Configuring Windows Server 2008 Remote Desktop Administration
Windows Server 2008 is, as the name suggests, a server operating system. In the real world this means that systems running Windows Server 2008 will most likely be located in large rack systems in a server room. As such, it is highly unlikely that system administrators are going to want to have to physically visit each of these servers to perform routine administrative tasks such as system configuration and monitoring. A far preferable scenario involves these administrators remotely logging into the servers from their own desktop systems to perform administrative tasks. Fortunately Windows Server 2008 provides precisely this functionality though Remote Desktop and the remote administration features of the Machine Management Console (MMC). In this chapter we will look at the steps necessary to remotely administer Windows Server 2008 systems using Remote Desktop.
What is Remote Desktop?
Remote Desktop allows the graphical interface of a remote Windows system to be displayed on a local system. In addition, keyboard and mouse events on the local system are transmitted to the remote system enabling the local user to perform tasks on the remote system as if they were physically sitting at the remote system. This remote control can be established in a number of ways, including over wide area networks (WAN), local area networks (LAN) or over the internet.
In the case of Windows Server 2008, this service is provided by Terminal Services running on the remote systems and the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client on the local system.
Terminal Services run in two different modes, Remote Desktop for Administration and Terminal Server. Remote Desktop for Administration provides full administration functionality to the remote administrator (including access to the console session and visibility of notification messages). Remote Desktop for Administration is the equivalent to working directly at the remote system's console. In Terminal Server mode the user is subject to some limitations such as the ability to install applications and view console notification messages.
Windows Server 2008 imposes some administrator logon restrictions. Specifically, a maximum of two administrators may be logged on at any one time, either two logged on remotely, or one local and one remote administrator.
