New Terminal Server Components

[Mark R.]

I am looking to purchase a new server dedicated to terminal services. It has
an Intel 5300 family quad core processor and 8 GB of RAM. It will be in a
Raid 1 or 5 setup with 15K RPM drives. The remote connection count will be
between 40 and 50 users that will only run a business software app. There
will be no email or internet surfing while in their sessions. The connection
will be a remote site connected via a point to point circuit. There will be a
need to redirect printers. The printers will be HP Jet directs. Will this be
a problem for the remote users to redirect back to their local network
printers that are attached to the LAN? Do you think 40 to 50 users is
sustainable with this hardware or should I look at getting two servers and
use load balancing to accomodate the connections? I'd like to avoid adding
Citrix if possible. The TS CAL's will be a cost as it is. I am looking to use
Windows 2003 R2 (64X) as the OS. I appreciate any input. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Pitsch]

I would look at 2 boxes of 2-way procs for redundancy purposes. This is
a pretty big single point of failure.

As for the printers, you don't give what the link speed is but you will
most likely run into issues but much of that will depend on how much
printing is going on, how big the pipe is, and how big the print jobs are.

Jeff Pitsch
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
Citrix Technology Professional
Provision Networks VIP

Forums not enough?
Get support from the experts at your business
http://jeffpitschconsulting.com

Mark R. wrote:
> I am looking to purchase a new server dedicated to terminal services. It has
> an Intel 5300 family quad core processor and 8 GB of RAM. It will be in a
> Raid 1 or 5 setup with 15K RPM drives. The remote connection count will be
> between 40 and 50 users that will only run a business software app. There
> will be no email or internet surfing while in their sessions. The connection
> will be a remote site connected via a point to point circuit. There will be a
> need to redirect printers. The printers will be HP Jet directs. Will this be
> a problem for the remote users to redirect back to their local network
> printers that are attached to the LAN? Do you think 40 to 50 users is
> sustainable with this hardware or should I look at getting two servers and
> use load balancing to accomodate the connections? I'd like to avoid adding
> Citrix if possible. The TS CAL's will be a cost as it is. I am looking to use
> Windows 2003 R2 (64X) as the OS. I appreciate any input. Thanks!

 

[Mark R.]

I'm going with the 2 server load balanced scenario. The P2P is 1.5mbps and
I'll have VPN failover. Printing is a big concern as it will be significant.
We have talked of using Citrix, but we would not like to incur that cost.

"Jeff Pitsch" wrote:

> I would look at 2 boxes of 2-way procs for redundancy purposes. This is
> a pretty big single point of failure.
>
> As for the printers, you don't give what the link speed is but you will
> most likely run into issues but much of that will depend on how much
> printing is going on, how big the pipe is, and how big the print jobs are.
>
> Jeff Pitsch
> Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
> Citrix Technology Professional
> Provision Networks VIP
>
> Forums not enough?
> Get support from the experts at your business
> http://jeffpitschconsulting.com
>
> Mark R. wrote:
> > I am looking to purchase a new server dedicated to terminal services. It has
> > an Intel 5300 family quad core processor and 8 GB of RAM. It will be in a
> > Raid 1 or 5 setup with 15K RPM drives. The remote connection count will be
> > between 40 and 50 users that will only run a business software app. There
> > will be no email or internet surfing while in their sessions. The connection
> > will be a remote site connected via a point to point circuit. There will be a
> > need to redirect printers. The printers will be HP Jet directs. Will this be
> > a problem for the remote users to redirect back to their local network
> > printers that are attached to the LAN? Do you think 40 to 50 users is
> > sustainable with this hardware or should I look at getting two servers and
> > use load balancing to accomodate the connections? I'd like to avoid adding
> > Citrix if possible. The TS CAL's will be a cost as it is. I am looking to use
> > Windows 2003 R2 (64X) as the OS. I appreciate any input. Thanks!
>

 

[Helge Klein]

Did you have a look at Citrix Access Essentials? It is _very_ cost
effective and adds much value to terminal services.

See this article for more information:

Oh wow! Citrix Access Essentials is actually cool now!
http://www.brianmadden.com/content/article/Oh-wow-Citrix-Access-Essentials-is-actually-cool-now

I hope this helps.

Helge

On 11 Jul., 20:54, Mark R. <M...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I'm going with the 2 server load balanced scenario. The P2P is 1.5mbps and
> I'll have VPN failover. Printing is a big concern as it will be significant.
> We have talked of using Citrix, but we would not like to incur that cost.
>
> "Jeff Pitsch" wrote:
> > I would look at 2 boxes of 2-way procs for redundancy purposes. This is
> > a pretty big single point of failure.
>
> > As for the printers, you don't give what the link speed is but you will
> > most likely run into issues but much of that will depend on how much
> > printing is going on, how big the pipe is, and how big the print jobs are.
>
> > Jeff Pitsch
> > Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
> > Citrix Technology Professional
> > Provision Networks VIP
>
> > Forums not enough?
> > Get support from the experts at your business
> >http://jeffpitschconsulting.com
>
> > Mark R. wrote:
> > > I am looking to purchase a new server dedicated to terminal services. It has
> > > an Intel 5300 family quad core processor and 8 GB of RAM. It will be in a
> > > Raid 1 or 5 setup with 15K RPM drives. The remote connection count will be
> > > between 40 and 50 users that will only run a business software app. There
> > > will be no email or internet surfing while in their sessions. The connection
> > > will be a remote site connected via a point to point circuit. There will be a
> > > need to redirect printers. The printers will be HP Jet directs. Will this be
> > > a problem for the remote users to redirect back to their local network
> > > printers that are attached to the LAN? Do you think 40 to 50 users is
> > > sustainable with this hardware or should I look at getting two servers and
> > > use load balancing to accomodate the connections? I'd like to avoid adding
> > > Citrix if possible. The TS CAL's will be a cost as it is. I am looking to use
> > > Windows 2003 R2 (64X) as the OS. I appreciate any input. Thanks!