Microsoft Terminal Server

To clear the confusion right off Terminal Services is no more and has been renamed as Remote Desktop Services. Right let’s move on.

Terminal Services (TS), one of the core virtualisation technologies available in Windows Server 2008, makes it possible to run an application in one location but have it be controlled in another—presentation virtualisation. With Terminal Services presentation virtualisation, you can install and manage applications on centralised servers in the datacenter; screen images are delivered to the users, and the users' client machines, in turn, send keystrokes and mouse movements back to the server. When using Terminal Services, administrators can present users with the individual applications and data they require to complete their task, or the whole remote desktop. From a user perspective, these applications are integrated seamlessly—looking, feeling, and behaving like local applications.

Windows Terminal Server

So your using Terminal Service 2003, why should you consider upgrading to Windows 2008 Remote Desktop Services here’s 10 good reasons to get you started:

Simplified printing: It is now as easy to print from a Terminal Services (TS) application to a direct or network attached printer as it is from a local application. TS Easy Print utilises the locally installed default printer to make printing quick and easy. Just install the printer driver on the local PC, and TS Easy Print enables full functionality of the local or network default printer—staple, duplex, or use any of the rich functionality that printer offers.
Help increase the availability of your Terminal Services farm: The new Terminal Services Session Broker brings a new level of load balancing to your environment. While Windows Network Load Balancing (WNLB) is still an option, the new Session Broker introduces session-based load balancing. Each new session will be created on the least-loaded server to ensure the best performance. Additionally, if a server in the farm is unavailable, users will immediately be able to create a session on another server in the farm, increasing availability. Session load balancing is easy to set up and, unlike WNLB, requires no changes to your network hardware.
Better manage network bandwidth, and improve performance of network-dependent applications: Certain applications that require intense communication with back-end systems, such as ERP systems, often are very sluggish for remote workers where bandwidth is limited. Co-locating the Terminal Services applications with high bandwidth to the back-end systems and delivering the user interface via Terminal Services reduces network congestion and improves application performance, increasing worker productivity. The new TS display data prioritisation always ensures that screen updates and user input have priority over other traffic, like print jobs.
Help reduce complexity by making applications available from a Web page, instead of installing on every PC: Customers can now launch applications from a Web page or a SharePoint® portal without having the applications installed on the local PC. TS Web Access makes it easy to publish applications for usage on the Internet or intranet, making a portal the "one stop shop" for key organisational information, as well as critical applications. These capabilities help save people time by enabling them to quickly access ERP, CRM, or other key applications from a home PC, airport kiosk, or laptop. The application doesn't need to be installed on the client machine, and Terminal Services Gateway ensures an SSL-encrypted tunnel from the PC back to the datacenter.
More easily connect peripheral devices: The new Plug-n-Play device framework expands the wide peripheral support beyond flash drives and external hard drives to support digital cameras and digital music players right out of the box.
Expand with multi-monitor spanning: More and more people are using multiple monitors, and in Windows Server 2008, Terminal Services sessions can be spanned across multiple monitors with resolutions up to 4024x2019 with support for both Remote Desktop and TS RemoteApp™.
Help reduce security threats and improve stability: The core Terminal Services code has been re-factored, reducing the attack surface by almost two-thirds at the higher system privilege level. By breaking it into smaller components, stability is improved for the entire platform, both for native Terminal Services and for ISV partners that leverage Terminal Services as a platform.
Take advantage of powerful integration with the desktop environment, which helps improve productivity and reduce training costs: TS RemoteApp seamlessly integrates applications with the local desktop environment. TS hosted applications appear no different than local applications, tightly integrated with the task bar and new Windows Vista features, such as Flip 3D.
Reduce the complexity of image configuration, and accelerate migration to Windows Vista: By hosting applications centrally with Terminal Services, fewer applications need to be installed on each PC, thereby reducing the number of desktop images needed when deploying in corporate environments.
Benefit from reduced management overhead: Terminal Server integrates with the new Windows Server 2008 Role Management tool to quickly and easily expose key information, such as service status and eventlog entries, in a single convenient location. This integration enables you to quickly understand the health of your Terminal Services environment. Further improvements to the new licensing health status tool allow you to instantly check on the availability of licenses and on the health of your license servers. Organisations can also take management to the next level with the expanded WMI interfaces, enabling scripting and automation of nearly all TS management tasks.

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