Fat Client and VPN vs MS Terminal Services

[Daren]

I have been approached by someone who has a main office with a couple
of servers, one of which is an Exchange server and multiple branch
offices ranging from 20 users to 2 users per site. Their main aim is
to;
1. Centralise their messaging. At the moment the main office uses
Exchange, some of the branch offices use POP from an ISP and some
branch offices have no email capability.
2. One of the servers at the branch office has an accounting
application which has some sort of web front-end capability which they
want to make available to all the branch offices.

Now I'm trying to decide on whether to suggest;
1. Fat clients at all site with ADSL using VPN to the main office.
Possibly locking down the client with policies. Using Outlook and
Exchange, and IE to the application portal.
2. Using Microsoft Terminal Services, possibly with a locked down
desktop. I don't think Citrix is an option because of the cost,
although to be honest I know nothing about Citrix.

So I suppose my question is, what are the pro's and con's of each
solution, is there a better solution? Can Microsoft Terminal Services
handle a 100 + users? I have read about the Microsoft Session Manager
but never used it in a production environment.

Any feedback / suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[Sole Viktor]

Sounds like an interesting project, I would recommend getting an MCSE
consultant to design the solution, since the solution is depending on a huge
number of factors, for example, exactly how many locations, users, line
bandwidth, existing client hardware, server hardware and so on.

the cheapest solution i can see from your information would probally be to
use outlook web access to the exchange server, you can lock down this with
ssl, and same for the application simply using ssl to ensure encryption and
user access, using a certificate for your servers, and perhaps even for the
client to ensure identity.

Terminal services would require the server to be able to handle all
simultanious users, if you have 100+ users, that would probally require a
couple terminal servers load balanced, plus do you need extra security in
the form of certificates or vpn for this as well? also remember terminal
server needs licenses, unless you save hardware perhaps even license costs
for your clients, this might be an expensive solution for your email, and
intranet needs.

Using the existing clients and adsl lines, is probally not a bad idea,
microsoft server has good vpn functionality build in, you will want a
seperate server for this considering your 100+ users, this way you also gain
access to other services if needed, such as file shares.

If you are going to make a large decision like this, you will need more
information, and when time comes, a test lab to test out your solution to
make sure it can support the number of users you have now, and will have in
the future.

Hope it helps.