MSTerminalServices.org Monthly Newsletter of May 2007 Sponsored by: SecureIDA

Welcome to the MSTerminalServices.org newsletter by Stefan Vermeulen, MVP and Citrix CTP. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on MS Terminal Services and server based computing. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: SVermeulen@MSTerminalServices.org

1. What's up?

Hi there!

This seems to be a month for Longhorn Terminal Services. The official name changed from Server 2007 to server 2008 officially, so this year's deadline may not be so fixed anymore. Briforum was used to introduce some new features in the upcoming Terminal Services in Server 2008. Microsoft explained the upcoming printing solution called "Easy Print" and the PnP device redirection. A TS redirection driver will be used for Windows Portable Devices and Windows Embedded for POS devices. Microsoft also released Beta 3 to the public so people can play with the new features. (Just fire off a 1 GB memory VMware image and you will do fine). Looks like Microsoft is getting ready to rumble.

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:

• Poor Program Performance Occurs in a Remote Terminal Services Session
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816513
• 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
• You experience slow file server performance and delays occur when you work with files that are located on a file server
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822219
• The Terminal Server object and the object of the Terminal Server session for a Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server are unavailable when you use Performance Monitor on a remote computer
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914539
• Error message when you try to log on to a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server: "Windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the default profile for the system"
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935649

3. Ask our MVPs a question

QUESTION: Now that Microsoft will be introducing Easy Print in Windows Server 2008, does that mean I can deploy Terminal Services without a third party printing solution?

Regards, Printing Patty.

ANSWER: Dear Patty,

Unfortunately it's too early to tell. Easy print is a driverless solution which is excellent, but keep in mind that the client side requirements will at least include .NET Framework 3.0 This may be standard in Vista, but for Windows XP it may be an extra deployment package. Also this new XPS print format cannot be compared to any existing solution, so healthy skepticism about this printing solution is in place. Make sure to monitor the community, which will be testing this solution to the bone before running to the store for licenses.

Cheers!

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:

• How you can simulate poor WAN connections by using free tools
  Date - May 2, 2007; Author - Michel Roth; Section - Articles :: General
  In this article Michel explains how to set up a lab environment to test the impact of slow WAN connections without spending a penny on software.
• Differences and key features in several Universal Printer Drivers
  Date - May 10, 2007; Author - Wilco van Bragt; Section - Articles :: Printing
  Wilco explains the key differences between printing solutions out there in the field. Thinking of getting one? Read about the basics here.

5. On The Spot

This month we talked to Cláudio Rodrigues, CEO of TSFactory.

Stefan: For those readers who did not read this newsletter before you wrote it, can you tell us a bit about yourself, and about how you got to set up TSFactory?

Claudio: As you know I was the CEO and founder of Terminal-Services.NET, acquired back in 2005 by 2X Software Ltd. After working for 2X to help them during that transition phase, I decided to take a break from the whole Citrix-like add-on development world and start something new but still in the TS arena. Based on everything I have seen during many years working as a consultant deploying TS all over the world I realized there were many things still to be done to complement TS and Citrix. That is how TSFactory was born, to fulfill the needs of the SBC market on both platforms. And of course we kept the same idea we had since Terminal-Services.NET: to develop simple and easy to use tools for the terminal services market.

Stefan: The latest product from TSFactory is RecordTS, a security camera for RDP sessions. This is truly the first of its kind in the market. How are people responding to it?

Claudio: You are definitely right. RecordTS is indeed the first RDP session recorder out there. In terms of response from the market, I must say it has been extremely well regarded in the market. And what happened is that people started to realize that RecordTS goes way beyond Terminal Services. After they tried it on their TS's they realized they could load it on all their Windows Servers like Domain Controllers, Exchange, SQL, etc and record everything external consultants and administrators were doing on their servers. Especially now with all the regulations for security and auditing within corporations, no one wants to be liable. The only way to avoid that is to have proof about everything you do and have done in the past. RecordTS simply helps by bringing a visual layer to the picture. So people so far are amazed to see a solution like that on the market!

As you mentioned the 'Security Camera' there is one thing I want to explain. Most people look at RecordTS and they see it as a simple screen recording solution. That is definitely not the case! RecordTS, as it works at the protocol level, records EVERYTHING that happens on the RDP level. This means files being transferred, sounds, etc. At a later date if required, you can even extract files that were transferred from your network to someone's machine over RDP, to prove they were actually stealing information. No other solution offers features like that. Some can show you a certain file was transferred. We can actually get you the file. Today, or a year from now. It is all there on the recording. Plus we developed it from the ground up with terminal services and Citrix in mind. This means we scale, no matter if running for 1 or 75 users at the same time. It simply works. Other so called 'similar solutions' may work on terminal services with 1 user but when you load 10 people on the server it simply brings the server down to its knees. Not RecordTS.

Stefan: RecordTS creates very small recording files. When looking at the sample recordings from the website, an hour of recording is about 10mb. How do you achieve such huge compression?

Claudio: Well first of all, 10MB per hour is not the typical compression. We can do better than that. RDP compression is based on what users are actually doing so, in some cases, you may get way more than that but in other ones, way less that the 10MB per hour. I personally loaded RecordTS on all my servers on my own network to record changes I do on them. One of these days I got a very long recording when working with Softgrid that gave me an average of 1MB-2MB per hour. But the answer for the question everyone keeps asking me, "How much data per hour?" is not simple. It really depends on what you are doing on the RDP session. How we get good compression? Well we do have a very deep understanding of what RDP does and how it works. And as we know, nothing is perfect. Everything can be improved. Add these two things and now you have a very good compression mechanism for RDP in place. :-)

Stefan: How is the compression rate when you convert the recordings to AVI or Flash format?

Claudio: Definitely not as good as the original recordings. Flash can create very big, if not huge, files. But on the other hand it is a very portable, common format. AVI is better but still big if compared to the original files. I guess it is a trade off. If you do need to have the files converted to a common, readily accepted format, convert them. If not, just let them as they are.

Stefan: The configuration let you choose to save the recording on a drive or UNC path. Does that mean the application runs on a service account that can write to the UNC path, or does it use the credentials of the person logged on the server, running RecordTS?

Claudio: It works as a service, using the local system account by default as it saves the files on the local TS (default). The ideal situation is to create an account just for RecordTS on the domain/AD and set it to record to a network location that only that particular account and some very limited group of people have access to. This will guarantee the security of your recordings.

Stefan: Are there any plans on writing the recording to a database in blob format or is the current functionality of file based storage enough?

Claudio: Certain things we are currently in the process of moving to a database driven back end. For the recording files themselves we are not sure if there would be real benefits for our customers. The real key thing here is to have a very powerful mechanism in place to search for files and more than that to search for specific things inside the recordings, like a credit card number being typed or a certain application being launched. This is the most critical aspect on this solution I think.

Stefan: Citrix has announced the same technology on Project IRIS, but that has not been released yet. You are beating Citrix to the punch. Does your version also work for older versions then Citrix presentation server 4.5?

Claudio: Well you just got to the point. Citrix has been promising IRIS for many years but it never made to any release. We have been selling RecordTS for RDP for a couple months now and as you know our RecordTS for ICA is currently in BETA, coming out very soon (sometime in May). Being able to actually release it and release it first before anyone else gave us an advantage as we now understand the issues, the needs and the market for a solution like that. All this based on real world information we gathered from our customers and not on some research done with a small customer base trying something. And yes, we do have RecordTS working on pretty much all Citrix versions so customers that are not using the latest and greatest Citrix Presentation Server and that are not willing to upgrade or do not have software assurance in place, they can get RecordTS and have the same, if not better, recording capabilities as Citrix IRIS. And again, keep in mind we do RDP as well and we do work on all Windows servers out there, terminal servers or not.

Stefan: Does TSFactory have any more products in development that you would like to share with our readers?

Claudio: We do have two other products on the work and a third version of RecordTS coming out soon. All I can say right now is one of these products is for the mobile market but still totally related to terminal servers and the other is a nice enhancement for RDP to bring something that only ICA has at this stage. More details to come soon for sure! Just keep an eye on my blog, Stefan, at http://www.tsfactory.com/blog.

Stefan: Claudio, thanks for taking time to answer our questions. If people get curious about RecordTS, what can they do?

Claudio: Always a pleasure, Stefan. If they want to try RecordTS simply go to our website and download it at http://www.tsfactory.com. A 30-day, fully functional demo with no restrictions of any sort is available there. Try it. If you like you can purchase and activate it all over the internet, right there at the spot. :-) Thanks again for the interview Stefan!

6. Rumors on the SBC Space

At Briforum this year Brian again did not have his hair colored. I think the wild years are over, especially now that he's (willingly) homeless. One of the nice gestures at Briforum this year was a cardboard sign made especially for Brian saying "will work for wifi" in case things do not work out.

Pubforum in Europe was on the weekend of 19th and 20th of May, but unfortunately I missed it. The next one is in Ireland again, and I will make sure to catch that one.

Before that Briforum is coming to Europe again , and it will be in Amsterdam on October 8th to 10th. For me that's an hour and a half drive, so I will certainly be there.

Now that Microsoft seems to be finalizing Windows Server 2008 I can only encourage you to download Beta 3 as mentioned earlier. I think all of the functionality code is in there and it's just a matter of what makes the final cut and what is stable enough to survive RTM and what will probably make it to SP1.

See you next month!