View and Modify RD Session Host Properties

Note: The information in this section does not apply to RD Session Hosts based on a template. Hosts of that type don't have individual properties and are managed on the template level. For more information, see Grouping and Cloning RD Session Hosts and Templates.

To configure an RD Session Host:

1. In the RAS Console, navigate to Farm / <site> / RD Session Hosts.
2. Select a server and click Tasks > Properties.
3. The server properties dialog opens where you can configure the RD Session Host properties.

Using default settings

The server properties dialog consists of tabs, each containing their own specific set of properties. All tabs, except Properties, have one common link Site Defaults, which allows you to view and modify Site default settings. If you want the properties on a particular tab to inherit default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. When you do this, the default settings will be inherited from one of the following:

• Group defaults if the server is assigned to an RD Session Host group. Groups are described in Grouping and Cloning RD Session Host Servers.
• Site defaults if the server is not assigned to an RD Session Host group. Note that a group may also inherit Site defaults, but this can be overridden in the group properties dialog where you can specify custom settings for a group.

To view or modify Site default settings, click the Site Defaults link (available on every tab, except Properties). This will open either the Group default properties or Site default properties dialog depending on whether the server is assigned to a group (see above). Note that each individual tab can inherit default settings independently from other tabs.

The rest of this section describes individual tabs of the server properties dialog.

Properties

Select or clear the Enable Server in Site option to enable or disable a server. By default, a server is enabled. A disabled server cannot serve published applications and virtual desktops to clients.

Other elements on this page are:

• Server: Specifies the server name.
• Description: Specifies the server description.
• Change Direct Address: Select this option if you need to change the direct address that Parallels Client uses to establish a direct connection with the RD Session Host.

Agent Settings

Each RD Session Host in the Farm has an RAS RD Session Host Agent installed through which it communicates with other Parallels RAS components. Use the Agent Settings tab to configure the agent.

To use default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. See the Using default settings subsection above.

If you want to specify custom settings for a given server, clear the Inherit default settings option and specify agent properties as follows:

• Port. Specifies a different remote desktop connection port number if a non-default port is configured on the server.
• Max Sessions. Specifies the maximum number of sessions.
• Publishing Session Disconnect Timeout. Specifies the amount of time each session remains connected in the background after the user has closed the published application. This option is used to avoid unnecessary reconnections with the server.
• Publishing Session Reset Timeout. This feature allows you to control how long it takes for a session to be logged off after it is marked as "disconnected".
• Allow Client URL/Mail Redirection. When a user tries to open a URL or an HTML Mailto link in a remote application, the link can be redirected to the client computer and open in a local default application (a web browser or email client) instead of an application on the remote host. This option allows you to enable or disable the redirection. You can choose from the following options:
  1. Enabled — select this option to enable the redirection and then select the Support Shell URL namespace objects option (bellow the drop-down box). This is the default redirection configuration that works in most common scenarios. The Shell URL namespace objects support means that Parallels RAS can intercept actions in published applications that use Shell namespace API to open links, which is a standard behavior in most applications. The ability to disable the support for Shell URL namespace objects is for compatibility with older versions of Parallels RAS. You may disable this option if you want the behavior of an older version of Parallels RAS (RAS v16.2 or earlier).
  2. Enabled (Replace Registered Application) — this option uses an alternative method of redirecting a link. It replaces the default web browser and mail client with "dummy" apps on the remote server side. By doing so, it can intercept an attempt to open a link and redirect it to the client computer. You may try this option if the default option above doesn't work with your published application.
  3. Disabled — this option disables URL/Mail redirection, so URL or Mailto links always open on the remote host.

  Please note that you can configure a list of URLs that should never be redirected, even if the redirection is enabled. This can be done on the Farm / Site / Settings / URL Redirection tab. See more in Site Settings.

• Preferred Publishing Agent. Select a Publishing Agent to which the RD Session Host should connect. This is helpful when Site components are installed in multiple physical locations communicating through WAN. You can decrease network traffic by specifying a more appropriate Publishing Agent.
• Allow 2XRemoteExec to send command to the client. Select this option to allow a process running on the server to instruct the client to deploy an application on the client side. More about 2XRemoteExec in the Using RemoteExec subsection below.
• Use RemoteApp if available. Enable this option to allow use of remote apps for shell-related issues when an app is not displayed correctly. This feature is supported on the Parallels Client for Windows only.
• Enable applications monitoring. Enable or disable monitoring of applications on the server. Disabling application monitoring stops the WMI monitoring to reduce CPU usage on the server and network usage while transferring the information to RAS Publishing Agent. If the option is enabled, the collected information will appear in a corresponding RAS report. If the option is disabled, the information from this server will be absent from a report.
• Allow file transfer command. Allows you to enable or disable the remote file transfer functionality. For more information, see Enabling or Disabling Remote File Transfer.
• Drag and drop. Allows you to set how the drag and drop functionality works in Parallels Clients. You can select from "Disabled" (no drag and drop functionality at all), "Server to client only" (drag and drop to a local application, but not in the opposite direction), "Client to server only" (drag and drop to a remote application only), "Bidirectional" (default). Note that this option has changed since Parallels RAS 17.1. In the past, it was a checkbox that would enable or disable drag and drop which worked in the "Client to server only" mode. When upgrading from an older version of Parallels RAS, and if the checkbox was enabled, the "Client to server only" option is selected by default. If the option was disabled, the "Disabled" option will be set. You can change it to any of the new available options if you wish.

  Note: At the time of this writing, the drag and drop functionality is only supported on Parallels Client for Windows and Parallels Client for Mac.

Using 2XRemoteExec

2XRemoteExec is a feature that facilitates the servers ability to send commands to the client. This is done using the command line utility 2XRemoteExec.exe. Command line options include:

2XRemoteExec examples:

The following command displays a message box describing the parameters that can be used.

2XRemoteExec -?

This command runs Notepad on the client.

2XRemoteExec C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe

In this example, the command opens the C:\readme.txt file in the Notepad on the client. No message is shown and 2XRemoteExec would wait for 6 seconds or until the application is started.

2XRemoteExec C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe “C:\readme.txt”

User Profile Disks

User profile disks are virtual hard disks that store user application data on a dedicated file share. This disk is mounted to the user session as soon as the user signs in to the RD Session Host, and unmounted when the user logs out.

To use default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. See the Using default settings subsection above.

To use custom settings, clear the Inherit default settings option and specify the options described below.

Enable or disable user profile disks: Use the drop-down list box to specify whether to enable or disable user profile disks on the server. Select from the following options:

• Do not change. Keep the current server settings (default).
• Enabled. Enable user profile disks.
• Disabled. Disable user profile disks.

Disk location: In the text field provided, specify a network location where user profile disks should be created. Use the Microsoft Windows UNC format to specify a location (e.g. \\RAS\users\disks). Please note that the server must have full control permissions on the disk share.

Maximum size: Enter the maximum allowed disk size (in gigabytes).

User profile disks data settings: Click this button to open the User Profile Disks Data Settings dialog. In the dialog, you can specify which user folders should be stored on the user profile disk. Select one of the following:

• Store all user settings and data on the user profile disk. All folders, except those specified in the exclusion list, will be stored on the user profile disk. To add or remove folders to/from the exclusion list, click the [+] or [-] buttons.
• Store only the following folders on the user profile disk. Only folders specified in the inclusion lists will be stored on the user profile disk. There are two inclusion lists. The first one contains standard user profile folders (e.g. Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.) and allows you to select the folders that you want to include. The second list (below the first list) allows you to specify additional folders. Click the [+] or [-] buttons to add or remove folders.

Desktop Access

The Desktop Access tab allows you to restrict remote desktop access to certain users.

To use default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. See the Using default settings subsection above.

By default, all users who have access to remote applications on an RD Session Host can also connect to the server via a standard RDP connection. If you want to restrict remote desktop access to certain users, do the following:

1. On the Desktop Access tab, select the Restrict direct desktop access to the following users option. If you have the Inherit default settings option selected, click the Edit Defaults link to see (and modify if needed) the default configuration. The rest of the steps apply to both the Server Properties and Default Server Properties dialogs.
2. Click the Add button.
3. Select the desired users. To include multiple users, separate them by a semicolon.
4. Click OK.
5. The selected users will appear in the list on the Desktop Access tab.

Users in this list will still be able to access remote applications using Parallels Client, but will be denied direct remote desktop access to this server.

Note: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Connection > Allow users to connect remotely using remote desktop services must be set to Not configured, otherwise it takes precedence.

Please note that members of the Administrator group will still be able to connect to the remote desktop even if they are included in this list.

RDP Printer

The RDP Printer tab allows you to configure the renaming format of redirected printers. The format may vary depending on which version and language of the server you are using.

To use default settings, select the Inherit default settings option. See the Using default settings subsection above.

The RDP Printer Name Format drop-down list allows you to select a printer name format specifically for the configured server.

Select the Remove session number from printer name and the Remove client name from printer name options to exclude the corresponding information from the printer name.