Getting Started
Before
we proceed with the ‘hands-on’ part of this guide I must clarify a
couple things. First of all this guide is all based on Windows Server 2003
technologies (and not Windows Server 2008). Although this may not be the latest
technology out there and knowing you may be asking yourself why learn about
Terminal Services on Windows Server 2003 and not 2008, keep in mind that most,
if not all information you will read here applies to a Windows Server 2008 TS
deployment.
Secondly I
assume you have some knowledge of Windows Server in general (Active Directory,
Group Policies, etc). And finally, as mentioned before, you can do many of the
things described here in different ways, all leading to the same results. This
does not mean you are wrong and I am right or vice-versa. It just means there
are many ways to perform different tasks so just use the one you feel more
comfortable with.
Environment
This
guide is based on a Windows Server 2003 environment and for this test
environment all I used was two virtual machines (you can run these on VMWare
Server or Microsoft Virtual Server – both free products) running Windows
Server 2003 SP1 Standard (you can use SP2, R2,
etc).
The first virtual
machine was setup to be a Domain Controller (with the usual DNS, DHCP, etc) and
we will not describe here how to setup a DC. This machine will also be used as a
simple file server with some file shares that we will need for user home
directories and profiles. The second box simply has Terminal Services added (and
we will show you how to add the Terminal Server role to a Windows Server 2003
machine).