RDS: Choosing between Delivering RemoteApps versus Full Desktops

Many thanks to Kristin Griffin for contributing the base of this article.

The premise of this article is to aid in deciding between methods of application delivery using the technology formerly called Terminal Services.  This article does not relate to VDI.

Summary:

The core value of RemoteApp programs, IMO, is in giving a person using a mix of local and remote programs an integrated work area. Full desktops are good when users are replacing the local desktop entirely (or a local desktop does not exist), or when using apps that do not remote well due to z-order problem (windows don't pop up in the right order). File associations are also a benefit, although only realized with MSI RAs, not RD WA or RADC.

RemoteApps – Positive Points:

• They look and act like a locally installed app – no need to launch into another full desktop to get to an app.
• Can be installed on computers using MSI installers (not RDWA or RADC) created in RemoteApp Manager and installed via GPO and can also invoke file association so that double clicking a file can open the RemoteApp.
• RemoteApps can come from different farms without launching multiple full desktops. Delivered over RD Web Access, with Web SSO, users log in only once to the website and no more logins are necessary to launch remoteapps from multiple farms.

RemoteApps – Negative Points:

• Window issues in some apps (RemoteApp windows appear behind other windows, or minimized to the task bar).  I actually have this issue when I print to CutePDF printer.  The printer window ends up behind all my other windows and I have to click on the taskbar icon. Its not a huge deal for me, just annoying.  But less experienced users may have issues. Just to be clear, this is NOT all apps. I actually have only had the issue with two, and one was when using W2K8 (not R2). Still you should test fully the RemoteApp before deployment.  But this is just good sense. BTW, I have seen A LOT less windowing issues with R2.
• Remote shadowing is still unsupported

Full Desktops – Positive Points:

• Users may be used to this environment (users don’t like change)
• HelpDesk can shadow session if needed

Full Desktops – Negative Points:

• Even when delivered via RDWA oro RADC, you still get this full desktop. So you have to toggle between it and your regular desktop

Just some things to think about:

I would say that you could have users that when using RemoteApps might save data to “the desktop” and then lose their data (meaning that the data is not sitting on their regular desktop after they get done using the RemoteApp.) But this is true with full desktops too, because of using two separate profiles; Its just that from an end user perspective, the “separateness” of RDS and regular desktop environment is blurred when using RemoteApps, because the RemoteApp blends right into the local computer environment. So this might be harder to understand. Just use folder redirection or lock down saving to the desktop and this should not be an issue.

Also, I have known people to feel “less vulnerable” when using remoteApps, because it’s a bit harder for less savvy users to purposefully do harm, just because they have to know how to do so without having a desktop to start from. However, I want to say that I think that lockdown is every bit as important in in either case. Leaving a machine vulnerable even if using RemoteApps, is just that: leaving it open to attack.

Info On Bandwidth Consumption:

Basically, you will need to test to see if RemoteApps save you bandwidth or not.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/d/9/4d9ae285-3431-4335-a86e-969e7a146d1b/rdp_performance_whitepaper.docx

For RemoteApp programs to work correctly, RDP detects changes in window position and state on the server side and forwards this information to the client. This causes extra bandwidth consumption, but you also save on the bandwidth consumed by the desktop and shell UI components.

In our testing, we found that bandwidth consumption when using RemoteApp programs could increase and decrease, depending on the application and its usage, when compared to using a remote desktop.

Table 7 and Chart 7 compare bandwidth consumption (in KBps) for RemoteApp programs versus a remote desktop at 16-bit color depth over a 56-Kbps modem.

Table 7: Bandwidth consumption when using RemoteApp programs versus a remote desktop

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 Chart 7: Bandwidth consumption when using RemoteApp programs versus a remote desktop