Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, Citrix
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Is there an episode where I can learn the difference in these topics: Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, Citrix?
Thank you!
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When you say Citrix they offer may different remote products so we will speak in general terms.
Remote Desktop -- RDP is a great technology that lets you connect and use one pc from another. RDP is 1:1. A real world example of how you would use this is you have 3 remote employees that need lan speed access to the local network. So using RDP you can set up 3 computers in the local network calling them RDP1, RDP2, and RDP3. You then VPN them to the 3 Remote Employees PCs. Now the 3 remote users each VPN into their designated PC and they have LAN speed access to local resources. You have have noticed the glaring issue here 1:1. For every remote user I have to have 1 local machine for them to connect to. In this situation I have to maintain 6 PCs so 3 users can connect. However for something this small it is cheaper than terminal server.
Terminal Server -- Think of TS as RDP supporting multiple remote users. Under TS you set up a beefy server and install once copy of windows, office, and whatever else and then license it out for however many users you have. Then all users connect to the TS to get their desktop. As you can see this is much cleaner 1 server + 3 client machines vs 6 under RDP. So here is the glaring down side of TS: $$$
Citrix -- Think of Citrix as TS on Steroids. Citrix has been around forever and is well known and respected. However it is also the most expensive of the group. It much more granular control than TS but that may not as much of a positive as you might think. Citrix is much lighter on bandwidth than TS so if you are pipe limited this may be your best option. Also Citrix runs on top of TS so you will need that as well. The down side: TS$$$ + Citrix $$$ = :-(
Hope this helps -
Robert,
We don't have a specific episode for it, but I can give you the details here. James' post above pretty much covers it. The only thing I would add is a little bit of history as to how it got started because that will show you how closely the technologies are related. In the mid-90's Microsoft and Citrix worked together to create a product called Winframe. It was Windows NT 3.51 with mainframe-like terminal support, only using a GUI instead of a text based interface. It was a revolutionary product at the time but the relationship between the two companies didn't stick. In the next version of Windows, Microsoft dropped the Winframe product and integrated the technologies that they held the license for in a new product called Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Services Edition. At the same time, Citrix release Citrix Metaframe which could be installed on top of Windows NT 4.0 and added back in all the technologies that Citrix held the license for. From that point on, Microsoft and Citrix moved along two different development paths. Microsoft continued to develop Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Citrix developed Independent Computing Architecture (ICA). The two protocols do basically the same thing, allow multiple users to view a desktop rendered by a remote server. However, each has its own bells and whistles.
Both products have evolved a lot since then. Microsoft's Terminal Server changed names and became Remote Desktop Services or RDS. Citrix Metaframe changed names and became Citrix Metaframe XP, then Citrix Presentation Server and finally Citrix XenApp which is the name it holds today. It is all the same product, just a different name. If it sounds confusing, that's because it is. I can only keep it straight because I have worked with Citrix across all the versions. If you are new to it, it is a naming mess.
Combine that with James' answer above and you should have a pretty exhaustive answer to your question. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Don Pezet
Host, ITProTV