Thin Client networking

[Guest]

I posted this in the XP Networking group, and the Tablet group, but I'm also
looking for a perspective from the embedded users crowd as well, so if you
had to read this twice I apologize. Anyways......

I am about to inherit a small army (actually about 10) of 'thin client'
Tablet PC's running on Windows XP Embedded. I am looking to to use these
strictly as 'terminals' which are wirelessly connected to a 'server' (Running
XP Pro SP2 for the time being).
The main goal is to access and use applications/files/other resources ON the
server, and use the clients as video display and I/O ONLY....no storage
capability on the tablets.

I have tried configuring a smaller series of remote desktop web connections
(3-6
using VNC), with only moderate success.....the resources on the host were
being stretched very thin.

I have done several searches on the microsoft site, and I now realize I am
looking to implement 'Terminal Services', however I cannot find enough
information on how to do that with XP Pro if it is even possible.

File security is a big concern, likewise is the ability to display files
from larger applications on the terminals. Simple file sharing isn't going
to solve my problem, so how do I configure a network that uses resources
strictly off the host/server.

I believe that at this point my knowledge of basic networking has expired,
and I am delving into the unknown. Perhaps I have the wrong approach and
there is a very simple way to do exactly what I am trying to do.

If someone could provide an explanation, or a link I would be forever
grateful.

Regards,

Dominik

 

[KM]

Dominik,

I posted this in the XP Networking group, and the Tablet group, but I'm also
looking for a perspective from the embedded users crowd as well, so if you
had to read this twice I apologize. Anyways......

You can post to a few newsgroups at once.

I am about to inherit a small army (actually about 10) of 'thin client'
Tablet PC's running on Windows XP Embedded. I am looking to to use these
strictly as 'terminals' which are wirelessly connected to a 'server' (Running
XP Pro SP2 for the time being).

Strange choice for the server machine OS. You are probably aware of the limitation on number of network connections built in XP Pro.

The main goal is to access and use applications/files/other resources ON the
server, and use the clients as video display and I/O ONLY....no storage
capability on the tablets.

Diskless client devices?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...ry/en-us/xpehelp/html/xeconDisklessSystem.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...utomationcontrollerusingwindowsxpembedded.asp

I have tried configuring a smaller series of remote desktop web connections
(3-6
using VNC), with only moderate success.....the resources on the host were
being stretched very thin.

I have done several searches on the microsoft site, and I now realize I am
looking to implement 'Terminal Services', however I cannot find enough
information on how to do that with XP Pro if it is even possible.

XP Pro or XPe client side?
XPe: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/xpehelp/html/xetbsTerminalServices.asp
The RDP client is built in the XP Pro.

In case you were asking about the server side and you wanted to support more than one RDP connections simultaneously you would need
to switch to a server OS (W2K, 2003 Server, etc.) with Terminal Server running.

File security is a big concern, likewise is the ability to display files
from larger applications on the terminals. Simple file sharing isn't going
to solve my problem, so how do I configure a network that uses resources
strictly off the host/server.

If you don't want to download huge files over network (which is doubtly you can do as you are going to run your client machine OSs
in RAM anyway) you can switch to a streaming protocols (WM, RM, etc.) or a custom protocol.

 

[Paul]

Hello Dominick

AS you may have found out and as KM has said probably need to have a OS that
will act as Terminal Server, XP Pro allows one connection at a time. 10 thin
clients is a fairly small amount so a decent but moderatley priced 2003 or
even 2k server with TS enabled would be able to handle them fine. I would
recommend 2003 as there are features that often needed but not available in
2K Server, ie drive mapping (USB drives for example) sound, higher colour
support.

I do a fair bit of TS installs as it is my business so call me if you need
any help getting your netowrk setup.

Cheers

Paul

Athena USA

Thin Client Computing

763-863-5905

(e-mail address removed)

www.athenausa.com

 

[Guest]

KM:

It seems that most people are pointing to a server edition to solve my
networking needs. I was attempting to to run close to the max # of
connections allowed by xp (10?) with the help of VNC. This posed more
problems to me than it solved.

I do appreciate the links to some interesting reading, although a bit over
my head when it came down to it, there was some good information there.

Paul:

I'd like to do some more reading into terminal services, so as to have a
good understanding of some of the intricacy. I'm not very comfortable with
server OS's since I rarely get behind the controls of one, but i'm hoping
there is not much more to the setup than there was in XP with respect to the
Remote Desktop connection.

Thanks you very much for offering your assistance, as soon as I feel a bit
more knowledable with what I need to do, and feel like I can ask some
intellient questions I will certainly be contacting you.

Regards,

Dominik

 

[KM]

dkaminski,

It seems that most people are pointing to a server edition to solve my
networking needs. I was attempting to to run close to the max # of
connections allowed by xp (10?) with the help of VNC. This posed more
problems to me than it solved.

Do you know how many sockets VNC opens per one session? What if it is more than one? (you can find that out with tools like NetMon,
or WinSockSpy, or etc.)

Also, you can always "test" it with XP Pro client machines instead of XPe.

KM

 

[Guest]

VNC seemed like it would open as many sessions as I wanted, the problem with
that is security (don't fully understand), and the use of resources seemed to
be a complete mess...it took my rather powerfull desktop to its knees. BTW
these tests were done w/ full XP pro on all machines

I'm now looking into server 2003 and the use of terminal services as a fully
capable option for my future needs.

Currently, I am considering simply hosting .pdf's of any file(s) I need from
the XP Pro desktop 'server' to the clients, provided I can fit a copy of the
reader on the flash card. This will serve my needs for the time being until
I can learn more/invest in a server structure.

Do you know approx. how much space XPe utilizes?...the devices should have
512 cards.

 

[KM]

Dominik,

VNC seemed like it would open as many sessions as I wanted, the problem with
that is security (don't fully understand), and the use of resources seemed to
be a complete mess...it took my rather powerfull desktop to its knees. BTW
these tests were done w/ full XP pro on all machines

Well.. This is why I prefer RAdmin client (www.radmin.com). Secure enough and pretty low network load (depends on what refresh rate
you set).

However, when it comes to remote working RDP takes the lead.

I'm now looking into server 2003 and the use of terminal services as a fully
capable option for my future needs.

With 10-100 machines that would probably be the best approach.

Currently, I am considering simply hosting .pdf's of any file(s) I need from
the XP Pro desktop 'server' to the clients, provided I can fit a copy of the
reader on the flash card. This will serve my needs for the time being until
I can learn more/invest in a server structure.

Adobe Reader is not big app but would bring some dependencies in your image.

However, if you are planning to go with Terminal Server, wouldn't that be easier for you to just have all the files on the server
where users can access them during TS sessions? I mean they just start the Reader app on the server remotely.

Do you know approx. how much space XPe utilizes?...the devices should have
512 cards.

That would completely depend on the functionality you are looking for the image.

In case you want a simple thin client image with network stack, IE and Adobe Reader included, you can accomplish that with the image
size less than 128M. (giving your numbers I have seen with my own similar images)

KM