• What's up?
• KB Articles of the Month
• Ask our MVPs!
• Learning Zone
• New kid on the block
• Rumors on the SBC Space

1. What's up?

Hi there!

Everybody survived the New Year I hope, and it's back to the SBC routine! This newsletter is the first one in 2007 and I hope there will be many more to come. The TerminalServices.org website is on full speed with a great list of writers providing you with excellent material on an almost weekly basis. Make sure to check out Jason's blog to be updated immediately on what's going on in SBC land.

The list of sessions for Briforum 2007 is here. Just to give you an indication, here is a section about Terminal Server sessions they are giving:

• Overview and Update on Terminal Server for Windows Server Codenamed Longhorn
• Terminal Server Internals
• Web-based Longhorn TS Access: The Final Frontier
• Inside the OS: Windows Cache Manager
• The Excruciating Detail of the Longhorn Server Logon / Logoff Process

You will find me there also, talking about printing and all that comes with it.

That's all for now!

Catch you later!

2. KB Articles of the Month

Here are some interesting and useful Terminal Services related articles posted by Microsoft in the last month:

• Applications may not run correctly in a Terminal Services environment

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840342/en-us

• You cannot use a keyboard shortcut that uses the ALT GR key in a Terminal Services session that connects to a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926934/en-us

• A Terminal Services client may be unable to connect to a Terminal Services license server that is installed on a Windows Server 2003-based computer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926935/en-us

• How to redirect the default printer of a Terminal Services client to a Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server session

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911913/en-us

• The sizes of the working sets of all the processes in a console session may be trimmed when you use Terminal Services to log on to or log off from a computer that is running Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905865/en-us

• FIX: The Terminal Services service stops responding in Windows Server 2003 and you receive an "The RPC service is unavailable" error message when you try to connect to the terminal server by using the Remote Desktop Connection program

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883670/en-us

• Error message when you log off from a Terminal Services session on a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based terminal server: "Stop 0x000000AB SESSION_HAS_VALID_POOL_ON_EXIT"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910362/en-us

• You receive a "Stop 0x000000ab" error message when you log off from a Terminal Services session on a Windows Server 2003 SP1-based terminal server

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907242/en-us

3. Ask our MVPs a question

QUESTION: Hello Stefan,

Dear Stefan, I have this pesky application that does not work correctly on my terminal server. How can I fix this?

Regards, Pesky Peter.

ANSWER: Dear Peter,

Without a detailed explanation on what goes wrong that's difficult to answer. To give you some starting pointers, here is what you could do:

• Google for your problem. If the application is a generally used one there is a good chance that somebody else encountered the same thing, and maybe somebody already fixed it.
• Contact the vendor who sold or created the product. Many of them officially "do not support the usage on Terminal Server" but often have documentation or knowledgebase articles on how to bypass or fix the problem.
• Post your problem with EXACT wording on the public MS newsgroup and in various forums specialized in SBC out there. It may take quite some time, and you may end up needing to learn to use some analyzing tools if the issue is really deep, but keep in mind that the SBC community out there is extremely keen on fixing anything they can get their hands on.

4. Learning Zone

We have a great group of articles in the Learning Zone that will help you get a handle on your most difficult configuration issues. Here are just a few of the newer and more interesting articles:

• Terminal Services CAL Allocation Process (Part 1)

Date - Jan 10, 2007; Author - Michael Burke; section - Licensing

In this article Michel describes exactly how the TS CAL process works in various environments. A must read to make sure you never end up in licensing hell.

• The Microsoft Application Compatibility Tools (Part 1)

Date - Jan 17, 2007; Author - Rick Mack; section - Articles and Tutorials: Management tools

In this article Rick talks about tools you can use to check your applications for being Terminal Server compliant. In this article he starts off with The Application Verifier.

5. New kid on the block

No, not the pop group. This month I want to share some resources that are out there with you. Most of you will have a large collection of bookmarks to websites providing information about SBC. For those of you just starting to get interested in SBC, I want to share with you my collection of favorites and my comments on them.

http://www.msterminalservices.org
One of the biggest resources and content out there. Established in 2005, so how did they do it? They took over the former thethin.net website, and with that came a huge history on SBC, as thethin.net was one of the first websites out there. Today, with its strong articles on various Terminal Server topics, a must read for every TS admin out there.

http://www.brianmadden.com
Owned by independent technology analyst (surprise!) Brian Madden. He is on top of technology, and very fast with the latest news and analysis of what's going on in Terminal Server and Citrix land. Make sure to check out his forums if you have any issues.

http://www.dabcc.com
Next to the former thethin.net dabcc is also one of the oldest resource websites out there. Doug Brown, the owner, used to work for Citrix until he decided to start his own company back in 2004. The archived information is very rich on the site and I would advise you to download Methodology in a Box. This book provides you with an excellent framework for a successful Citrix deployment. Running Terminal Server? Most stuff will come in handy for you also.

http://www.sessioncomputing.com
Owned and run by Patrick Rouse. (also a writer on msterminalservies.org) Patrick provides a huge bundle of information on the dedicated subject of Terminal Services. There you can find all major issues, best practices and how-to on this topic.

http://www.thincomputing.net
Run by Michael Roth with daily doses of up-to-date information on what's out there on SBC and virtualization news. If it's hot, it's on there the same day!

http://sbc.vanbragt.net
This is Wilco van Bragt's website. He provides reviews on third party solutions that complement the SBC market. If you're looking for an unbiased opinion on a product, this is your first place to start.

http://www.thomaskoetzing.de
Don't let the German domain extension scare you. The website is in English but the owner is German. Thomas is the number one reference (outside Citrix) when it comes to the Secure Gateway and the Web interface product. If you're working with these, make sure to check out his website.

http://ts.veranoest.net
Run and owned by Vera Noest. She provides a huge number of kb articles links, so if you cannot get by using the official knowledge base, make sure to try this website. As with Patrick Rouse, the website is updated regularly on Terminal Server information.

http://www.tekworkshop.com
Tekworkshop is run by Alex Danilychev, who is a wizard when it comes to building tools to fix issues he encounters during his daily Admin routine. Most of these tools can be downloaded for free from this website.

http://www.jasonconger.com
Jason is a wiz when it comes to the Citrix Resource Manager. He has lots of free tools available from his website, so make sure to check it out.

The above list is off the top of my head. I know there are more out there, but the list should give you plenty of reading material if you did not already have them. If you think I missed a valuable resource, let me know by sending me an email SVermeulen@MSTerminalServices.org. If I get a few, I will make a small "hidden gem" list in one of the later newsletters this year.

6. Rumors on the SBC Space

Well, it's semi-official. Longhorn is going to be called "Windows Server 2007". A Microsoft official confirmed it to activewin.com, and the word is that development has begun on the new MCSE certification tests.

You can see more and more on Longhorn, eh sorry Windows Server 2007 information getting out there. Microsoft has released a Virtual lab you can take on the Terminal Services Gateway and Remote Programs. Enlist here for a test-drive.

Hooked on Aero and want to give it a try on Terminal Server 2007? Be my guest; find the steps here.

Vera Noest, a fellow MVP has written an article about Recommendations for home users connecting to a home based PC with the Remote Desktop 6.0 client software only. Check it out here.

I am expecting more and more of these Windows Server 2007 Terminal Server articles, labs and how-to stuff to appear, and I will keep you posted.

See you next month!