Configuring preferred routing

Overview

Preferred routing is a useful feature when Parallels RAS users with different geo located deployments are connecting to the same Parallels RAS Farm/Site. A common access layer usage (RAS Secure Gateway, HALB, or a third-party load balancer) is not optimal if a resource is located in a different data center in the same RAS Farm/Site. The solution is to configure a preferred access layer server for a specific published resource, in which case any user would connect to a default Secure Gateway, but would be redirected using proximity rules set by the administrator. Typically, using the Secure Gateway closest to the session host provides improved user experience, reduced internal network traffic and associated costs along with providing better use of resources.

Here's how preferred routing works:

1. Parallels Client establishes a connection with a Secure Gateway using a standard authentication.
2. Through the RAS Connection Broker, the resource's preferred route (if configured) is identified.
3. Parallels Client receives the preferred public address to launch the resource.
4. Parallels Client then tries to launch the resource through the redirected address and falls back to the original Gateway if it fails.

Configure preferred routing

To configure preferred routing, you first need to specify one or more custom public server addresses for a Site. To do so:

1. In the RAS Management Portal, select the Site Settings category.
2. In the Connection menu, select Addresses.
3. Click the plus-sign icon and in the dialog that opens specify a name for this custom address, an optional description, a public address, port and SSL port (it is recommended to use an SSL port for user session routing).

Once one or more custom server addresses have been configured, you can specify such an address for a published resource as follows:

1. Select the Publishing category.
2. Select a published resource.
3. In the middle pane, select Routing.
4. In the editing pane, click Edit.
5. Select the Enable preferred routing option.
6. Click the plus-sign icon.
7. Select a custom address from the list to be used as preferred route for this published resource.