You can configure a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server to work with RD Connection Broker to provide two types of redirection:

  • Dedicated farm redirection

  • Virtual machine redirection

Dedicated farm redirection

When you register the IP address of each RD Session Host server in the farm to a single RD Session Host server farm name in DNS, incoming Remote Desktop Services clients try to connect to the first IP address for the farm name that is returned by DNS. The RD Session Host server that receives this initial connection request acts as the redirector.

To increase session redirection performance in a large RD Session Host server farm, you can configure an RD Session Host server to provide dedicated redirection for the farm. This RD Session Host server processes incoming requests, but does not accept user sessions. To configure dedicated farm redirection, you must do the following:

  1. Configure all RD Session Host servers in the farm to use the same farm in RD Connection Broker. For more information, see Configure an RD Session Host Server to Join a Farm in RD Connection Broker.

  2. Configure another RD Session Host server to provide dedicated redirection for the farm. This RD Session Host server must be configured with the same farm name and RD Connection Broker server as the other RD Session Host servers. The only difference is that for this RD Session Host server, select Dedicated farm redirection (instead of Farm member) in the RD Connection Broker Settings dialog box in Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

    Important

    When you configure an RD Session Host server for dedicated farm redirection, the user logon mode of the RD Session Host server is changed to Allow reconnections, but prevent new logons. To connect remotely to administer an RD Session Host server that is configured to provide dedicated farm redirection, use mstsc /admin.

  3. Create a DNS round robin entry for the RD Session Host server that is providing dedicated redirection for the farm. When you do so, you must map the IP address of this RD Session Host server to the farm name in DNS. For information about how to add a DNS entry for a farm name, see Configure DNS for RD Connection Broker Load Balancing.

You can have more than one RD Session Host server configured to provide dedicated redirection for the farm. To configure another RD Session Host server to provide dedicated redirection for the farm, repeat Steps 2 and 3.

Virtual machine redirection

To provide users access to personal virtual desktops or virtual machines in a virtual desktop pool through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection, you must configure an RD Session Host server to provide virtual machine redirection.

To configure an RD Session Host server to provide virtual machine redirection, select Virtual machine redirection in the RD Connection Broker Settings dialog box in Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

When you configure an RD Session Host server to provide virtual machine redirection, the following changes are made to the RD Session Host server:

  • The user logon mode is changed to Allow reconnections, but prevent new logons.

  • All programs are removed from the RemoteApp Programs list in RemoteApp Manager.

  • The Authenticated Users group is added to the Remote Desktop Users group.

Note

To connect remotely to administer an RD Session Host server that is configured to provide virtual machine redirection, use mstsc /admin.

For more information about providing users access to personal virtual desktops or virtual machines in a virtual desktop pool through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection, see the Remote Desktop Connection Manager Help in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Additional references


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