Site defaults (VDI)

Site defaults are settings that are defined on a Site level and can be used by templates and hosts (both template-based and non-template based). By default, templates (described later in this chapter) inherit Site default settings, but you can override them if needed when you configure a template. Non-template based hosts also use Site default settings by default and you can also override them if needed when you configure these VMs.

To view and modify Site defaults, do the following:

1. Navigate to Farm > <Site> > VDI.
2. Select the Desktops tab in the right pane.
3. Click Tasks > Site defaults. This opens the Site Default Properties dialog, which is described below.

Note that any modifications you make to Site defaults are immediately applied to all hosts in the current Site that use them.

General

The General tab contains the following properties:

• Session readiness timeout: The maximum amount of time it should require to establish a session. If the specified timeout is reached, and the session is still not ready, the user will see an error message and will have to try to log in again.
• Protocol: Specifies a protocol that Parallels RAS uses to communicate with a host.
• Auto remove hosts which failed preparation after: If a host encounters a problem during the preparation stage (for any reason), it remains on the server but cannot be used. You can identify such VMs by the "Failed to create" value in the Status column (Farm > <Site> > VDI > Desktops). Unless a VM like this is repaired, it will be automatically removed after the time period specified in this field. You can set any of the available time periods by selecting it from the drop-down list or you can type a desired value, such as "8 days" or "12 hours".
• Desktop assignment type: Specifies whether the persistent hosts are assigned by the UPN (the User option) or device hostname (the Device option). Each host will be automatically assigned to the first user or device who uses a resource published from it with persistent assignment enabled. You can also assign hosts manually. For more information, see Persistent Hosts.
• Auto remove persistence if guest was not used for: The time period after which persistence should be automatically removed. You can also type any desired time period, such as "1 week 3 days".
  Note: Beginning with RAS 17, the default setting for this option is Never. Please keep that in mind.

User profile

Configure this tab as descried in User profile.

Application Packages

Configure this tab as descried in Using MSIX application packages.

Optimization

Configure this tab as descried in Optimization.

Actions

Actions: The two drop-down lists here specify an action to perform on session disconnect or logoff.

Security

On the Security tab, you can specify whether to automatically grant users Remote Desktop connection permissions on hosts. Here's how it works. Instead of manually adding each user to the Remote Desktop Users (or Administrators) group, you can enable this option to do it automatically. When a user logs on, he/she will be automatically added to the specified group and will therefore have the Remote Desktop connection (or full Administrator) permissions on the server. When the user logs off, they will be removed from the group (i.e. the group membership will only exist for the duration of the session).

The more important benefits of this feature are as follows:

• You don't have to permanently add your users to the Remote Desktop Users groups. This way, a user will never be able to establish a Remote Desktop session with a server outside of Parallels Client.
• By automatically adding a user to the Administrators group, you can give them rights to install applications and perform other administrative tasks. Once again, the user will only be able to do it from Parallels Client but never by connecting to the server using standard Remote Desktop tools.

Settings

The Settings tab contains the following:

• Disconnect active session after: The amount of time a session remains logged in after the user closes a published application. The default timeout is 25 seconds. Note that this only works for applications, but not published desktops (when a user closes a desktop, the session is logged off). This timeout is used to avoid unnecessary logins when a user closes one application and then opens another.
• Preferred Connection Broker: Select a preferred Connection Broker to which this Provider should be assigned. This can be helpful when Site components are installed in multiple physical locations communicating through WAN. You can decrease network traffic by specifying a more appropriate Connection Broker.
• Allow 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. Click the Configure button to choose from the following options:
  1. 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.
  2. Support Windows Shell URL namespace objects — 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.
• Enable drag and drop: Allows you to set how the drag and drop functionality works in Parallels Clients. Click Configure and choose from "Disabled" (no drag and drop functionality), "Sever to client only" (drag and drop to a local application only), "Client to server only" (drag and drop to a remote application only), "Bidirectional" (drag and drop in both directions).
  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.
• Manage RDP transport protocol: Selects the transport protocol that will be used for connections between Parallels Client and a server. To do this, select this option and click the Configure button.
• Allow file transfer command (Web and Chrome clients): Enables file transfer in a remote session. To enable file transfer, select this option and click the Configure button. For more information, see Configuring remote file transfer.
• Enable drive redirection cache: Improves user experience by making file browsing and navigation on redirected drives much faster. For details, see Drive redirection cache.

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. Select the RDP Printer Name Format option specifically for the configured server:

• Printername (from Computername) in Session no.
• Session no. (computername from) Printername
• Printername (redirected Session no)

The other RDP Printing option available is Remove session number from printer name, which will do what it says.