Hey,

I was wondering, how many people here whould be intrested in haveing a remote desktop on a windows server is the USA/UK.

I was thinking of giveing around 5gb space to each client and access to a windows server 2003 desktop.

I just want to know who whould want/use a service like this?

Thanks alot WHT!

-SecureWH

What limitations would be put on applications that could be run? Just already installed apps or could one install new apps?

Either way I think people would be interested. I used to have a fair amount of requests from people who only wanted to be on a US based server for speed and to avoid restrictions from work/home country etc..

I know I would use it for a reasonable price. To be able to effortlessly run certain applications, if allowed.

I think it would be more trouble watching what customers run than it is worth.

I think it would be more trouble watching what customers run than it is worth.

Agreed, It sounds like a problem waiting to happen unless you bolted everything down in which case the client wouldn't have much access to do anything..

A nice double edged sword.

Agreed, It sounds like a problem waiting to happen unless you bolted everything down in which case the client wouldn't have much access to do anything..

A nice double edged sword.

You could base it around a VPS system - in fact this idea is just a Windows VPS with pre-installed applications like Open Office etc

Hi SecureWH,

You want to give service for remote desktop connections to users as you said. But their are already sites which are providing this kind of service.

Check site given below is already providing free service may be they will start memberships.

www[dot]nivio[dot]com

Good idea, but I would be worried about security, even at nivio.com.

The idea is fantastic but its a security nightmare. I would say that you would need to create RDP profiles if possible but I would fear abuse on the server more than anything..good idea in a perfect world

I'm trying to figure out who something like this is marketable to.

It could be an amazing idea for my thin-client customers, but of course the bandwidth would be a major concern. And obviously securty, network and physical.

Dunno if i missed something but how would you control how much ram/cpu each user used.

Yeah it's a nice idea until some jerk runs a java p2p client and downloads GB's with of warez and the server gets seized.

I'de be interested if price was right.

it could be good service, if you administer it well and apply good restrictions.

not sure how you would license such a thing nearly all windows servers i have had have come with a max 2 rdc sessions at once

I've been considering an OS other than windows on my laptop, and would find this useful.

people usually use those servers to install illegal copies of photoshop etc. and than work on them remotely to avoid routine software checks.

I would lay awake at night wondering what my users' were doing - unless you don't give them rights to do anything - in which case it would be somewhat a useless offer. I couldn't do it.

Why wonder...one of the best things you can do is scan through logs or check on their directories from time to time. It's one of the best parts of being a system administrator.

For securing published apps, or publishing a desktop with a degree of automated security. I have used http://www.propalms.co.uk/ in the past. Allthough, it's a bit confusing what you are offering?

TSE cals are not cheap eitheir!

Good luck though, J

Well it could be a nice idea but security should be a huge thing you will have to think about.

Well, if you would like an offline chat on doing this ( i've run ASP's for software houses for years ) then feel free.

Good luck with the idea!

Sounds like a good idea, but resource usage, security issues, etc. could be a real pain in the butt. Unless you can offer it for dirt cheap people might just be interested in a windows VPS.

Also licensing is a good point as you'd have to use terminal services to support as many connections as your talking about, and I don't think you'll be able to keep the cost low enough for it to be viable.

But still a very neat idea, like the windows equivalent of a shell account

I think the security aspect isn't quite so big so long as users can't install applications. Windows terminal servers are designed so that users can't affect or know what each other are doing. There is a lot of additional lockdown configuration that you'd need to apply that you might not see as essential in a corporate environment (in a corporate setting the company has HR measures as well as technical ones it can take to protect itself) but I think it's probably feasible, and MS have plenty of documentation to follow. SPLA licensing isn't too bad for this kind of thing assuming you have enough users to pay for the servers.

As everyone said, idea is cool, but you have to be cautious about the security and account restrictions.
Non administrative accounts can not install software packages, so no one will be using Photoshop there :) but a stand-alone application could not be restricted. i.e. Bulk mailing softwares, uTorrent and someone might use this machine to launch hacking attacks on others etc!!!

Good idea, I am interested in it.:)

So is it worth setting up a demo then? I've got some free servers at the moment.

I think the market is huge, provided that speed, confidentially, and data integrity exist.

Personally speaking, most useful would be a service where I could keep my applications running when I am not logged in (similar to a *nix screen session). As a laptop user frequently moving to new locations, that would save a lot of time.

Because of the infrastructure needed and security concerns, a company like Google may be best poised to make such an offering. But a start-up could make a valiant attempt and perhaps capture significant market share.

-Mike

This would really need to be a citrix setup in order to get the granular control that the service provider would need in order to lock the sessions down yet still leave them usable.

Sounds like a good idea, but resource usage, security issues, etc. could be a real pain in the butt. Unless you can offer it for dirt cheap people might just be interested in a windows VPS.

Also licensing is a good point as you'd have to use terminal services to support as many connections as your talking about, and I don't think you'll be able to keep the cost low enough for it to be viable.

But still a very neat idea, like the windows equivalent of a shell account

The licenses would be dirt cheap, dont forget that terminal services cals are 1 time purchases.. So take you 100 (rough pricing) bucks and spread it over 3 years which works out to 2.78/mo per license.

This would really need to be a citrix setup in order to get the granular control that the service provider would need in order to lock the sessions down yet still leave them usable.

I have seen Citrix sessions in-person and been impressed.

Their web site does not seem to offer much information cost-wise. What is their typical pricing?

-Mike

Good question, I have only priced citrix at an enterprise level so I am not sure about something like this. But it might be a good idea to investigate..


FYI: Microsoft's office 2007 live demo is powered by citrix, and that is exactly the type of environment that were talking about except for the fact that we want to save the user.

Check it out yourself: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101687261033.aspx

Actually Mike...
Take a look at this:
http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/ms/ms_683137.asp

Hmmm

Actually Mike...
Take a look at this:
http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/ms/ms_683137.asp

Hmmm

Nice demo in the link from the other post. Very speedy interface.

Where is the pricing there? I see information about its cost effectiveness, but I don't see actual pricing. Am I missing it, or do they just not give detailed pricing on-line?

-Mike

Citrix is very good, although it depends what you want to do as to whether it's really necessary.

If you want a 'desktop' terminal services plus some group policy will do the job, if you want to use an app on your desktop as if it were a local app, that's where you need Citrix. The question should really be do you need the seamless integration? A lot of our clients buy Citrix when actually its not really necessary, and it's expensive too.

A typical Citrix usage example would be a parent company that wants to provide all of their child companies with access to a central accounting package... It's also a god for delivering apps over corporate WAN's since you can deliver database intensive apps, something that would normally use masses of bandwidth can be reduced to a few kb/s.

Security is a non-issue, if you know what you're doing it's very easy to lock down a terminal server with a few hours work, whether you're using Citrix or not.

Dan

There is a bit more to what I am talking about..

Citrix bought XEN, They are moving to virtualized remote desktops. Here is a link to the application so you can download it and try it for yourself. My thinking here is that you can use virtualized citrix xen machines to deliver remote desktops instead of allowing people into a centralized server where they have the ability to run rootkits, etc...

Terminal Services is not secure enough for a hostile client. No combination of group policy restrictions are going to let the client utilize the remote session the way that they want to while still maintaining a secure environment for other clients.

In short, a Terminal Services roll out would expose your clients and your company in this setting.

Dont get me wrong I run some very large terminal servers internally in order to provide application access to over 80 users however I would not allow any remote users on that same server.


You can download the tech preview of Citrix Xen Desktop here: http://forums.citrix.com/ctxs/board?board.id=TechPreview

This topic is getting big... I suppose remote desktops are in demand now then :D

I am really interested in developing a solution however I fear that the service would attract warez/hackers/evil ....

Perhaps that issue can be solved by pricing the solution out of range for non legitimate activity.

There are a lot of potential benefits to a service like this if it is properly setup.

In my oppinion, as long as you have a very good control of the applications your clients install on your machine, this is a very good ideea!

I am really interested in developing a solution however I fear that the service would attract warez/hackers/evil ....

Perhaps that issue can be solved by pricing the solution out of range for non legitimate activity.

There are a lot of potential benefits to a service like this if it is properly setup.

Most technology anymore attracts the illegal, the abusive, and the problematic. Thats just part of the IT industry. You take your good with the bad, you bite the bullet, and you write a good TOS/AUP to cover your arse ;).

i know this is a little old, but i would be interested in this, basically i work a lot from a different office and have issues when connecting to our linux servers on ssh and also when using irc, also cant access hypervm which i use on some small clients, so what im looking for is to have a remote desktop on which i can run some apps like putty, mirc etc etc and have the relevant ports open, obviously if the price is right

I'd be happier with my own slice of the hardware on a Windows VPS rather than a login on someone else's machine with people I don't know doing God knows what to it. At least with the virtual environment you're guaranteed some resources on the node.

I'd be happier with my own slice of the hardware on a Windows VPS rather than a login on someone else's machine with people I don't know doing God knows what to it. At least with the virtual environment you're guaranteed some resources on the node.

im actually using a windows vps for it now, seemed the only way i could get round it, but seeing as the vps is in the states and im in ireland its a little on the slow side sometimes, also doesnt help that there aint much ram on the vps, maybe something better will come up, but i had to remove all hosting services from the vps in order to be able to run what i need, as it was not happy at running 3 ssh sessions, mirc with connection to 1 net, and also thunderbird and 1 firefox window,

You should also check Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V

You can provide application through terminal services using their virtualization technology