Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R1 or R2 Deployment

This article refers to firmware version 4.2.0.005 and higher running on a configured Barracuda Load Balancer 340 or higher, and Microsoft^® Windows Server^® 2008 R1 or R2 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition.

Prerequisites

Microsoft Server 2008 R1/R2 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition
Session Broker (optional but highly recommended - for purposes of this deployment, it is presumed that Session Broker will be installed and configured as described in Step 1)
Barracuda Load Balancer 340 or higher
Barracuda Load Balancer running firmware version 4.2.0.005 or higher
Minimum one Barracuda Load Balancer, two recommended for high availability (HA)

Note: If you are planning to deploy Remote Desktop Services with HA, you must first cluster your Barracuda Load Balancers. See the article Understanding Barracuda Load Balancer High Availability.

Terminology

Term	Definition
Remote Desktop Services	Known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. One of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows users to remotely access applications and data.
Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)	The unique name for a specific computer or host that can resolve to an IP address, e.g. `www.example.com`
Service	A combination of a virtual IP (VIP) address and one or more TCP/UDP ports that the Barracuda Load Balancer listens on. Traffic arriving over the specified port(s) is directed to one of the Real Servers associated with a particular Service.
Remote Desktop or Terminal Services Session Broker (RD Session Broker or TS Session Broker)	An optional component of Remote Desktop Services. It maintains a list of active and disconnected sessions so that a disconnected user is transparently redirected and connected to the server that has its disconnected session.
Routing Token	Used to redirect users to their existing sessions on the correct Terminal Server.
Domain Controller	A server that responds to security authentication requests.
Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host)	The “terminal server” (the term used by Windows Server 2008) that runs the applications for the Remote Desktop users.

Remote Desktop Services Deployment Options

Deployments of Remote Desktop Services are supported in either a one?armed or a two?armed topology. This may be either a single or multiple subnet configuration. Unless the users need to directly access individual servers, it is recommended that the servers be placed in one or more subnets reachable by the LAN port of the Barracuda Load Balancer. If users must directly access individual servers, a one?armed deployment is recommended.

Important

Direct Server Return (DSR) and Bridge Mode are not supported in a Remote Desktop Services deployment.

Deployment Tasks

To deploy the Barracuda Load Balancer for Remote Desktop Services, complete the following tasks:

Task	Where

Task	Where
Step 1. Configure Session Broker	Do this on the Session Broker for your Remote Desktop farm.
Step 2. Configure Real Servers	Do this on every Real Server in the server farm.
Step 3. Configure the Remote Desktop Services on the Barracuda Load Balancer	Do this on the active Barracuda Load Balancer.
Step 4. Test the Remote Desktop Services installation	Do this using a client that can access the Virtual IP address that you create in Step 3.

If the Barracuda Load Balancers are clustered, the configuration between the active and passive systems is synchronized; there is no need to modify any passive Barracuda Load Balancers.

For additional information, refer to the TS Session Broker load Balancing Step-by-Step Guide available on the Microsoft TechNet website.