Remote Control for Sessions on a Terminal Server

Usage and Config
1

Hi Guys,

there is a terminal server, has many sessions are started for thin clients.
if we install a trc target on the terminal server, can we see and control any of sessions on terminal server ?

second, what happens if we start a trc session to a target which has two active sessions on itself. which one should accept the trc session ?

2

Hi,

TRC’s original design was to always take over the physical screen displayed on the target system. This means that on a terminal server systems, you can not take over any of the thin client sessions, but you can log on to the server’s physical console.

For customers who want to take over or remotely assist the terminal server users, the on-demand target can be used.

Please note that this requires a TRC broker, even if the RC traffic would never leave the customer’s Intranet. The customer could install an internal-only broker on their TRC server or even on the terminal server itself, as that would reduce network bandwidth usage a little bit.

In the trc 9.1.1 beta, there is also a local installer for the on-demand target that can be pre-installed by the terminal server administrator. This allows users to launch an RC session from the start menu and avoids any possible problems with permissions to install ActiveX controls or browser plugins.

An alternative suggestion would be to install the target on the thin clients if they’re Windows or Linux based.

HTH,
Chris

1 Like
3

Hi Chris
thanks very much

we cant install targets on thin client (they are appliance products)
if two user are connected to a server via remote desktop connection, what happens ?
in this situation, there is no physical screen on target server, can not TRC handle the remote users’ session ?

4

Hi,

Windows (and Windows Server) always displays a physical console even when people are remotely logged on with RDP. This console will be showing the Windows Logon dialog or quite often a dialog prompting the user to press Ctrl-Alt-Del.
This console will be there even if server does not have a physical CRT or LCD display connected, or its display is powered off.

TRC completely ignores the users logged in with RDP and will show you the aforementioned dialog.

Try logging on to a Windows Server via RDP and run the command QWINSTA or QUERY SESSION. If nobody is logged in on the physical console, you will have output similar to this:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>qwinsta
 SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE   TYPE        DEVICE
 console                                     0  Conn    wdcon
 rdp-tcp                                 65536  Listen  rdpwd
>rdp-tcp#4         Administrator             1  Active  rdpwd

What this shows is that Administrator is logged in to session 1 using RDP and nobody is logged on to session 0 on the console. (Note; on Windows Server 2008 and later the session IDs will be different numbers, as session 0 is now reserved for services)

HTH,
Chris

1 Like