What are some Terminal Services & Citrix Alternatives?
Our company currently uses RDP over a VPN to connect to our Terminal Server and work from their remote desktops. The problem is that the connections are so flaky and the performance is so slow, even after many tweaks on both server and client end, that people just stop working that way. We looked at Citrix Presentation Server as an alternative, and it seems perfect for what we want to do, but is very costly (our vendor gave us a rough estimate of ~$400 per CAL). I realize this is a tall order, but we really need a better solution. What are some alternatives that would allow (some or all of the following):
- Users to connect from almost any web browser or computer to access their remote desktops.
- Applications and data to be run from and stored on server (little or no software installed locally)
- Secure access with minimal "footprint" or traces left behind of session data after the user is done.
- Users to connect from almost any web browser or computer to access their remote desktops.
- Applications and data to be run from and stored on server (little or no software installed locally)
- Secure access with minimal "footprint" or traces left behind of session data after the user is done.
fbcbloodcenter
Perhaps you have bandwidth/firewall issues? We run same setup- RDP over vpn to TS - and it works great. Very infrequently choppy, and never "flaky". This solution should work for you. Perhaps the least expensive fix would be to invest in a better internet connection or more capable firewall.
Just out of curiosity, shouldn't you be trying to figure out the cause for flaky connections and poor performance rather than trying a band-aid?
Someone may propose a solution here, but how do you know that the underlying issues won't be a problem with the new solution?
It is my experience that terminal servers can and will work very well for many organizations (I've worked with 5-500+ user companies using TS)
Just a thought...
Someone may propose a solution here, but how do you know that the underlying issues won't be a problem with the new solution?
It is my experience that terminal servers can and will work very well for many organizations (I've worked with 5-500+ user companies using TS)
Just a thought...
Follow up question: Does anyone connect to the TS over the LAN? How is that performance.
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I forgot to mention that we are a virtual company with everyone working from a different location. Our only "office" is the Terminal Server.
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I agree with some of the others that if you have latency over TS you are still going to have some issues with citrix connections even though ICA does help some across a WAN. BLipman put some very good links to follow up on.
The only thing I wanted to add is that depending on your situation it is very likely you wouldn't need citrix Platinum and you could get by with Citrix PS Advanced which should only be about $250-$260 per license. Our company has about 125 users (max about 70 in at one time) and it works very well but our offices have T1s across the board.
The only thing I wanted to add is that depending on your situation it is very likely you wouldn't need citrix Platinum and you could get by with Citrix PS Advanced which should only be about $250-$260 per license. Our company has about 125 users (max about 70 in at one time) and it works very well but our offices have T1s across the board.
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There is 1 good solutions that come to mind.
VNC ... very small, very fast, easy to configure and does have security options.
http://www.realvnc.com/