How do I remotely serve an app to multiple computers?

Question

My company is trying to remotely serve an app that requires windows XP and IE to iOS devices (mostly iPad). Ideally, we would like to setup a server computer, and have it accessible in the field by our iPads. I thought of VNC, or RDP, but the problem I think that will have is they only allow for 1 client to be controlling (There can be 1-10 usining this app at a given time).

Is this possible? What would I need to setup on the server, and what would be some iOS apps compatible for this task.

Answer 1

To use RDP for more than 1 admin connection (Server 2008, XP, Vista, or Win7) or 2 admin connections (Server 2003 and earlier) requires that you deploy Terminal Services in Remote Application Mode. You also need a Terminal Services Licensing Server to support that and enough machine or user CALs to support the required number of users. Don't deploy the licensing server on the Terminal Server! A standalone server is preferred though a domain controller can be used in a pinch.



With VNC you are limited to a single connection at a time. It's also a bandwidth hog when compared to RDP.



On the iPad or iPhone end, iRdesktop works nicely. I use it for remote admin of several servers from my iPhone. A free version is available from the iTunes app store.



The company that publishes iRdesktop does offer a server-side component that gives you multiple RDP session capability without using Terminal Services. We did some testing a couple of years ago but were not impressed with performance; it used far too much bandwidth to be useful.

Answer 2

Yep, easy enough on linux. Even RDP. Your problem however is the ie only code (activeX) so maybe alittle ie on linux with activex and java on ltsp or vnc-ltsp. Or some black magic with php and apache to reverse proxy or redirect... umm its that activeX thing... redirect to a terminal not in use.



Well ok I hate to use windows but you can grab the terminal server pg from the beta release, modify the group policies and open up your xp pro if you really wanted to. Just google it. But unless activeX is the only reson for ie only, then I'd just RDP or vnc-ltsp into a linux box.

Answer 3

Windows Server 2008 can do it