User Tools

Site Tools


faq:terminal_services_considerations

Terminal Services Considerations

  • The average bandwidth usage for a Terminal Services connection is less than 128 KB
  • There are various factors that affect bandwidth usage
- Color depth of session
- Resolution of session
- Print job size and frequency
- Print drivers used
- Number of printers
- How often printer settings are changed by the user
- Applications being used and how they are used
- Audio redirection, amount used
- Drive redirection, size of files transferred, browsing of drives
- Copying data to/from clipboard, frequency and size
- Serial and LPT Port redirection, amount of data transferred
- Smart card redirection
- Plug and play device redirection
- Third-party virtual channel applications
- Keepalive setting
- Licensing mode
- Fonts used and whether they exist on client device
- Persistent bitmap cache setting on client
- Wallpaper, themes, menu animations, desktop composition, font smoothing, window drag setting
- Speed of user typing, mouse movements, etc.
- Percentage of users that are actively working in their session during a given period of time
- Network latency, bottlenecks, errors, etc. For example, if all of the clients are connecting via dialup
  this will put a cap on bandwidth usage, or another example if there are unreliable connections this will
  cause increased bandwidth due to retransmission
- Supported Pinpads - ingenico 6550 or 6780, or Canadian EVM. Do not run pinpads via Wireless Networks!
  1. For general application usage, ping rate is normally more important than bandwidth. Ping rate is the time it takes for a signal to travel to the remote location and back again. Generally, the faster the ping rate, the more usable the application will be over Terminal Services. Typically, ping rates below 200 ms (1/5th of a second) will yield a good Remote desktop experience
  2. With most Internet services, you will be provided with two bandwidth values, one for upload and one for download. Typically, your download bandwidth is greater than your upload bandwidth. Because of this, your limiting factor as to how many connections you can have to your server is really limited to the upload value at the server location. So, if the head office contains your server and the download bandwidth available is 5 MB, but the upload bandwidth available is only 1 MB, then the maximum number of usable remote connections, assuming 100 KB for each, would be 10. This is because the Internet service at the head office is only able to upload a maximum of 1 MB of data (10 x 100 KB = 1 MB). Hence, even if the remote locations are all able to download 5 MB each, the server at the head office is only ever able to deliver a maximum of 1 MB of data.
  3. Printing large reports can increase the demands on the bandwidth required for Terminal Services
  4. If you will be required to print large reports using Terminal Services, an alternate printing option such as THINPRINT should be considered.

Remote App

Consider connecting via RemoteAPP instead of Remote Desktop for Server 2008 clients.

RemoteApp simply does not work when using integrated credit cards (i.e. System Five communicating directly with the credit card company). Nor, does RemoteApp reliably pass through some other data from connected peripheral devices.

Last modified: 2012/09/27 11:08 by craig

faq/terminal_services_considerations.txt · Last modified: 2017/12/07 12:08 (6 years ago) by sjackson