Expert Remote Connectivity - Terminal Services

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Businesses with multiple remote users who need to consistently access ServiceCEO with heavy workloads (but have VPN Short for Virtual Private Network. A computer network which uses a public network to transfer information using secure methods. For example, you could set up a VPN between your home office and your business office using security and encryption with the Internet as your transfer pipe. and/or network latency issues) can set up a Windows^® 2003 Server running Terminal Services.

Terminal Services (TS) is a component of Microsoft^® Windows operating systems (both client and server versions) that allows a user to access applications or data stored on a remote computer over a network connection. For more on Terminal Services, please see Microsoft's Terminal Services homepage.

Client computers Any computer running ServiceCEO that is not hosting the ServiceCEO database. All client computers must connect, via a network, to the server in order to see the ServiceCEO database. will use Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) - software available in most 32-bit versions of Windows - to connect to a server The computer hosting the ServiceCEO database. As opposed to a "client" computer, which is a user computer connecting to the ServiceCEO database on the server computer. running Terminal Services.

When should you consider using Terminal Services? If your company has one or more of the following:

• More than five remote users who have a heavy ServiceCEO workload on a daily basis.

• Slow ServiceCEO performance over a WAN Short for Wide Area Network. A computer network, typically connected through the Internet, that spans a relatively large geographical area.. TS is dramatically faster then a typical WAN connection because it sends less data over the network.

• Remote users that are experiencing problems interacting with QuickBooks^®.

  Note: Some QuickBooks problems can be solved by reading and following the QuickBooks Deployment Best Practices White Paper (PDF) tips for maximizing QuickBooks integration efficiency and performance.

   

• No fast DSL Short for Digital Subscriber Line. DSLs carry data at high speeds over standard telephone wires. With DSL, data can be delivered at a rate of up to 1.5 mbps. or T-1 connections that connect the remote users to the ServiceCEO server The computer hosting the ServiceCEO database. As opposed to a "client" computer, which is a user computer connecting to the ServiceCEO database on the server computer.. For example, there are DSL providers that offer only 256K lines. TS is faster because it sends less data over the network.

• A desire to ease the remote office set up. Once you have configured TS, adding additional remote users takes less than one minute per user (assuming the remote office has a DSL line).

• A desire to offer additional remote capabilities to remote users (such as easy access to Microsoft Outlook^® e-mail accounts and fileservers).

• A need for the security and user roles built into TS with Active Directory.

• A need to instantly shut off access to ServiceCEO to remote users.

Setting up Terminal Services will require the following:

1. A dedicated server running the Windows 2003 Operating System. Since multiple users will be using this server, you will need at least 2 GB Short for Gigabyte. of RAM Short for Random Access Memory.. If more than 5 users will be using TS, this server will need 2 CPUs Short for Central Processing Unit.. You should also protect this server with a Firewall appliance A set of related programs, located on a network gateway server, that protects the resources of a private network from users from other networks..

2. A TS Client Access License (CAL) for every user that will be accessing ServiceCEO remotely.

3. Correct TS configuration. Windowsnetworking.com has a helpful article that describes this process on their website.  

4. Installation of ServiceCEO on TS. This installation is straight forward; you just need to make sure you have the right permissions on the TS. See your TS documentation for details.

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