Friday, March 9, 2012

RDS in WIN8 Feature highlight no. 2 RD Dedicated Redirector now part of RD Connection Broker

RDS in WIN8 Feature highlight no. 2  RD Dedicated Redirector now part of RD Connection Broker

If you read the previous feature highlight on RD Connection Broker (http://microsoftplatform.blogspot.com/2012/03/rds-in-win8-feature-highlight-no.html) you know that the RD Connection Broker in Windows Server 8 will play a more central role. This feature highlight will amplify that statement even more. Within Windows Server 8 (beta) the RD Connection Broker is by default now also the your RD Dedicated Redirector.

Let’s quickly recall what the function of the RD Dedicated Redirector is. The RD Dedicated redirector was introduced in Windows Server 2008. It’s a server role, which can be part of an RDS deployment. The RD Dedicated Redirector is in fact a RD Session Host server that runs in Drain Mode en therefore does not host any active sessions. Its purpose is to serve as the initial connection. Users will connect their RDP session to this dedicated redirector. The dedicated redirector, as it is running in drain mode, will contact the RD Connection Broker, which in turn will return the final RD Session Host to connect to (either based on RD Connection Broker load balancing or redirecting to disconnected sessions).

The fact that the RD Dedicated Redirector is now integrated with the RD Connection Broker is great because this means that when you install and configure your RD Connection Broker you immediately have your RD Dedicated Redirector, and thus your Initial connection point up and running. Therefore, the RD Connection Broker will be running in RD Session Host drain mode. This also means that when you make your RD Connection Broker High Available, which, as we’ve seen in the previous feature highlight has become much easier in Windows Server 8 Beta, you also make your Initial Connection (Dedicated redirector) High Available. In my opinion, a great move! You can expect a blog post here soon in which I will discuss the actual setup in detail.

No comments:

Post a Comment