virtual machine is shut down, click Tasks > Maintenance again to switch it to the standard template mode.

Please note that any updates applied to Windows when a template is in maintenance mode will only affect future clones. Existing guests that were created from this template will not be affected.

When you are done configuring a RAS Template, click the Apply button on the main RAS Console window to commit the changes to Parallels Remote Application Server.

VDI Host Pool Management

Pools offer administrators more flexibility when managing an extensive number of virtual guests, especially when they are implemented in large company infrastructures. The RAS Console provides you with the framework and tools needed to create a complete Pool Management foundation.

VDI Hosts

To manage pools, in the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <site_name> / VDI Hosts and then click the Pool Management tab.

Adding and Deleting Pools

To add a pool, click the Tasks drop-down menu above the Pools list and then click Add (or click the plus-sign icon). Type a pool name and then click anywhere outside the edit field.

To delete a pool, right-click it and then click Delete (or click the minus-sign icon, or Tasks > Delete).

Adding and Deleting Pool Members

A VDI pool can contain different types of members. These could be all available guests, specific guests, guests that are created from a template, and even other pools.

To add a member to a pool:

1 Select a pool in the Pools list.

2 In the Tasks drop-down menu above the Members list, click Add and choose a member type

from the following list:

VDI Hosts

• All Guests in Site. All guests on all VDI hosts that are located on the site.

• All Guests in Host. All guests that are located on a particular VDI host. After clicking this

options, you'll be able to select a VDI host.

• Guest. A specific guest located in the farm. After clicking this options, you'll be able to

select a guest from the list.

• Native Pool. A group of guests that were natively configured in the hypervisor as a pool.

Please note that a hypervisor may use a different term for pools (e.g. "resource pools"). After clicking this option, you'll be able to select a native pool from the list, if any are available.

• Pool. An existing pool in the Parallels Remote Application Server (pool nesting). After

clicking this option, you'll be able to select an existing pool from the list.

• RAS Template. Guests that are automatically created from a RAS Template. After selecting

this option, you'll be able to select a RAS template. For more information about RAS Templates, refer to Managing RAS Templates (p. 71).

3 After you clic

with the list of the available hosts, guests, pools, or templates from which you can make your selection. The All Guests in Site item is simply added to the member list as it adds all available guests to the pool.

To delete a member from a pool, select the pool, then select a pool member you wish to delete, and then click Tasks > Delete.

k one of the above menu items (except All Guests in Site), you will be presented

Configuring Virtual Guests in a Pool

To configure a virtual guest included in a pool, select a pool and then click Tasks > Show Guests in Pool to open the Virtual Guests List dialog.

Checking the RAS Guest Agent Status

A virtual guest should have the RAS Guest Agent installed in it. The agent is installed by default when a guest is created from a RAS Template. If a guest was created outside the RAS Console using the native hypervisor tools, it may not have the RAS Guest Agent installed in it. In such a case, the guest will be able to serve only the desktop, but no applications or documents. As a general rule, it is advisable that the RAS Guest Agent be installed in a virtual guest.

To check if the RAS Guest Agent is installed in a guest:

1 Select a guest in the list and then click Tasks > Check Agent.

2 The Guest Agent Information dialog opens displaying the information about the RAS Guest

Agent.

3 If the agent is not installed, click the Install button and follow the instructions. The agent will be

push installed in Windows running inside the virtual guest.

VDI Hosts

Performing Guest Power Operations

The power operations icons at the bottom of the dialog allow you to start, stop, suspend, and reset a virtual guest.

Configuring Virtual Guest Properties

To view and modify properties of a virtual guest:

Select a guest and click Tasks > Properties. The Guest Advanced Settings dialog opens. In the dialog, configure the following properties:

• Do not use this guest. If selected, the guest will not be used.

• Computer Name. Specifies the network name (domain name / IP address) that the system will

use to connect to this guest.

• Port. Specifies the port number that the system will use to connect to this guest.

• Override default settings. If cleared, the default settings will be used for the grayed out

properties. To override the default settings, select this option and specify your own values.

• To view and modify the default settings, click the Default Settings button. See Configuring

Default Guest Properties below for the info on how to set the default settings.

• Connection Timeout. If a connection with the guest cannot be established in this time period, Parallels Remote Application Server will cancel the attempt to connect.

• Protocol. Specifies a protocol that Parallels Remote Application Server will use to communicate with the guest.

• If session disconnects. Specifies the action that should be taken if a user disconnects from a session. Use the after field to specify the amount of time that has to pass before the selected action takes place.

• End a disconnected session. Specifies whether (and when) the disconnected session should be ended. Please note that the user can reconnect to a previous session if the session is still available.

Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.

Configuring the Default Guest Settings

To configure the default guest settings, in the Virtual Guest List dialog, click Tasks > Default Settings (or click the gear icon). Use the Default Guest Advanced Settings dialog to specify the

default settings. See above for the explanation of what these properties represent.

VDI Hosts

Using the Wildcard Function

Use the Wildcard input field at the bottom of the Pool Management tab to specify a wildcard to indicate which guests should be available for users. If a guest's name matches the wildcard, it will be available. If not, the users will not be able to use it. Use the the asterisk operator (*) to specify a wildcard (e.g. ABC*, *ABC*).

Persistent Guests

When an application or a desktop published from a virtual guest is set as persistent, the first time a user launches the application or desktop, the publishing agent will create a persistent guest rule. Persistent Guest rules can be configured on the Persistent Guests tab page.

Deleting a Persistent Guest Rule

To delete a persistent guest rule highlight the rule on the Persistent Guests tab page and click Tasks > Delete. If you want to delete all rules, select all rules by pressing CTRL+A and press the

delete key.

Configuring Automatic Deleting of Persistent Guest Rules

In the Auto remove persistence if guest was not used for drop-down menu (at the bottom of the Persistent Guests tab) you can specify the maximum time an unused persistent guest rule is kept

before being automatically deleted. Alternately, you can also manually type in the desired time, for example 1 week 3 days.

Publishing from a Guest

Publishing a Virtual Desktop from a Guest

To publish a virtual desktop from a guest or guest clone, follow the below procedure:

4 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree. This will launch the publishing wizard.

5 In the first step of the wizard select Desktop and click Next.

6 On the Select Desktop Type page, select Virtual Desktop and click Next.

7 On the Virtual Desktop page, enter a virtual desktop name, an optional description, and

change the icon if needed.

8 In the Properties section, specify from where the virtual desktop should be published.

VDI Hosts

First, you need to select an option in the Connect to drop-down list and then specify an additional parameter in the field below it, as explained below:

• Any Guest. Use the from Pool drop-down list to specify a pool.

• Specific guest. Specify the guest by expanding the Guest drop-down menu and then

selecting the guest from a list.

• Guest. Specify the pool in the from Pool drop-down list and then specify where name

equals Username or IP.

• Specific RAS Template. Select a template by expanding the RAS Template drop-down list.

9 Select the Persistent option to create a persistent guest rule the first time the user connects.

10 In the Desktop Size section, specify the desktop screen resolution and size.

11 Click Finish when done.

Publishing an Application from a Guest

To publish an application from a guest or guest clone:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Application and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Virtual Guest and click Next.

4 On the Select Application Type page, select Single Application and click Next. The Virtual

Desktop Application page opens.

5 Enter a name and an optional description.

6 In the Run drop-down menu, specify if the application should run in a normal window,

maximized, or minimized.

7 In the Target field, specify the application that you want to publish. You may click the [...]

button to browse for it.

8 In the Start in field, specify (or browse for) the "start in" folder. Use Windows environment

variables if you are manually entering the path.

9 (Optional) In the Parameters input field, specify the parameters to pass to the application when

it starts.

10 In the Virtual Guest Settings section, specify from where the application should be published.

First, you need to select an option in the Connect to drop-down list and then specify an additional parameter in the field below it, as explained below:

• Any Guest. Use the from Pool drop-down list to specify a pool.

• Specific guest. Specify the guest by expanding the Guest drop-down menu and then

selecting the guest from a list.

VDI Hosts

• Guest. Specify the pool in the from Pool drop-down list and then specify where name

equals Username or IP.

• Specific RAS Template. Select a template by expanding the RAS Template drop-down list.

11 Select the Persistent option to create a persistent guest rule the first time the user connects.

12 When done, click Finish to publish the application.

Publishing a Web Application from a Guest

To publish a web application:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Web Application and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Virtual Guest and click Next.

4 On the Virtual Desktop Web Application wizard page that opens, specify the web application

name, description, window state, and the URL. Select the Force to use Internet Explorer option if needed. To browse for a specific application icon, click Change Icon.

5 Use the Virtual Guest Settings section to specify from where the application should be

published.

The options are:

• Any Guest. Publish the application from any guest in the selected pool. Select this option

and then select a pool in the from Pool drop-down list.

• Specific guest. Publish the application from a specific guest. Select this option and then

select a guest in the from Pool drop-down list.

• Guest. Select this option and then select a pool in from Pool. In the where name equals

drop-down list, select Username or IP. The application will be published from a guest from the selected pool whose name/IP matches the username/IP of the user connecting.

• Specific RAS Template. Publish the application from a specific RAS template. Select this

option and then select a template in the RAS Template drop-down list.

Select the Persistent option to create a persistent guest rule.

6 When done, click Finish to publish the application.

VDI Hosts

Publishing a Network Folder from a Guest

You can publishing a filesystem folder via UNC path to open in Windows explorer. To minimize the number of configuration steps, a special publishing item is available that allows you to publish a network folder from a guest.

To publish a network folder:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Folder on the file system and click Next.

3 On the Select Server Type page, select Virtual Guest and click Next.

4 On the Virtual Desktop UNC Folder wizard page, specify the usual application properties.

5 In the UNC path field, enter the UNC path of the folder you wish to publish. Click the [...]

button to browse for a folder (it may take some time for the Browse for Folder dialog to open).

6 Specify the Virtual Guest Settings as described in Publishing an Application from a Guest

(p. 80).

7 Click Finish to publis

When published, the network folder will appear in the Publishing > Published Resources list, just like any other application. To view its properties, select it and then click the Virtual Desktop Application tab:

• The Target property will always be set to PublishedExplorer.exe. This binary is created automatically (via agents pushing) and is simply a copy of the standard explorer.exe executable.

• The Parameters property specifies the network folder that we want to publish. The folder path can be in any format that the explorer.exe can handle.

h the folder and close the wizard.

Publishing a Document from a Guest

To publish a document from a guest or guest clone:

1 In the RAS Console, select the Publishing category and then click the Add icon below the

Published Resources tree (or right-click inside the Published Resources box and click Add

in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

2 On the Select Item Type wizard page, select Document and click Next.

3 Select Virtual Guest and click Next.

4 Specify the content type of the document you want to publish. You can select the content type

from the predefined list or specify a custom content type in the Custom content types input field.

VDI Hosts

5 Click Next.

6 On the Virtual Desktop Application page, enter a name, an optional description, a Window

state, and an icon if needed.

7 Use the [...] button next to the Target input field to browse for the document. All other fields will

be automatically populated. To edit any of the auto populated fields, highlight them and enter the required details.

8 (Optional) In the Parameters input field, specify the parameters to pass to the application when

it starts.

9 In the Virtual Guest Settings section, specify from where the virtual desktop should be

published.

First, you need to select an option in the Connect to drop-down list and then specify an additional parameter in the field below it, as explained below:

• Any Guest. Use the from Pool drop-down list to specify a pool.

• Specific guest. Specify the guest by expanding the Guest drop-down menu and then

selecting the guest from a list.

• Guest. Specify the pool in the from Pool drop-down list and then specify where name

equals Username or IP.

• Specific RAS Template. Select a template by expanding the RAS Template drop-down list.

10 Select the Persistent option to create a persistent guest rule the first time the user connects.

11 Click Finish to publish the document.

VDI Agent Technology

Before adding a server as a VDI host to a site, you need to install a hypervisor on it. This section describes how to install hypervisors supported by Parallels Remote Application Server.

VDI Hosts

Citrix XenServer

Preparing Citrix XenServer for Parallels Remote Application Server

Before you set up your environment, please make sure that your XenCenter can connect to your Citrix XenServer.

A guest operating system (Windows) must be created on the Citrix XenServer which features an RDP server.

Important: Ideally, the guest name should be the same as the computer name.

Please install XenServer tools in the guest OS.

After the guest OS installation is complete, make sure that the RDP server is started. To confirm that the server is running, launch a Remote Desktop Client and connect to the guest operating system using the computer name (of the guest OS) and the RDP port (default RDP port is 3389).

VDI Hosts

Setting up the RAS VDI Agent Appliance for Citrix XenServer

The RAS VDI Agent Appliance for Citrix XenServer can be downloaded from the following location:

http://download.parallels.com/ras/v15/RAS_VDI_Appliance.ova

Once the RAS VDI Agent Appliance is downloaded, it must be installed on a server.

To install the appliance:

1 Extract the ZIP file contents into a temporary directory.

2 Open XenCenter.

3 Right click on the host and choose Import.

VDI Hosts

4 Choose the OVA file extracted from step 1.

5 Choose the storage location and click Next.

VDI Hosts

6 Configure the network settings and click Next.

7 Choose not to use Operating System Fixup.

VDI Hosts

8 Select the network for importing the appliance and click Next.

9 Click Finish and wait for the import job to complete.

VDI Hosts

The network administrator should assign a fixed IP address to the appliance.

VDI Hosts

When using DHCP, take note of the MAC address assigned to the appliance and add a DHCP reservation. If DHCP isn't available, a static IP address needs to be configured manually. Network settings can be changed by going to the Advanced > Networking menu.

Microsoft Hyper-V

Preparing Hyper-V for Parallels Remote Application Server

RAS VDI Agent System Requirements

6.0.6001 Windows Server 2008 Standard (Full / Server Core)

6.0.6001 Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (Full / Server Core)

6.0.6001 Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (Full / Server Core)

6.1.7601 Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (Full / Server Core)

6.1.7601 Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full / Server Core)

6.1.7601 Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter (Full / Server Core)

6.1.7600 Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

6.2.9200 Windows Server 2012 Standard (Full / Server Core)

6.2.9200 Windows Server 2012 Datacenter (Full / Server Core)

6.2.9200 Hyper-V Server 2012

6.3.9600 Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (Full / Server Core)

6.3.9600 Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (Full / Server Core)

6.3.9600 Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

VDI Hosts

Before continuing to set up your environment please make sure that Hyper-V is installed and that the role is enabled on your Windows Server.

A guest operating system (e.g. Windows) must be created on the Hyper-V server which features an RDP server.

Important:

• The guest name must be the same as the computer name.

• The use of fixed IPs on the guest operating systems is preferred.

After the guest OS installation is complete, make sure that the RDP server is started. To confirm that the server is running, launch a Terminal Server client on the host machine (the Hyper-V server) and connect to the guest operating system using the computer name (of the guest OS) and the RDP port (default RDP port is 3389).

VDI Hosts

VMWare vSphere

Preparing VMware vSphere for Parallels Remote Application Server

RAS VDI Agent System requirements

• VMware ESXi

• VMware vSphere Client

• VMware vCenter

Starting from vSphere v5.1 it's possible to use the vSphere Web Client instead of the native vSphere Client.

Before continuing to set up your environment, please make sure that your VMware vSphere Client can connect to your VMware vSphere server.

A guest operating system (Windows) must be created on the VMware vSphere server which features an RDP server.

VDI Hosts

Ideally, the guest name should be equal to the computer name.

The use of fixed IPs on the guest operating systems is preferred.

Setting up the RAS VDI Agent Appliance for VMware vSphere

Instructions for the native vSphere Client:

1 Extract the ZIP file contents into a temporary directory.

2 Login with the VMware vSphere client.

VDI Hosts

3 Select Deploy OVF Template from the file menu.

VDI Hosts

4 Browse to the folder where the ZIP file (containing the appliance) was extracted and click Next.

5 Review product details and click Next.

VDI Hosts

6 Choose a name and location for the deployed template and click Next.

100

Parallels Remote Application Server - 15.0 Administrator’s Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Introduction to Parallels Remote Application Server

What is Parallels Remote Application Server?

About This Document

Terms and Abbreviations

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

System Requirements

Software Requirements

Hardware Requirements

Installing Parallels Remote Application Server

Signing In to Parallels Business Account

Activating Parallels Remote Application Server

Managing Your Licenses

Getting Started with Parallels Remote Application Sever

Parallels Remote Application Server Console

Setting Up a Simple RAS Environment

Add a Terminal Server

Publish an Application

Invite Users

Conclusion

Sites and Administrators

Sites and Management

Adding a New Site to the Farm

Managing Sites

Administrators: Adding, Managing and Configuring

Adding an Administrator Account

Configuring Administrator Accounts Permissions

Managing Administrator Accounts

Using Instant Messaging for Administrators

Joining Customer Experience Program

Terminal Servers

Viewing the Available Terminal Servers

Adding a Terminal Server

Installing RAS Terminal Server Agent Manually

Configuring a Terminal Server

Check RAS Terminal Server Agent Status

Change a Terminal Server Site Assignment

View and Modify Terminal Server Properties

Grouping Terminal Servers

Using a Terminal Server Scheduler

Managing Logons From Client Sessions

Publishing from a Terminal Server

Publishing a Desktop from a Terminal Server

Publishing an Application from a Terminal Server

Publishing a Web Application from a Terminal Server

Publishing a Network Folder from a Terminal Server

Publishing a Document from a Terminal Server

VDI Hosts

Adding a VDI Host

Checking the RAS VDI Agent Status

Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually

Installing an Appliance and Configuring a VDI Host

Managing RAS Templates

Creating a RAS Template

How Virtual Guests Are Created From a Template

Configuring a RAS Template

RAS Template Maintenance

VDI Host Pool Management

Adding and Deleting Pools

Adding and Deleting Pool Members

Configuring Virtual Guests in a Pool

Using the Wildcard Function

Persistent Guests

Publishing from a Guest

Publishing a Virtual Desktop from a Guest

Publishing an Application from a Guest

Publishing a Web Application from a Guest

Publishing a Network Folder from a Guest

Publishing a Document from a Guest

VDI Agent Technology

Citrix XenServer

Preparing Citrix XenServer for Parallels Remote Application Server

Microsoft Hyper-V

Preparing Hyper-V for Parallels Remote Application Server

VMWare vSphere

Preparing VMware vSphere for Parallels Remote Application Server